PRICE -- A bench trial started Monday over the plans to build a nuclear power plant along the Green River.
The case is called “Heal Utah versus Kane County,” and is scheduled to last all week.
The proposed nuclear plant would utilize water from Kane and San Juan Counties to cool its reactors. Blue Castle Holdings, the company behind the plant, stated the project would be a good thing for the state in the long run.
CEO and president of Blue Castle Holdings, Aaron Tilton, testified that there’s a huge interest in the project. Many investors have expressed interest to help fund the plant.
“Power plants are not constructed based off of initial licenses,” Tilton said. “It’s constructed off of eventual owners who then build those in their balance sheets.”
One of the company’s engineer’s testified that there’s more than enough water to support the project even in drought years. It could also help to create thousands of jobs across the state.
The plaintiff’s attorney questioned the company’s stability in paying for the project, saying it still needs to $40 million.
“The CEO of the company vaguely said they would look to investors to try to fill that gap,” said Matt Pacenza, Heal Utah policy director. “I imagine they’ve been looking to investors since 2097 when this idea first surfaced and haven't really had any success.”
