Residents, officials deliver feedback on nuclear plant

By Brandi Stromberg
Argus Observer
Friday, November 20, 2009 10:38 AM PST

PAYETTE — The Eagle, Idaho man pushing for a nuclear facility in Payette County urged the planning and zoning officials and residents Thursday night to do their research regarding the atomic power concept.

“Tonight is just about the next step,” Don Gillispie said. “Let’s do our research and move from there.”

Gillispie, CEO of AEHI, made his remarks during the regular Payette County Planning & Zoning session.

The board is pondering whether to create a comprehensive plan amendment to allow for the proposed power plant. No formal decision was made Thursday night on the rezone matter by the commission and instead elected leaders decided to gather feedback. The commission did decide to keep the public meeting open for 10 days to take written comment from the public on the issue.

Gillispie, CEO of a firm called AEHI, focused on the future plans for the nuclear power plant during his opening remarks.

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“We will be a tremendous economy boom to this community,” Gillispie said. “From security to food service workers, we’ll employ all of them.”

Gillispie said road studies, water studies and land studies would be conducted after the commission decides on the amendment.

“We don’t start on a piece of property until we are very sure there is nothing hindering us from productivity,” Gillispie said. “We need a good base for the reactor, good water intake and easy access to the plant.”

Gillispie said the water would come from the river but studies would still be done to verify the intake and usage.

Transmission lines were also a topic that was brought up by the commission about the proposed plant. Gillispie said AEHI would tie into the existing lines, but they wouldn’t be able to carry the load.

“We would obviously need to figure something out before we went ahead with that,” Gillispie said. “We are only in the preliminary stages of this plant.”

Elmore County recently decided to rezone the proposed land that AEHI is also looking at from agriculture to industrial. Gillispie was asked if heplanned on constructing a plant in both counties.

“I haven’t made that decision just yet, but probably not,” Gillispie said. “Payette County is much more ideal for us.”

An economy boom, tax intake, health issues and the nuclear waste were among the many issues broached by Idaho residents Thursday. People from all over Idaho, including Twin Falls, Mountain Home and the pending Elmore County were on hand.

“If we don’t do something now, we’re going to be out of business and really hurting,” Dale Coates said. “Economically and financially, this is a good thing. For me, this is a solution for a lot of our problems.”

Although many issues are in need of address from AEHI, their first step, Gillispie said, is to get approval. Then they will move forward with other issues.

“If this passes, our next step is to get local approval,” Gillispie said. “A one-year process follows. We’ll have to collect data from the land and retrieve samples from the acreage we are looking at. Then we’ll submit our data and go from there. This is a long process but we want to get started.”

Gillispie said he encourages people to do their own research on nuclear plants. He said he doesn’t want people to draw conclusions from the meeting or the media. He motivates people to research him, the company and the impact this proposed plant can have on Payette County.

“I don’t think there is enough information for us to draw a conclusion just yet,” JoAnn Smith, Payette, said. “I understand about the concerns and the questions, but we need to look at this from all sides. But I encourage the rezone so we can get moving on something in this area.”

Gillispie said there are numerous sites he is willing to encourage with inquiries. If anyone would like to contact Gillispie or visit the Web site, Gillispie encourages questions, concerns and comments about the proposal.

The Web site address is www.aehipower.com., and the email is info@aehipower.com.