Letter to the Editor

Snake River Alliance offers its rebuttal to Gillispie's letter

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Dear editor:

Don Gillispie's April 29 letter to the editor was breathtaking in its inaccuracies, misstatements, and flat out lies. If this is the best the chief executive officer of the company that hopes to jam a nuclear reactor in the heart of Elmore County farmland can offer, then the opponents of Alternate Energy Holdings, Inc., have grossly overestimated its challenge in fighting the reactor.

Mr. Gillispie seems obsessed with stickers, having devoted much of his op-ed to who was wearing what kinds of stickers. It is well known in this community that Mr. Gillispie's green AEHI stickers were doled out to those who handed his company resumes or letters asking for jobs and being told to go inside to speak out in favor of the reactor in return. It is also well known in this community that the jobs they are seeking are illusory. Even in Mr. Gillispie's most fantastic imagination, no dirt will turn on the site for another seven to 10 years. Given the time it will take to identify a legitimate U.S. --certified reactor (he has none) and then to submit and process a power plant application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), there simply is no way it could happen sooner. The fact AEHI was trolling for job applications on April 22 before the County Commission hearing on the rezone application is the height of cynicism. If a generic department store were to come to Mountain Home and seek applications for a job at a store that would open in 2017, it would be laughed out of the county. The fact it's a nuclear reactor means it's no laughing matter.

Mr. Gillispie claims opponents ignored information presented by his consultant that showed cows grazing happily "just a stone's throw from reactor buildings" -- as if that means anything in Elmore County. The property at issue is not grazed by cows, and Mr. Gillispie's claim that cows and nukes co-existing shows "nuclear plants are very compatible with surrounding ag land uses" is preposterous. His plant would clearly upend surrounding ag uses, and would also put Elmore County in the position of approving a toxic nuclear waste storage site on the brink of the very river that Elmore County relies on for its very survival. The question is not whether reactors exist on agricultural land (they do and many, like the Prairie Island Reactor in Minnesota, have experienced serious design and safety issues and have just extended the moratorium on new reactors), rather the question should be whether a reactor belongs in this location, using an excess of water (which AEHI is unable to dispute or substantiate in any of their claims).

Mr. Gillispie then says, "We made it clear that many acres of good land could be farmed but aren't due to the high cost of water." His Virginian slip is showing: Farming on Idaho land is not constrained by the "high cost of water," but by the simple fact that Idaho doesn't have enough water. The Snake River system is tapped out, and if Mr. Gillispie doesn't know that then he is getting poor advice. Residents have proved a nuclear power reactor would threaten an already over allocated waterway. The cost of the water is not the issue. The amount of available water is. And Mr. Gillispie's bizarre plans to "rent" water from Elmore County farmers have no basis in fact. In fact, in his proclamations since arriving first in Owyhee County in 2007 and then in Elmore County last year, Mr. Gillispie has exhibited a fundamental misunderstanding of how Idaho agriculture works, and also how Idaho's energy system works.

Mr. Gillispie says, "We made it clear jobs would start soon after the rezone and Conditional Use Permit approval and remap up to several thousand during the construction phase." Back up: If the county sticks with its requirements that he cannot receive a CUP until he receives all required state and federal permits, that won't happen until well after 2015. Given that Mr. Gillispie has no money to build his plant, and given NRC approval is a decade away, job applicants' best not build their household budgets around jobs associated with this reactor.

Mr. Gillispie claims Idaho agriculture is suffering because "many acres cannot be irrigated due to the lack of low-cost power for irrigation pumps." And he's right. Problem is his power will only increase the cost to run those pumps. Ever since arriving in Idaho, Mr. Gillispie has tried to sell his scheme on cheap power. Nothing could be further from the truth. If nuclear power was so cheap, why haven't our utilities invested in it? Because it's not cheap; nuclear power will never be cheap. Despite AEHI's claims that its nuclear energy will cost 1.7 cents a kilowatt hour, it will in fact cost perhaps 10 times that amount. It will be among the most expensive sources of power available, and Idaho utilities will not buy it. Maybe he plans to sell it to markets in California or elsewhere that will, but it won't be sold here. Mr. Gillispie has said he believes he can force Idaho Power to purchase his energy, and that shows he really DID just fall off the turnip wagon: The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) would never force a utility to buy ultra-expensive power from an uncertain source. In fact, Idaho law requires the PUC to protect Idahoans FROM having to buy power from the likes of AEHI.

