A Twin Falls activist has recruited a new ally in his effort to change siting laws for nuclear power plants.

Jerome County Commissioner Diana Obenauer has joined the grassroots campaign of Peter Rickards, a Twin Falls podiatrist and longtime anti-nuclear activist who wants to pass a ballot initiative that would require statewide voter approval for nuclear power plant permits.

The endorsement is significant because Obenauer is a Republican county commissioner, and most conservative lawmakers in Idaho want to leave permit issues up to county boards.

Obenauer thinks that's a bad idea.

"The residuals that come from these power plants don't stop at a county line," she said. "More people besides commissioners need to be involved in the siting process. I wouldn't want a nuclear facility built in Wendell in Gooding County without a say, because I'm downwind."

Earlier this year, Rickards announced plans to gather 46,000 signatures required for a statewide ballot initiative. If his measure passes, new nuclear power plant permits would require the approval of two-thirds of Idaho voters. The proposal is based on similar laws in Oregon and Washington.

Under current Idaho law, nuclear permits are granted by three-person county boards, in most cases. That's how many Republicans would like to keep it, saying local decisions should be made by local people.

Activists and Democrats have said lay commissioners lack the expertise to make complex siting decisions for nuclear plants. And they say externalities from a nuclear plant - fallout in a disaster, for example - would affect the entire state, not just the county in which the permit is granted.

Similar arguments were made in 2005, when activists fought to block a coal-fired power plant from being built in Jerome County. Commissioners had approved the siting permits, but the plans were called off amid public outcry when then-Gov. Jim Risch declared a moratorium on coal plants, essentially sidestepping the local control issue.

"We've already seen county commissioners make bad decisions," Rickards said, referencing the coal-fired controversy. "We're all 'local' citizens for such huge-impact risks."

Two companies have announced plans to build commercial nuclear power plants in Idaho - one in Owyhee County, the other in Payette. If built, they'd be the state's first.

Obenauer plans to spread her nuclear and radiation expertise, which she gathered as a medical administrator in the military, with politicians and policy shapers, she said.

Meanwhile, Rickards and about 50 other activists will begin the arduous task of collecting signatures.

The attorney general's office is reviewing the proposal, which is customary with ballot initiatives, but is yet to offer a recommendation.

Matt Christensen may be reached at 735-3243 or at matt.christensen@lee.net.