WA governor urged to veto $25M for nuclear power project

Environmentalists and tribal leaders want Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to veto a $25 million earmark in the state capital budget for deploying the next generation of nuclear reactors.

Those dollars are set to go to Energy Northwest, a consortium of 28 public utility districts and municipalities that is in the midst of a yearslong effort to develop and, if feasible, deploy small modular nuclear reactors at a site in central Washington.

“This funding could be much better used for proven renewable energy technologies. Nuclear power, including small modular reactors, is too costly, too dirty, and too late to be part of the solution to climate change,” wrote Kelly Campbell, policy director for Columbia Riverkeeper, in a March 15 email to a top Inslee advisor.

Columbia Riverkeeper and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation both lobbied against including the money in the budget and now want Inslee to take it out. The governor is scheduled to act on the capital budget Friday morning in Seattle.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2024/03/27/wa-governor-urged-to-veto-25m-for-nuclear-power-project/