The chairman of the Butte-Silver Bow Council of Commissioners says a man who claimed that federal regulators had “greenlit” his plan to establish a small nuclear power plant in Butte has “given us no reason to trust him.”
Shawn Fredrickson’s concerns about Christian Barlow’s credibility are shared by Todd Tregidga, longtime chairman of the board overseeing the county’s industrial park taxing district, where Barlow says he wants to buy land.
Barlow told commissioners last week that his project had the blessings of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and said Westinghouse Electric was “already game to do the project within the county” — claims both entities say are false.
“I don’t want to speak on behalf of the board, but I will tell you that based on what we have learned … he would have an extremely high hurdle to be able to get over for us to really support anything (from Barlow) going forward,” Tregidga told The Montana Standard on Monday.
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Barlow said one of his companies makes ionizers and other clean-air devices and he wants to manufacture them here, along with other products, under a venture called XGen Holdings.
His plan was to eventually use nuclear energy to power his plant and hopefully neighboring ones, too, and he said the NRC had “greenlit” the project and Westinghouse was also engaged in it.
His plans were reported by a television station and radio station but Lee Montana reported Friday that several of Barlow’s claims were false, according to regulators.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulates all things nuclear in the U.S. and it said it had no applications from XGen, had approved nothing from XGen and there have been no discussions with anyone about nuclear power plants in Montana. Westinghouse has since told The Standard it has no formal ties or agreements with Barlow.
In emails and phone conversations with The Standard after the council meeting, Barlow said building a small nuclear reactor would take years and require NRC review. He also said he would use Westinghouse technology where applicable but was not “vested exclusively” with the company.
County Chief Executive J.P. Gallagher told The Standard on Friday that Barlow’s statements about nuclear power were “100% his information and not any that Butte-Silver Bow has provided.”
But Gallagher said Barlow had talked with state officials about his proposals, that those communications had proved to be valid, “and we are excited for Mr. Barlow to bring these companies to Butte-Silver Bow working with the Department of Commerce at the state.”
“As I stated locating and permitting of any such Nuclear Site will be the responsibility of Mr. Barlow and his group,” Gallagher wrote in a statement to The Standard and other media Friday. “Butte-Silver Bow is willing to be part of these conversations and look forward to learning more about Mr. Barlow’s proposed projects moving forward.”
But sale of Butte-Silver Bow land for any purpose needs approval from the Council of Commissioners, and a purchase inside the industrial park also needs a nod and recommendation from the Tax Increment Finance Industrial District board.
Fredrickson chairs the 12-member Council of Commissioners and is also a member of the TIFID board. He said that given Lee Montana reports Friday, he was skeptical about any land sale to Barlow for any purpose.
“I don’t want to speak for the rest of the TIFID board but that’s a pretty steep hill to climb right there,” Fredrickson told The Standard on Monday. “And then on council, he has not gained any of the council’s trust so far. We have started off on the wrong foot.”
Barlow pitched his proposal to council last Wednesday night, April 10, including plans to build a 500-megawatt nuclear power plant to power operations, and said he hoped to buy 160 acres of land in the TIFID in the next two to three months.
Those kinds of proposals are usually vetted and recommended by the TIFID board before coming to council, but in this instance, county officials had Barlow speak to commissioners first. And several responded positively that night.
“He’s been working with the (county) executive branch and they felt like this was the best way to get him out here to see if he was serious, to give a public presentation,” Fredrickson said. “He hasn’t asked anything of us.
“There’s no harm, no foul in giving us a presentation (but) he clearly said some things that weren’t true at all,’ Fredrickson said. “Relationships are all about trust and so far, Mr. Barlow has given us no reason to trust him.”
Kristen Rosa, who manages the TIFID for Butte-Silver Bow, said county officials have had some discussions with Barlow but no buy-sell agreement had been proposed. They wanted a presentation to council first, she said.
She told the TIFD board about the presentation on Friday but that was before news reports on the NRC and Westinghouse refuting Barlow’s claims.
“We hadn’t seen anything on that so I just expressed to the board that this gentleman had presented,” Rosa said Tuesday. “I was under the impression that he would be bringing additional people to the (council) presentation. Apparently that didn’t work out.”
Rosa said he spoke with Barlow briefly after the council meeting.
“I said we would have to work through a purchase-sale agreement and how we as a county want to make sure we’re identifying the projects he plans on bringing in and verifying that … if for some reason we set up milestones, and if we don’t make those milestones, that we have the ability to either take the property back or revisit,” Rosa said.
She said she had not spoken with Barlow since the more recent news reports, but based on them, county officials “would obviously want to have some more in-depth conversations” about Barlow’s proposals.
Tregidga, the chairman of the TIFID board, said it was Rosa’s and the board’s responsibility to fully vet anyone who wants to purchase land in the business park.
“Anytime you’re looking to do business with somebody, one of the hallmark pieces to the puzzle is credibility,” said Tregidga, an assistant professor in the Business and Information Technology Department at Montana Technological University.
“I don’t want to close off the potential (with Barlow),” he said. “I think more information just needs to be understood because I don’t want to shoot anybody down for being aggressive. But by the same token, disingenuous is definitely not something we’re really excited about doing business with.”
Barlow said he had a company called IAQ-cpr that had air-quality devices made through contractors, including in Goshen, Indiana. He told The Standard he also utilized manufacturing facilities in Boston and Boca Raton, Florida and his plan is to “move all of that manufacturing internal.”
The Standard asked Barlow by email Tuesday how many units he sold last year and so far this year and what were total sales — information any investor would want to know, the investor here being Butte-Silver Bow.
The Standard asked where the facilities were that make his products by company, address and contact information, and whether he has any direct hire-employees that work for him. He had told commissioners he would move 57 employees to Butte under his plan.
The Standard also asked him to comment on the NRC and Westinghouse statements and some county officials expressing skepticism about moving forward on anything with him. He sent the following response to the questions:
“We will be chatting directly with commissioners in open forum, you are welcome to attend. Butte-Silverbow (sic) is not making an investment, our company is. Also, we have selected two news agencies we will be working with directly.
“Any comments that were false or misquotations via Westinghouse and the NRC are currently being handled by our legal.”
The Standard asked Gallagher if he had any additional comments Tuesday.
“I am also vetting all of Mr. Barlow’s statements,” he said. “BSB has not yet made any agreement regarding the purchase of property. We will thoroughly evaluate it before making any decisions.”
On Thursday, the Standard told Gov. Greg Gianforte’s office about Barlow’s statements and asked what it knew about the project, where it stood with the state and what was needed.
“The governor's office is aware of the project and the appropriate agencies will review their role upon receiving any applications, like it does with all projects, to ensure it is in compliance with state, federal, and local regulations,” Kaitlin Price, the governor’s press secretary, said in email response.
“The governor is encouraged by any investment in Montana, including this potential investment, and stands firm that Montana will continue to embrace every opportunity to create more good-paying Montana jobs and be a leader in energy innovation with our all-of-the-above energy policy,” she said.