Opponents line up against nuke plan

Feb 24 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Peter Strescino The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.

As might be expected when regarding such a controversial topic such as the establishment of a nuclear power plant, opponents to the plan were ready for a meeting of the Pueblo County Planning Commission on Tuesday.

Most everyone on each side of the issue was polite and measured, but delivered their messages with passion. Just one person, Alvin Rivera, was admonished, and just slightly, for a brief temper display.

Then again, nuclear power is something some might get mad about.

A sampling of the highlights of some of the 15 responders to Don Banner's long presentation in hopes of getting a nuclear power plant:

Carolyn Herzberger, who helped formulate the county's regional development plan, took issue to Banner wishing to change the zoning of 2,400 acres south of Grape Road and east of Huerfano Road.

In response to a Banner contention, she said, "Nuclear power is not safe, not clean, not cheap."

Herzberger also read headlines disputing Banner's claim of plant safety, and said in 2008 alone, there were 51 supported problems at plants in the United States.

Dave Barber said the nuclear power industry has covered up problems and said that if nuclear power is so safe, why does the U.S. government have to pay to insure the plants, which the industry itself does not do. He also questioned massive federal subsidization of the plants, saying, "If solar power had been subsidized to that degree, where would it be now?"

Like many, he asked what the hurry was to get a plant approved. He and others said that Pueblo County should not abdicate its place in the process, giving way to federal oversight.

Perhaps the most animated opposition was by Boone resident Suzanne M. Morgan.

She said that if nuclear power plants operate under a no-fly zone, and if that's the case many farmers, who she listed by name, would not be able to spray their crops from the air.

"These are people with real incomes," she said. "And will the trucks delivering fuel to the plant drive by Avondale Elementary, by County High?"

A search by a reporter for documentation on no-fly zones around plants did not come up with any law establishing the zones.

Morgan complained that in President Barack Obama's fiscal plans, the nuclear industry will receive $54 billion in federal loans over the next three years.

"There is a 50 percent default rate on these loans," said Morgan, a Republican and a real-estate agent. "Are we going to take that chance?"

She also said that the vaunted French nuclear industry drops much waste into the English Channel, that as it moves north adversely affects the Arctic regions.

Roy Wiley, an organic farmer and member of a longtime farming family, doubted Banner could find enough water, and said the site will be a, "nuclear waste dump. Period."

Environmentalist Margaret Barber, in a long discussion, said there was not enough scrutiny of the project and things were moving too fast. She said she already had sued the commission before on its processes, or lack thereof.

Commission member Rob Leverington, who voted for both proposals, took exception to Barber's lawsuit statement and asked if she was threatening the commission. She said she was not.

Banner wants his fees to the county on the project to be held to $100 until he can push his quest along. Her response to that was, "$100? Are you serious?"

Farmer Dan Hobbs of Avondale, who said he was representing the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, said the plan is, "incompatible with agriculture. Pueblo does as good a job as it gets protecting irrigated agriculture" and the site Banner is seeking is, "agricultural land of national importance."

Rivera, who slammed the podium at one point, said Banner had many conflicts of interest and questioned whether he really had contacted many of Banner's 12 interest groups he claims will benefit by the establishment of a plant. He said, "(The Pueblo Economic Development Corp.) has never seen a business proposal they did not like."

Janet Johnson said a plant would place a stigma on the county, and recounted growing up in a family that worked in uranium mines near Grand Junction. Many in her family did not live to see their mid-50s.

"If there's an accident here, Mr. Banner and his investors will not pay because federal law protects them," she said.

She said Cotter Corp. in Canon City has escaped paying for its pollution of the area.

"The people around Rocky Flats were collateral damage of the Cold War and the people of Canon City are collateral damage of the energy industry."

Others said that the mining and milling of uranium precluded the description of nuclear energy as "clean."

Several women traveled to Pueblo from Fremont County to decry the proposed plant and the uranium industry.

One point of contention among opponents that came up time and again was that Banner's application was too vague and the speed he is seeking to move forward with the proposal is too fast.

"Haste," said Reta Zane, "makes waste."