Ameren nuclear plant backer: Anheuser-Busch, Noranda killed bill Read more: Ameren nuclear plant backer: Anheuser-Busch, Noranda killed bill
Anheuser-Busch and Noranda Aluminum, two of Ameren‘s biggest customers, are responsible for killing a bill that would have allowed utilities to pass on to customers the $45 million cost of a site permit for a new nuclear plant in Callway County, plant supporters said.
“There was plenty of time to get something done and there was a sincere effort. The fact that we had to wait two and a half months to have a hearing … I think it’s pretty easy to point your finger at what happened,” said Irl Scissors, executive director of Missourians for a Balanced Energy Future, which lobbied in support of the legislation.
“We let these two companies dictate Missouri state energy policy to the point where we don’t have one. It’s very disappointing.”
This year’s legislative session ended Friday.
Scissors said he remains optimistic that the bill will pass eventually, either in a special session or during next year’s legislative session.
“We put together a huge groundswell of support from across the state,” he said, pointing to the bill’s 20 co-sponsors and support from various chambers of commerce.
“We are very close to having something,” said Scissors, who noted that it usually takes one or two attempts for a bill to pass.
The Fair Energy Rate Action Fund, which represents several of Missouri’s largest employers, including Anheuser-Busch, Noranda Aluminum and Ford Motor Co., said it reached an agreement with lawmakers on the last day of the legislative session that it still hopes will be passed into law at the first opportunity.
That deal includes a hard cap of $45 million, additional funding for the Office of Public Counsel to beef up consumer protections and a rebate if the site permit is sold or transferred, said Chris Roepe, director of FERAF.
“If supporters would have been willing to put in proper consumer protections when (the bill) was first rolled out,” the legislation could have passed, he said. “We got that agreement, but unfortunately it happened too late.”
“Ameren chooses to blame a couple of Missouri’s largest employers,” Roepe said. “But people seem to miss the point that there were no consumer protection groups that were supporting it either,” including AARP.
-Kelsey Volkmann
