Austin leaders appeal to San Antonio on nuclear plant

10/26/2007

KLBJ590AM
Newsroom

Austin City Council Member Jennifer Kim is joining with leaders of several environmental groups to ask San Antonio officials to postpone a decision on whether to participate in a planned expansion of the South Texas Project. San Antonio's City Public Service and Austin Energy are both minority owners of the nuclear power plant in Bay City. The private company that controls the largest stake in the plant has announced plans to build two new reactors at the facility, which would be the first new nuclear reactors in the United States in approximately three decades.

"It's far too big an investment to rush into without careful consideration," said Karen Hadden with the SEED Coalition. She was joined at Austin City Hall by Council Member Jennifer Kim, who had a message for her counterparts in San Antonio.

"Austin should be exploring all of our options with renewable energy sources," she said. "Austin is only a 16 percent owner of the plant...so we don't have a voting majority. Unfortunately, we're not in a position to stop this plant right now."

San Antonio officials have scheduled a public meeting next week to take input before they decide whether to invest financially in the new reactors.

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