Gov. Gary Herbert announced the formation of a task force Tuesday to craft a 10-year energy blueprint that will include an assessment of whether Utah should embrace nuclear power.

"Inherent in this discussion needs to be at least a consideration of nuclear energy," Herbert said.

The task force will look at issues related to nuclear power plants, including the availability of water and how to dispose of the waste, the governor said.

"I'm here to tell you that the issue is not going to go away," Herbert said. "As we have renewed concern for the environment, nuclear power will be more and more of a consideration."

Herbert said that "good science will make good policy," when it comes to nuclear energy, although the panel does not have any nuclear scientists on the board.

The governor said the 14-member working group, led by Ted Wilson, the governor's environmental adviser, will have a series of public meetings around the state with stakeholders, including consumers, environmental groups and residents in energy-producing regions.

He expects the group to complete work by November.

But, Herbert said, he wants to keep government out of the role of dictating energy development. He said he does not intend to offer new government incentives and it will not impose any government mandates. Instead he intends to let the free market dictate the direction for the state's energy picture.

"We're going to follow the tried and tested model of free market. We believe the private sector will build the better mousetrap," Herbert said. "I think that solves the nation's energy crisis a lot more than giving incentives to a few folks who have [solar] panels on their roofs."

Herbert's gubernatorial campaign has received more than $240,000 in campaign contributions from companies and individuals involved in the energy industry in less than a year.

Wilson said the working group can take a look at all the current energy sources and those that are alternative sources, then recommend ways to make the transition from one to the other.

"I think the mountain will teach us how to climb it," Wilson said. "You don't know how in the heck to get up it, but you do it."

The governor said he doesn't anticipate the working group to develop targets for an energy portfolio.

And he steered away from any consideration of emissions and climate change in the formulation of the policy, although he emphasized his belief that consumers want clean energy and clean air.

Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, the Democratic nominee for governor, criticized Herbert for foot-dragging on the issue of clean energy and for vetoing the "Cool Keepers" bill earlier this year.

The bill would have made the Rocky Mountain Power air-conditioning conservation project an opt-out program rather than opt-in, as it currently is.

"Utahns need a plan of action more than policy statements. Unfortunately, our governor and state leaders have not shown a willingness to even support some of the concepts being proposed in the plan," Corroon said in a news release. —

Who's on the task force?

The task force includes Rich Walje, president of Rocky Mountain Power; Ronald Jibson, CEO of Questar Gas; and Stan Parrish and Paul Barber of EMB Energy. It also includes Rob Behunin, of Utah State University; Alan Walker, of the USTAR Technology Outreach program; and several staffers, including Department of Environmental Quality director Amanda Smith and the governor's energy adviser, Dianne Nielson.