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When Janice Hill thinks about nuclear energy, she considers her children and grandchildren.

The Victoria County landowner hasn’t been satisfied with answers about where nuclear waste will go, but she plans to go to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission meeting to ask some hard questions.

“I think there are other alternatives that will be safer for the generations to come,” she said, thinking about her land five miles north of the proposed Exelon nuclear power plant site in McFaddin.

The public should stand up and ask questions, John Figer, executive director of Texans for a Sound Energy Policy Alliance said. He welcomes debate.

Figer and landowners, who fear their property would be seized or changed, prompted a discussion about the nuclear project with city leaders Thursday afternoon in a meeting room at the McKenzie Law Firm on Main Street.

Cyrus Reed and Donna Hoffman from the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club visited Victoria for a Lion’s Club meeting, but stopped by the law firm because more residents expressed an interest in their views on nuclear power.

Reed, conservation director, encouraged participation for the Aug. 7 Nuclear Regulatory Commission meeting and discussed the licensing process and the points at where residents could voice concerns about nuclear power.

The Sierra Club is opposed to nuclear power, favoring renewable energy and efficiency.

Exelon also invites the public to attend the meeting at the Victoria Community Center to see how the process works and to ask questions, Craig Nesbit, vice president of communications, said. Nuclear should be part of the state’s energy future along with solar, wind and coal, he said.

“There’s a place for everything,” Nesbit said. “You have to have electricity. You have to have baseload power.”

Every megawatt of renewable energy in the grid needs to be backed by baseload power, he said.

Figer and attorney Sandra McKenzie questioned the economic benefit of the plant for Victoria.

The Victoria Economic Development Corp. studied job count increases, which could benefit the area two to three times over in a multiplier effect, vice president of marketing Adrian Cannady responded.

Hill asked why Victoria couldn’t go after other industries.

The VEDC would love to grow the area economy, even with the possibility of solar manufacturing, Cannady said. He said the goal is to increase job opportunity and the tax base.

The Alliance isn’t opposed to nuclear power, but is against the proposed site in McFaddin, Figer said. He would like to see the plant built near the South Texas Project in Matagorda County where Exelon would already have all the infrastructure to connect to the grid.

Landowners need to think about transmission lines on their property, he said. He already opposed a heavy haul road proposed to be built through the Paradise Ranch properties.

When Exelon provided a heavy haul road license agreement, he wasn’t happy to see papers explaining condemnation attached. He worried land would be seized from the owners.

“That’s the first thing that raised my red flag,” Figer said. “This isn’t my first rodeo.”

Hill said her fears were heightened when she received a citation to allow the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority on her property to study land for a proposed pipeline from the Coleto Creek Reservoir to the proposed nuclear site.

GBRA contracted 75,000 acre-feet of water to Exelon and handles its water issues.

“I did not want them on my property,” Hill said, but admits she ignored phone calls.

GBRA needed to conduct an environmental assessment to examine any archeological or environmental issues along the route, GBRA general manager Bill West said.

“That’s the law,” he added.

If built, the pipeline would be buried and GBRA would need to obtain land easements to finish the project.

Nesbit said he understands the concerns of landowners with this project. He knows the plant would need a heavy haul road, transmission lines and infrastructure, but he said it’s not any different from any other kind of power plant. The company decided against building at the STP site because the subsoil was too deep and the expense to fix it changed the cost structure of the project, he said.

He encouraged residents with concerns to stop by the Exelon office at 114 Main St.

Tara Bozick is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact her at 361-580-6504 or tbozick@vicad.com.