I applaud the efforts of Gov. Butch Otter to establish a viable energy division in the Governor's Office, but it is mandatory that the energy issues facing Idaho be objectively analyzed and pursued. I am concerned that Gov. Otter has decided to place his support behind the nuclear industry. This is not in the best interests of the citizens of Idaho. I would like to urge the governor to take the same financial and institutional support and apply it to Idaho's strengths, which are geothermal, wind, solar and biomass—the energies of the future. Not only has nuclear energy been an environmental calamity for Idaho, it is also not in the state's long-term economic interest. The true costs have not been correctly represented.
For instance, the figures 1.3 cents to 1.7 cents per kilowatt-hour represent a fraction of the true cost of delivering nuclear energy to Idaho ratepayers, according to a fact-finding document published in June 2007 by an independent nonprofit organization (the Keystone Center). The center brought together diverse stakeholders to find some consensus on the issue of nuclear energy. It found that the levelized cost for a nuclear power plant from construction to decommissioning was actually 8.3-11.1 cents/kwh. This assessment was compiled from such expert organizations and businesses as Exelon, the Pew Center for Global Change, Entergy, GE Energy, Nuclear Energy Institute, and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
It would also be prudent to note that the costs of mining the uranium and the waste storage are not even considered in this analysis (the cradle-to-grave portion of this lifecycle). The other factors that negate the validity of nuclear energy are the subsidies provided by United States taxpayers. Not only have our universities and national laboratories been working on the R&D for this industry since the 1950s, but funding has been allocated in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 for loan guarantees of up to $4 billion per plant for the first 29 plants and a liability cap of $15 billion has been set by the Price Anderson Act (estimates of $300 billion to $500 billion for a catastrophic accident). And then there is the taxpayers' cost of storing and protecting the waste for the next million years. I could go on but I think I have made my point. This is an old, expensive, dirty technology. It is time to turn the corner.
Deborra Bohrer, President of the board, Snake River Alliance
Ketchum
