Five years after it began to study the feasibility of using the Mississippi River in the Quad Cities to generate electricity, a South Dakota-based utility company has decided to drop the project. Based in Sioux City, Missouri River Energy Services had been considering building a hydro power dam at Lock and Dam 15.
Spokesman Ray Wahle says there are just too many unknowns right now, including government regulations on clean energy, and because typically projects like this can take 15 years to get started.
Wahle says hydro electric power is clean, reliable, renewable, and "well understood," but there are very few projects in the works these days.
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His company is still interested in hydro power, but has decided to focus its attention on its other forms of generation for now - fossil fuel, nuclear, wind, and solar.
Because Missouri River Energy Services dropped its study of Lock and Dam 15 and the Mississippi River, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is free to accept proposals from other companies.