[imc-st.louis] Fwd: TWO Hearings on CWIP Bills Tuesday, Feb. 10

Sat Feb 7 18:34:03 PST 2009

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Missourians for Safe Energy <mail at mosafeenergy.org>
Date: Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 1:52 PM
Subject: [MSE_Eastern-Mo] TWO Hearings on CWIP Bills Tuesday, Feb. 10
To: MSE Mid-Mo List <MSE_Mid-MO at midmopeaceworks.org>, MSE Eastern-Mo List <
MSE_Eastern-Mo at midmopeaceworks.org>, MSE Western-Mo List <
mse_western-mo at midmopeaceworks.org>, MSE Southern-Mo List <
mse_southern-mo at midmopeaceworks.org>

 Hello friends,

Thanks to all of you who participated in the CWIP Truth Tour this week. We
had four excellent programs that drew more than 200 participants. Our
message reached thousands more Missourians through radio interviews and
other media coverage. There is, however, still much work to be done to get
the word out to our fellow citizens and our state legislature.

=============================================

*HEARINGS TUESDAY:*  It seems that Ameren is eager to push their CWIP bill
through as quickly as possible. Their allies in the legislature have now
filed two versions of the No-CWIP repeal. The original Senate CWIP bill, SB
228, now has a House companion, HB 554.  There will be hearings on both of
these this coming Tuesday, Feb. 10.

*HOUSE HEARING AT NOON:*  The hearing on HB 554 will be held in Hearing Room
#1 at 12 noon. (Note, this is a small hearing room, so arrive early to
assure seating.)

*SENATE HEARING AT 3 P.M.:*  The hearing on SB 228 will be held in the
Senate Lounge at 3 p.m.

We know that this is during the workday for most people, but we are looking
for folks who are able to attend. We would like to get as many people as
possible to turn out to show opposition to CWIP.

=============================================

*SOUND OFF:*

We also would encourage everyone, including those who can go to Jefferson
City as well as the majority of folks who can't, to make your views heard.

The first step would be to make sure that your state Representative and your
state Senator know where you stand and why.

 If you don't know who these people are, you can go to a "legislator finder"
at http://www.senate.mo.gov/llookup/leg_lookup.aspx   All you need to get
their contact info is your nine-digit zip code.

If you don't know this, you can go to
http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jspput in your address and you'll
get your full zip code.

Calls are probably most effective, but letters, faxes and e-mails all can
help as well.

*CONTACT COMMITTEE MEMBERS:*

In addition to contacting your own Rep and Senator, please consider making
your views known to the members of the two committees hearing the bills.

You can access a list of members of the House Utilities Committee at:
http://house.mo.gov/content.aspx?info=/bills091/commit/com461.htm

You can the Senate Commerce, Consumer Protection, Energy & Environment
Committee at: http://www.senate.mo.gov/09info/comm/COMM.htm

Each of these pages provides a clickable list. When you click on a members
name, you get their page with phone, e-mail, fax (only some have this) and
postal addresses.

===============================================

*KEY TALKING POINTS:*

*** CWIP IS UNFAIR:*  CWIP unfairly transfers risk from investor to
consumer. Consumers may be paying for a plant that will never be completed.
The risk is very real, and that's why private investors won't finance
nuclear plants. In addition, many of the consumers paying might not be
around to ever benefit from the power the plant will generate.

*** CWIP DOES NOT LOWER COSTS:*  CWIP transfers costs from the utility to
its customers, but does nothing to reduce the actual costs of building the
plant. Consumers pay years before they receive any power. This reduces their
ability to save or invest, or increases their debt burden, making it harder
to pay off high interest debts, like credit cards.

*** CWIP WILL HURT OUR ECONOMY:*  CWIP will raise the bills of consumers and
businesses when we can least afford it. If enacted now, it will take
purchasing power out of Missouri's economy during a severe downturn.
Whatever jobs might ultimately be created are at least three years in the
future, but job losses are likely to occur due to higher rates in the near
future.

*** NOT PRUDENT FOR INVESTORS? SURELY NOT PRUDENT FOR CUSTOMERS:*  AmerenUE
Chief Executive Thomas Voss told the *St. Louis Post Dispatch* (6/9/08) that
they would not build Callaway 2, a massive and very expensive new nuclear
reactor, without CWIP: "*'We just couldn't do it,' he said in an interview.
'The risk would be too great. We don't think people would lend us the money.
We don't think our board of directors would approve it. And we don't think
our stockholders would think it's prudent.'"*  For once we agree with
Ameren, given the high costs and risks, as well as the availability of much
more affordable energy, it's not prudent.

And, if an investment was prudent, CWIP would not be needed.

*** CWIP SKEWS UTILITIES TOWARD MORE EXPENSIVE PLANTS W/LONG LEAD TIMES:*
The most cost effective investments that can be made right now are in
efficiency improvements that reduce energy consumption. These can be done
quickly, entail very few risks and don't require CWIP financing. Likewise,
renewable generating capacity, primarily wind farms, are modular, quick to
build and don't need CWIP. These investments will yield reductions in
greenhouse gas emissions in the near term. If Ameren locks into building
Callaway 2, however, the cost and size of the investment will leave them
with neither funds nor the incentive to pursue efficiency or renewable
energy.

*** THIS BILL HAS A DECEPTIVE TITLE:*  They are calling it the "Clean and
Renewable Energy Construction Act." This is a blatant attempt at
greenwashing. As noted above, clean and renewable sources don't entail the
risks or lead times of nuclear plants and thus have never looked for CWIP
financing.

*** THIS BILL IS MORE THAN A NO-CWIP REPEAL:*  The proposed statute includes
a lengthy utility wish list including exemption of PSC actions from judicial
review, insuring that monies invested in plants later canceled are charged
to ratepayers, not stockholders, providing a flawed prudence review process
that locks in as prudent expenses that would likely be discovered later to
be imprudent, and much more.

*** DON'T OVERRIDE THE WILL OF THE VOTERS:*  The current No-CWIP law was
enacted by the voters and, over the past 32 years has saved Missouri
ratepayers billions. It would be very undemocratic for the legislature to
overturn this law without at the very least allowing a vote on the issue.

*** VISIT MISSOURIANS FOR FAIR ELECTRIC RATES WEBSITE:*  Please go to *
www.nocwip.org* <http://www.nocwip.org> for more info, to see endorsers
list, to sign your organization up as an endorser and more.

===========================================

Please contact MSE if you need more info or would like to help in any way.

Thanks for your efforts to stop this massive misdirection of resources away
from a sustainable, consumer-friendly energy future.

Your friends at MSE

   Missourians for Safe Energy
804-C E. Broadway
Columbia, MO 65201
573-875-0539

E-mail: mail at mosafeenergy.org

_______________________________________________
MSE_Eastern-Mo mailing list
MSE_Eastern-Mo at midmopeaceworks.org
http://lists.midmopeaceworks.org/mailman/listinfo/mse_eastern-mo

-- 
Ben West
westbywest at gmail.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-stlouis/attachments/20090207/4a85fa01/attachment-0001.htm 