A13 Castle Valley Review, February 2009 Continued from Previous Page. ing that she believes the company does not offer a “feasible proposal.” Early on, reports of possible conflicts of interest surfaced, with Tilton, then a state Representative, and Kane County Water Conservancy Chair Mike Noel, also a state Representative, served on the legislative Public Utilities and Technology Committee, which was then considering nuclear power in Utah. With Tilton as part-owner of Transition Power, and Noel the chair of a water conservancy board the company has contracted to lease water rights from, the questions of conflicts of interest buzzed through the media. Fields also expressed that she has been troubled by “a lack of information” about the project. She faults the company for moving forward with the project without yet announcing a location, choosing a type of reactor and hiring a contractor to develop an application. In their letter to the NRC, the company stated that they would “provide shortly additional information on the site and associated planning to begin the process of providing timely and pertinent information to the NRC staff,” but Fields revealed that, “as of November, they had not gotten back to the NRC.” Mike McCandless, Emery County Economic Development director, and Tilton counter that the argument only supports their position that the opposition has been premature. “People need to realize they’re still in the investigation phase,” McCandless reiterated. Beyond the questions about the company, both opposition groups have brought up a myriad of concerns over the company building in the area. Of major concern to both is the water needed to operate such a plant. Urgo reported the facility would require “an enormous amount of water” in its operations and questioned whether with the seasonal variations in water volume and the frequent droughts in the area, the plant could be supported. Fields explained that she believes there are some ethical concerns with the Kane County water right leases granted to the company in what she said were “closed-door meetings.” The company had contracted to lease water rights from Kane County and San Juan County to provide water for their proposed facility, but those leases have been challenged by locals along with Heal Utah and Uranium Watch. Tilton explained that the plant would indeed require a large amount of water in its operations, but challenged the idea that the Green River would not be able to support the plant. He reported that the water rights being leased were already existing rights and commented that the water required to run a nuclear unit is “almost identical” to that required by a coal-fire unit. The opposing groups also cite concerns over the storage of the spent fuel resulting from the nuclear process referring to the debate over storage at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, and the Utah’s hesitancy to store outside nuclear waste. Tilton countered, relating that if all of the spent fuel resulting from nuclear power production from the last 30 years was stacked on a football field, the mound “would only be 20 feet tall.” He and McCandless also discussed the future possibility of reprocessing the fuel, much like the French do. Urgo blasted the idea, saying that while 99 percent of the waste can be reused that the process is “extraordinarily expensive.” Another heated issue has been the price of the power that the plant would produce. Urgo addressed this concern in summing up his argument. “Nuclear power is not responsible energy development. In this country we’re in this energy and economic crisis right now, and the proposal for Green River is going to produce energy that costs two to three times what we pay for power right now. It’s going to produce waste that there is no solution for and that will stay in Green River for the foreseeable future, and it’s going to use an enormous amount of water, upwards of millions of gallons a day. “Outside of that we have concerns if this power plant is even being proposed for the benefit of Utah, necessarily. Because the power is going to be so expensive, it likely will not be sold in Utah. It will be sold in California or neighboring states, while we in Utah lose our water and store the waste.” McCandless refuted Urgo’s argument. Though he granted that the costs of building the facility may be higher than other forms of carbon-free energy, he said the generation costs “are extremely affordable.” McCandless also explained that nuclear power entails a “totally different business model” than do other forms of energy generation. He said that on a per megawatt hourly basis, nuclear power is much lower than solar or wind power generation. “It’s a solution that generates carbon-free power at one-third the cost, and that’s why it’s so attractive,” he said. He and Tilton also point to the economic opportunities it may bring to the community. Tilton explained that the project would be “massive,” especially the construction process, which would possibly be the largest construction project ever in the state, Notice to the Citizens of Emery County The Emery County Board of Commissioners is seeking applications for appointment to the Emery County Special Service District #1. There are two vacant positions on this board. Any registered voter, living within the boundaries of the district, interested in serving on this board may obtain a form at the Clerk/ Auditor’s office during regular business hours. The volunteer form will need to be returned to the Clerk/ Auditor’s office, P.O. Box 907, Castle Dale, Utah 84513 by March 5, 2009 at the close of business. Citizen involvement is the basis of good county government. S Christy’s alon ensations “Service With A Smile” Walk-Ins Welcome or call for an Appointment Tuesday - Friday • Haircuts • Children • Seniors • Waxing • Style: Regular/Long/Formal • Bang Trim/Neck Trim/Beard Trim • Perm, Shampoo, Haircut & Style: Partial/Regular/Long • We Do it All 435-687-9766 Christy Collard • Katie Brady 190 So. Main, Huntington requiring “several thousand” workers for five years, and around “1,500 permanent, high-paying jobs.” Questions have also been asked about the county’s decision to grant a development lease to Transition Power for over 1,600 acres of the 2,457 acre park, when there is no guarantee that the project will ever be built. They argue that granting the development lease impedes companies who would pay higher prices for smaller pieces of land and develop those areas more quickly. McCandless explained that the development lease simply gives the company the opportunity to conduct studies of the site to see if “the project is even feasible.” He also disagrees with the premise of the argument that the contract binds up too much land that could be developed by other companies. “You have to look at our perspective too,” he said. “That land is currently generating no benefit to Emery County. It generates no taxes. It has no employees. “Let’s assume that they take 1,600 acres of our park. Immediately that moves into the tax roles, benefiting the county, the schools, the service districts. So, is that a bad thing? I don’t know that I see that it is. Yes, it’s a big chunk, but even with that we still have the remaining parts of the park that would make it one of the two or three biggest industrial parks in the state of Utah. That’s how much land we’re talking about here.” Fields is also troubled over environmental effects, such as the possibility of contamination of nearby farmland and towns. She said that in speaking with residents of Green River, many had expressed concern about having “material from the plant settle on their land.” Though she acknowledged that the U.S. has never had a nuclear related accident resulting in a death, she points to high rates of cancer in communities surrounding uranium mills and other nuclear related facilities. She also pointed to the boom and bust pattern seen in many communities. She told of instances when large industrial facilities have left communities economically devastated when they can no longer operate. “It just seems there would be more problems to the community than are justified,” she concluded. Whether a nuclear power plant ever develops into more than an idea for an economically struggling area of Emery County or not, the debate over such an idea is likely to continue brewing for years to come. Is proud to present Where’s Gabby? The Game Now Playing! Contest Rules: Look in the Display Ads of the newspaper to find either a picture of our dog Gabby or the name Gabby. There will be a total of 3 Gabbys located only in the display ads in each issue of the paper. If you find all three Gabbys, call our office for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to one of our participating sponsors. Anyone who calls in will have their name placed in the “Where’s Gabby?” jar and on the last day of the month 4 names will be drawn from the jar and will win a $25 gift certificate to one of our participating sponsors. Four more names will be drawn and each one will receive a one years subscription of the Castle Valley Review. *Limited to one person per family per month. No employees of The Castle Valley Review or immediate family members. Prize is nontransferable and cannot be exchanged for cash. Gift Certificate expires on the last day of the following month. Value of Gift Certificate must be used in full at the time of purchase. by Gab Castle Valley Co-op Top Line Computers •We Sell Everything• Participating Sponsors Tony Basso Lewis Jewelry RV & ATV Company, Inc. Decker’s Bicycle Sales & Service T.C. West The Meat Shop 790 N. 400 E. Huntington, UT Wane & Orson Justice/Owners Gilly’s Carbon-Emery MotorSports