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WESTINGHOUSE BANKRUPTCY DEALS TROUBLED GREEN RIVER NUKE BID HUGE BLOW
PROJECT FOE CALLS ON BLUE CASTLE TO ABANDON PROJECT
In response to today’s news that Westinghouse — the company with which struggling Blue Castle Holdings claimed it was partnering to build the Green River nuclear reactors — has filed for bankruptcy, HEAL Utah called upon Blue Castle to abandon their troubled bid.
“The list of Blue Castle’s failures was already long,” says HEAL Utah’s Policy Director Ashley Soltysiak. “The project has failed to raise money from investors or attract interest from utilities. They’ve been unable to pay their bills for the water they leased to cool the project. And, now, they’ve lost the company that was allegedly going to design and build their reactors. It’s time to shut it down.”
Soltysiak pointed out that reports about Westinghouse’s bankruptcy indicate the company may not be able to complete projects in Georgia and South Carolina which it is in the middle of building — let alone to continue to work on those which are years from federal approval and construction, like Blue Castle. As recently as January, Blue Castle’s CEO, former state Rep. Aaron Tilton, said in a media briefing that they were continuing to work with Westinghouse.
“Take a step back for a moment,” said Soltysiak. “A decade after announcing your plan to start a new business, you still haven’t found anyone to finance it or anyone to buy what you’re selling. Now the company that was going to design and build it has gone out of business.”
One major reason Tilton and Blue Castle should terminate their project, HEAL says, is so that rural Utah communities who have been linked to the bid for a decade can move forward to develop their economies and make plans for their water. Blue Castle has leased water from the San Juan and Kane county water conservancy districts and has received support from Emery County Economic Development officials.
“Rural Utah faces serious challenges,” said Soltysiak. “For 10 years now, Tilton has strung these counties along and promised them jobs and revenue that are obviously never coming. It’s past time for Blue Castle to do the decent thing and admit the obvious: The Green River nuclear reactors will never be built.”
For more information, call HEAL’s Policy Director Ashley Soltysiak at (616)-485-8290.
Background on Blue Castle and their struggles:
Nov. Trib story on BCH failing to make water payments: http://www.sltrib.com/home/
2014 HEAL op-ed detailing BCH’s May struggles: http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/
2013 Trib story about BCH’s troubled finances: http://archive.sltrib.com/