Then, Mr. Gillispie gets personal with the Snake River Alliance, an organization with which he (or more likely his hired Idaho hands) clearly has no familiarity or understanding. Mr. Gillispie should know that before he or his hired help say one more time that Idaho "is out of electricity", it in fact is not. To say that it is would be to accuse the utilities that Mr. Gillispie laughingly claims he is negotiating with as being negligent in their federal energy requirements. Of course Idaho has ample electricity resources. If Mr. Gillispie had attended any of Idaho Power's Integrated Resource Plan Advisory Committee meetings instead of slinging bogus statements about how utilities are legally obligated to buy his overpriced power, he would know that. But he doesn't attend those meetings, and he is either intentionally or inadvertently misrepresenting Idaho's energy picture. Whatever you choose, it's not a good option.

Mr. Gillispie says that "We are fully capable of building this plant and have an excellent shot at success, even given the current financial markets," appeared in a letter to the editor to this newspaper. But in a 10-K filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which takes such claims a bit more seriously, his company said this:

"AEHI has limited funds and such funds will not be adequate to carry out the business plan without borrowing significant funds. The ultimate success of AEHI may depend upon its ability to raise additional capital. AEHI has not investigated the availability, source, or terms that might govern the acquisition of additional capital and will not do so until it determines a need for additional financing. If additional capital is needed, there is no assurance that funds will be available from any source or, if available, that they can be obtained on terms acceptable to AEHI. If not available, AEHI's operations will be limited to those that can be financed with its modest capital, and it could fail."

Mr. Gillispie then claims the Snake River Alliance "has advocated the closure of Mountain Home Air Force Base...."

The Snake River Alliance is not advocating the closure of Mountain Home Air Force Base. Mr. Gillispie then charges the Alliance "resumes advocacy of cutting their water rights to protect a snail or return farmland to its original "pristine condition."

Unfortunately, Mr. Gillispie does not -- and cannot -- support this charge against the Alliance. We have never advocated reducing legitimate water withdrawals from the Snake, and anyone who has been involved in the Snake River adjudication process knows this.

In short, Mr. Gillispie and his company, AEHI, are doing nothing more than relying on promises they cannot deliver and on fears they believe will go unanswered in trying to convince Elmore County residents to embrace their project. All one needs to do is to review the required SEC Form 10-K link above to find the real information about the slim possibility that this project will ever be built.

The Alliance is involved in this County because the people closest to the proposed site and others have asked for our assistance. For the record, our research-based information comes from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Center for Advanced Energy Studies at Boise State University, other nuclear energy institutes, as well as AEHI's own SEC filing. Our mission is to serve as Idaho's nuclear watchdog and advocate for renewable and nuclear-free energy. We raise community awareness about the dangers of nuclear waste, weapons and power while working to identify and promote sustainable alternatives. We do our work through advocacy, collaboration, education and grassroots organizing. To learn more, please visit www.snakeriveralliance.org.

Andrea Shipley

Snake River Alliance

Executive Director

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Mr. Gillispie then claims the Snake River Alliance "has advocated the closure of Mountain Home Air Force Base..." data/1421874/000106594909000080/aehi10k2008vfinal.txt

Mr. Gillispie then claims the Snake River Alliance "has advocated the closure of Mountain Home Air Force Base..."

The Alliance is involved in this County because the people closest to the proposed site and others have asked for our assistance. For the record, our research based information comes from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Center for Advanced Energy Studies at Boise State University, other nuclear energy institutes, as well as AEHI's own SEC filing. Our mission is to serve as Idaho's nuclear watchdog and advocate for renewable and nuclear-free energy. We raise community awareness about the dangers of nuclear waste, weapons and power while working to identify and promote sustainable alternatives. We do our work through advocacy, collaboration, education and grassroots organizing. To learn more, please visit www.snakeriveralliance.org.

Andrea Shipley

Snake River Alliance

Executive Director