Board schedules public hearing, seeks more data on CIPCO thermal‑electric proposal

A supervisor asked how the upcoming CIPCO proposal would be handled and whether the county attorney should be present; the chair said he planned a public hearing in the next cycle and that staff would invite formal presenters.

The chair summarized the central question: "The question before us is do we allow thermal electric energy in Scott County?" He said CIPCO had provided projections showing electricity demand rising about 1.5% per year (past 20 years and next 20 years were provided), but that CIPCO had supplied limited information on existing capacity. "They have provided that to me, and that's about, we increase about 1.5 percent per year," the chair said. He added that without clearer capacity data from CIPCO the board’s decision is harder to make.

A committee member asked whether additional information from CIPCO was forthcoming and whether the county attorney needed to attend the hearing; staff said they would invite presenters and that formal presentations taking longer than the public‑comment allotment would be scheduled. Another supervisor urged the board continue to consider alternative ways of meeting energy needs and noted that the current CIPCO/ZIP‑proposal was not the only option.

The discussion closed with the chair saying he doubted new CIPCO material would arrive in the next two weeks but said he would continue to press for information and schedule the public hearing. No formal decision on the substance of CIPCO’s proposal was made at this meeting; the item is set to return for public hearing and further staff follow‑up.