By Anton Caputo
San Antonio Express-News

As CPS Energy continues to present its case to the public for spending billions of dollars on two nuclear reactors, community groups opposed to the plan are banding together to make their own case.

A new organization, calling itself Energia Mia, is holding a press conference today before one of CPS Energy's neighborhood meetings that were set up for the utility to answer questions about its plan to partner in the expansion of the nuclear South Texas Project outside of Bay City.

"We have noticed that there are a lot of groups in San Antonio that have different reasons for opposing nuclear energy, but all have come to the conclusion that it is not in our best interest," said Cindy Weehler of the Consumers' Energy Coalition and one of Energia Mia's organizers. "We decided that we are going to have a venue or a forum. CPS is going out and educating the community on their side of the issue. We would like to educate people to our side of the issue."

Among the organizations scheduled to be represented at today's event are the Southwest Workers Union, Project Verde, Alamo Group of the Sierra Club, Highland Hills Neighborhood Association, Jefferson Heights Neighborhood Association, Texas Drought Project, Green Party and the San Antonio Area Progressive Action Coalition.

They take issue with CPS Energy's plan to partner with New Jersey-based NRG Energy to build two more nuclear reactors near Bay City. CPS estimates the project will cost $13 billion, with the city-owned utility's 40 percent share putting it on the hook for roughly $5.2 billion.

Utility officials contend that the nuclear plan, despite its eye-popping price tag and guaranteed rate increases, is the most cost-effective way to offer San Antonio reliable energy in the coming decades.

Weehler said Energia Mia will attend all CPS community meetings to offer their side of the debate, which the group also plans to push on its Web site, www.EnergiaMia.org.

So far, questions about cost have dominated the discussion.

There probably won't be a firm price tag for the project until 2012, which is when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is likely to issue a permit and a construction contract can be signed. But CPS has already spent or budgeted $276 million for engineering and permitting and is expected to come to the City Council in October to ask for permission to issue between $300 million and $400 million in bonds, most of which will pay for additional nuclear investment.

Former District 5 Council Member Patti Radle is a member of Energia Mia. She said the group will be pushing people to voice to the City Council their opposition. Although cost has been the hottest topic, Radle said that, in her district at least, there is concern about the nuclear waste that two new reactors would leave behind.

"There are people who are just afraid," she said. "In my own district here we have had to suffer under the threat of the contamination from Kelly (Air Force Base). That's very local, but we know about contamination here."

The press conference begins at 5 p.m. at St. Paul's Community Center, 1201 Donaldson Ave., where CPS Energy will hold its District 7 community event at 6 p.m.

COPS/Metro Alliance, which has been very active in the nuclear issue, is not a member of Energia Mia. Paul Martinez, one of the organization's leaders, said CPS Energy has not yet provided the group enough information to take a stand on nuclear.

"We cannot make an informed decision at this time to support it or not," he said.

Staff writer Tracy Idell Hamiltom contributed to this report.

Fair Use Notice.