nuclear-news

Missouri Commission Wants Legislators To Scrap Nuclear Plant-Funding Law, St

Missouri Commission Wants Legislators To Scrap Nuclear Plant-Funding Law, St Louis Public Radio By SHAHLA FARZAN • OCT 17, 2019 The Missouri Air Conservation Commission is asking state legislators to repeal a decades-old law that controls how companies fund new nuclear power plants.

The Construction Work in Progress law, passed by Missouri voters in 1976, prohibits utility companies from charging customers to cover the cost of building power plants until the facilities are up and running.

The commission unanimously passed a resolution Thursday calling the law an “intractable roadblock” for nuclear power in Missouri. Opponents say the governor-appointed commission is overstepping its bounds.

Ed Smith, policy director for the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, said he was “in shock” after the vote.

“We have people who are unelected telling elected people how to set energy policy for the state of Missouri,” said Smith, who submitted a letter in opposition to the resolution. “That is best left in the legislative arena, not for the commissioners to pick and choose winners.”

Commissioner Ron Boyer introduced the resolution on Aug. 29, six weeks after he wrote an op-ed for the Missouri Farm Bureau in support of nuclear power. …….

Smith said the commission is ignoring the financial risks of building new nuclear power plants. He cited the failed V.C. Summer nuclear project near Jenkinsville, South Carolina, which cost ratepayers $2 billion and resulted in an FBI investigation.

“Not only is nuclear a dangerous power source, it’s dangerous to consumers when plants are being built,” he said.

Geoff Marke, chief economist for the Missouri Office of Public Counsel, submitted a memo to the commission Oct. 16 calling a repeal of the law “wholly unnecessary,” arguing it would shift the financial risk of building new power plants onto the shoulders of ratepayers…….. https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/missouri-commission-wants-legislators-scrap-nuclear-plant-funding-law#stream/0

October 20, 2019 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA