TWIN FALLS -- Feb 28 - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Sandy Miller The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho

The City Council on Monday came out in support of House Bill 689, Rep. Sharon Block's bill for a two-year moratorium on coal-fired plants.

A House committee will vote on the bill Thursday. If passed, it would advance to the full House and if it eventually becomes law would stall California-based Sempra Energy's proposal to build a coal-fired plant in Jerome County.

"I'd like to have the city of Twin Falls as well as who's making the decision time to study this," said Councilman Greg Lanting before approving Resolution 1756, which states that the mayor and council are not able to support the construction of a large, coal-fired plant until all health and environmental concerns can be adequately evaluated. Among the city's worries is how such a plant would affect the city's water supply.

Mayor Lance Clow said the proposed Sempra plant isn't just a Jerome issue, it's a Magic Valley issue. He also supported the moratorium.

"If it gives some breathing time to other decision-makers, that's important," Clow said.

But councilmen Shawn Barigar and Trip Craig came out against the resolution, saying their fellow council members were jumping the gun. Barigar said the council should remain neutral, especially since coal-fired plants such as Sempra's would have to meet the approval of the Bureau of Land Management, the Department of Water Resources and Jerome County commissioners before they could ever break ground.

"I'm confident the processes that are already going to happen will," Barigar said.

Craig agreed.

"We don't know anything about Sempra yet," Craig said. "Let them have the weather station and then start the studies."

Craig said he's all for protecting the environment.

"The last thing I want to do is poison the water for my son," he said.

However, he said the country needs to look for more power sources within its own borders, whether it be from dams, coal-generated plants, gas-generated plants, nuclear power or oil reserves on the coast or in wilderness areas.

"I don't want my 4-year-old son to have to depend on foreign interests like I have had to," Craig said. "We're sending people from Idaho to go and defend oil reserves in the Middle East."

Times-News writer Sandy Miller can be reached at 735-3264 or by e-mail at smiller@magicvalley.com.

City supports moratorium on certain coal-fired plants