The State Senator who sponsored the now dead Construction Work in Progress (CWIP) bill says the legislation was doomed as a result of the failure to reach consensus. CWIP would have allowed AmerenUE – the state’s largest electric utility – to charge ratepayers for the costs of building a second nuclear plant in Callaway County while the facility was still being built. Senator Delbert Scott (R-Lowry City) says it was impossible to change the opinions of opinions.
“We never could really get the opponents to identify what they were against,” said Scott. “It was more of a bigger concept and I think that varied from opponent to opponent. Noranda said, ‘We’re not for a little bill, we’re not for a big bill, we’re not for part of a bill, we’re against everything.'”
Scott adds Governor Jay Nixon might have contributed to the bill’s demise.
“I think one real killer was that the Governor told Ameren and some other folks that he would veto a bill that had CWIP in it,” said Scott. “So, there’s really no reason to go to that effort if the Governor’s going to kill it.”
Scott says the last meeting involving Ameren and other interested parties was on Wednesday of last week in his office and it became apparent, at that time, the desire to reach compromise did not exist.