Nov 30 - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Patty Henetz The Salt Lake Tribune

A bill that would create a legal framework for Utah's energy future met with resistance Tuesday -- from lawmakers who want the state to investigate nuclear power, and from Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who doesn't want the Legislature to create a Cabinet-level position to oversee energy policy.

Two interim committees -- Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment, and Public Utilities and Technology -- advanced the bipartisan draft bill crafted after hundreds of hours of meetings last summer organized by Reps. Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake; Roger Barrus, R-Centerville, and David Ure, R-Kamas.

The bill's key components include the philosophical and the practical, and would designate a state energy officer to encourage development and promotion of the state's energy resources. The energy officer would report to the governor and earn up to $115,700 per year.

Huntsman, however, has his own ideas, and has appointed Laura Nelson, a former Idaho Public Utilities commissioner and former member of the state's Committee on Consumer Services, as his energy policy adviser. The governor doesn't want to expand his Cabinet, said Kevin Knight, Huntsman's energy policy coordinator.

Nelson "is a key part of the governor's staff and plays a significant role in developing a state energy policy and coordinating with relevant state agencies," added Huntsman spokesman Mike Mower. "We've only had this in place for a few months. Give us a chance to let it work before you codify a new structure."

The Legislature will take up the bill during its 2006 General Session. But lawmakers already are grumbling about how to balance market forces and consumer needs, the role of nuclear power and how hard to push renewable energy development versus traditional coal, oil and gas power.

Sen. Tom Hatch, R-Panguitch, who sponsored last year's bill that dismantled the state Energy Office, fretted about language in the proposed legislation that would require the energy officer to promote renewable energy resources, which he said might not make economic sense. "I'm concerned we're asking this person to go out and make a fool of themself," he said.

Later, Hatch said he didn't want the bill to pass at all.

During discussions about how to amend the draft to also emphasize non-renewable energy, Rep. Brad Daw, R-Orem, said he wanted to include pro-nuclear energy language.

Rep. Mike Noel agreed, brushing aside the idea that because Utah has taken a stand against importing other states' nuclear waste it would be inconsistent to support home-grown nuclear energy.

"Utah has vast uranium reserves," especially in his own district, said the Kanab Republican. "Nuclear energy has come a long way from Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. It's a very, very clean source of energy."

But Sen. Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights, said that the task force decided after hours of discussions not to include nuclear power in what essentially is a values statement.

"I'm not ready to vote on that as part of our policy," he said.

Sen. Mike Dmitrich, D-Price, argued coal power will dominate Utah's energy future for some time. "The time for nuclear power will be here. But it's not here now," he said.

Huntsman believes nuclear power could be considered, "providing advances are made in reprocessing nuclear waste to ensure public safety," Mower said.

After the meeting, some of the volunteers who helped craft a comprehensive energy policy report to the Legislature that provided the foundation for the bill savored its first victory.

"We wanted something durable. Legislators come and go. Governors come and go," said Wasatch Clean Air Coalition spokeswoman Kathy Van Dame.

"This group took this very seriously in a spirit of camaraderie," said Beverly Miller of Utah Clean Cities. "Now there is a bandwagon."