Poll: Missourians support nuclear power
A new poll shows that Missourians still support nuclear power, even after the nuclear disaster in Japan.
Missourians for a Balanced Energy Future, which supports legislation that would allow Ameren and other utilities to recoup from customers the cost of a site permit for a new nuclear plant in Callaway County, released a statewide survey Tuesday that demonstrates public support for nuclear power, construction of a second nuclear power plant and keeping open the option of more nuclear power for the state.
The poll, conducted Thursday through Saturday, found that 53 percent of Missourians continue to support the use of nuclear power compared with 29 percent who oppose it. About 60 percent said they support constructing a new nuclear power plant in Missouri. By a margin of 66 percent to 27 percent, respondents said they believe Missouri must not close off the option of building a new nuclear power plant.
Find a summary of the poll results here.
“This polling data back up all the efforts we’ve made to pass a nuclear site permit bill in the General Assembly,” said Irl Scissors, MBEF’s executive director.
But the Fair Energy Rate Action Fund, which represents several of Missouri’s largest employers, includingAnheuser-Busch, Ford Motor Co. and Noranda Aluminum, said there was a glaring omission in the poll conducted by the Missourians for a Balanced Energy Future. The poll failed to ask Missourians, “Do you support paying for Ameren’s early site permit?” said FERAF Director Chris Roepe, and that is the real question that needs to be answered and should be the center of the debate.
Ameren’s unwillingness to use the hundreds of millions it has already received from numerous rate increases on Missouri consumers and its desire to change state law so it can force consumers to pay for its early site permit, make consumer protections essential, Roepe said.
“Proponents of forcing consumers to pay for Ameren’s early site permit are trying to make this issue about Missouri needing nuclear energy, but the real issue is about who is going to pay for it,” he said.
The poll results reflect another survey recently conducted by the St. Louis Business Journal asking, “Have you changed your mind about nuclear power since the disaster in Japan?” Of the 1,675 online respondents, 76 percent said they were for nuclear power before the disaster and still are.
Ameren’s senior nuclear operators met Wednesday with the Public Service Commission, Missouri’s utilities regulators.
-Kelsey Volkmann
