The state’s largest utility company has completed its nuclear feasibility study and decided to not move to the next stage and pursue a new nuclear plant in Iowa. The study began in 2010 to find out if there were viable sites in Iowa for nuclear plants, the safety of new nuclear technology, and the cost of building new plants compared to natural gas plants. MidAmerican vice president of regulatory affairs, Dean Crist, says the study answered all of the questions.“We did find viable sites in Iowa, the most highly-ranked sites — one was in Fremont County, one was in Muscatine County — so we did answer that question for the state. Also, in looking at the new technology, it looks like the new technology is safer than the current technology and it has a lot of aspects to it that would lend itself to be in a good baseload plan,”according to Crist.  

He says they also found a nuclear plant could compete with a natural gas plant if a carbon tax is in place. Crist says they looked at all those factors in deciding whether to take the next step.”What we chose to do at the end here is to pause while environmental regulations take on more certainty — so we know what those are — natural gas prices, those sort of things. We feel it is appropriate to end the study now and not continue on with further development at this time,” Crist says. Crist says it will likely be several years before the company makes any decision on building either a new natural gas or nuclear plant.

The legislation approving the study allowed MidAmerican to collect money from customers to fund the study. Crist says the decision they have made will mean a refund to customers. They will begin refunding of eight-point-eight million of the over 14-million dollars in funding collected beginning in August of this year and running through July of next year. Crist says the study itself generated a lot of comments from Muscatine and Fremont counties that were both positive and negative about locating a nuclear plant in those areas. But he says those did not factor into their decision, as they stuck with answering the three questions about feasibility.

“Certainly appreciate everyone that provided comments, in the end the assessment answered those three questions and did get into further analysis of how acceptable a community might be to a plant. That would be in further analysis if you would proceed to construct a plant,” Crist says.The company will not buy any land in Iowa at this time to develop a nuclear generation facility, and MidAmerican Energy will let land options it had in Fremont County expire.

(Radio Iowa)

The Supervisors in Shelby County have announced the county is now debt free. In a regular board meeting this (Tuesday) morning, the Supervisors approved to pay off a bond issue that was used for road grating on the dairy road in the county. The remaining debt was $710,000 and the county has been receiving tax fund from the dairy and put it in the Tax Implement Fund (TIF). The county taxed the maximum and took the extra to pay off the bond early.

Shelby County Auditor Marsha Carter said during the meeting, the TIF wasn’t quite enough to pay off the whole balance of the bond so part of the payment comes from the general fund. However, the County will still receive tax money from the dairy to pay back the general funds. Slightly more than $183,584 out of the general fund will be repaid in around a year and half. The Supervisors actually saved the county $72,425 in interest paid to the bond issue. Supervisor Roger Schmitz called it “A good day for the County.”

In other business, Warren Andrew from Andrew Tuckpointing gave a presentation on the work scheduled for later this year on the Shelby County Courthouse. Last year, Andrew’s crew worked on the east side of the square replacing stones and making other improvements. This year, the county is looking to work on the west side of the building to tuckpoint and replace even more stones. Andrew told the Supervisors the project would include power washing, tuckpointing the mortars and caulking. The Supervisors approved the project with a limit of not exceeding $50,000.

The project on the Shelby County Courthouse will start sometime in the fall after all activities have commenced on the square in Harlan.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

An accident in Atlantic late Monday morning caused a total of $6,000 damage, but no one was injured. The Police Department reports vehicles driven by Danielle Lambert, of Kersey, CO, and Virginia Jordan, of Atlantic, collided at around 11:45-a.m. near the intersection of 4th and Poplar Streets, when Lambert Failed to Yield as she entered the roadway westbound from a parking lot, and attempted to turn north on Poplar. Lambert was cited for the offense.

An Atlantic woman was arrested Monday for Unlawful Possession of Prescription Medication. The Police Department reports 32-year old Abigail Lennon was booked into the Cass County Jail and held pending an initial appearance before the magistrate. And, 22-year old Steven Pedersen, of Atlantic, was arrested Monday on a Cass County warrant charging him with being an Accessory after the Fact. Pederson was booked into the Cass County Jail and also held, pending a court appearance.

Three Cass County Sheriff’s deputies and one former Audubon County Sheriff’s deputy have been honored with the U.S. Department of Justice’s 2013 Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee (LECC) Award. Deputies Benjamin Bartholomew, Josh McLaren, and Kyle Quist, as well as Quist’s K9 partner, Kane, from Cass County, and Deputy Kent Gries, formerly from Audubon County and currently from Guthrie County, were nominated for the LECC by Chief Jody Matherly from the Des Moines Police Department.  The joint efforts of the Des Moines DEA Task Force and the Cass County Sheriff’s Office allowed the Des Moines DEA Task Force to take down a major methamphetamine drug trafficker in the Des Moines Metro Area and took 24 pounds of liquid methamphetamines off the streets. 

LECC awards are presented to recognize the extraordinary efforts made by law enforcement officers, groups, and task forces, and the successful law enforcement investigations and prosecutions that have been characterized by cooperative and coordinated efforts among various agencies. The LECC is comprised of representatives from local, state, and federal law enforcement across Iowa.

Police in Lenox received a surprise when they pulled over a vehicle late Monday for erratic driving and no headlights. Officers pulled the vehicle over at around 11:50-p.m., at the intersection of Brooks and Iowa Streets, and discovered the car was being driven by a 13-year old. Following investigation into why the  teen had the vehicle, they were released to the custody of their parents.

Charges of operating without owners consent and operating vehicle without a drivers license are being referred to juvenile court.

w/ Ric Hanson

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – MidAmerican Energy has decided against building a second nuclear power plant in Iowa and against building any major power plant for now.  The Des Moines Register reports  that MidAmerican says there is no approved design for the nuclear plant it wanted to build and there are too many questions about limits on carbon emissions from a natural gas plant. Iowa has one nuclear power plant, the Duane Arnold plant near Palo.
 
MidAmerican Vice President Dean Crist told the newspaper that a feasibility study found that 700-acre sites near Thurman in southwest Iowa and Wilton in southeast Iowa would have worked for a new nuclear plant, which was expected to cost around $1 billion.  MidAmerican says it will refund $8.8 million that its customers paid for the feasibility study.

Police in Red Oak tasered a local man Monday night, after he ran from authorities following a traffic stop. The Red Oak Police Department reports 18-year old Shae Daniel Lewis, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 11:40-p.m. in the 900 block of east Senate Avenue, following a brief foot pursuit. Officials say Lewis was a passenger in a vehicle that had been stopped in the City View parking lot, in Red Oak.

Immediately after the vehicle was pulled over, authorites say Lewis jumped out and took off on foot southbound, toward Senate Avenue. Officers chased the man and several times ordered him to stop. When he failed to comply, officers deployed an X-25 Taser, which hit Lewis in the back and caused him to drop to the ground. Lewis was allegedly found to be intoxicated, and under the legal age to consume alcohol.

After being brought to the Montgomery County Jail and booked in, officials discovered Lewis allegdly brought a controlled substance into the facility. He was subsequently charged with a felony count of entering contraband into a jail facility, possession of marijuana/serious misdemeanor, and public intoxication as well as interference with official acts, both of which are simple misdemeanors. Lewis was also cited for being in possession of alcohol under the legal age.

He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $5,000 cash bond.