AEHI finds the SEC

Idaho penny stock firm with nuclear energy ambitions files a 10-Q

The Idaho Statesman reports that Alternate Energy Holdings Inc. (AEHI:PK) says the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accepted its registration statement. The 10-Q form filed by AEHI last week reports the firm, now based in Eagle, ID, has $409,000 in total assets and no reported income according to unaudited results. It’s enough to buy one of the ritzy town’s foreclosed homes, but not enough to set up shop to build a nuclear reactor.

The company said in a statement it will conduct audits and file required financial reports to keep its information current with the SEC and available to potential investors.

AEHI still has plans to raise money, at least $6 billion, to build an Areva EPR nuclear reactor, the Idaho Energy Complex, near Mountain Home, ID, in Elmore County.

However, Unistar, which is building the EPR units in the U.S., does not list AEHI’s project on its website list of commitments. AEHI did send a letter of intent to the NRC which dutifully listed the project as an expected application for a COL due by the end of 2009.

Based on the cost of COL for the Callaway, MO, Unit #2 for Ameren, an Areva EPR to be built by Unistar, AEHI could expect to spend at least $40 million on its COL application. With just 1% of that amount as cash on hand, the company has a long way to go. It’s prior efforts to raise funds, including two public announcements of having booked investment bankers, have not produced the need funding.

AEHI’s stock at market closed on Feb 20 at $0.05/share against a 52-week range of $0.40-0.03 with market cap of $3.72 million.

Rickards guilty of charges, plans appeal

In an unrelated story, an Idaho anti-nuclear activist was found guilty of trespassing at a public meeting organized by AEHI last year. Peter Rickards was originally charged with assault after he tried to hand out anti-nuclear leaflets at a public meeting organized by AEHI in Glenns Ferry, ID, last summer.

According to a report by KMVT-TV, Twin Falls, ID, Rickards says the judge withheld judgment at sentencing and said as long as Rickards does not repeat the offense within the year, the charge will be dropped. Rickards said he plans to appeal on the grounds the tresspassing charge should not have been brought in the first place due to the fact he was entering a public event.

Rickards is a podiatrist with a practice in Twin Falls. He's been a high profile anti-nuclear activist in Idaho for the past two decades.

The arrest of Rickards is the second incident in which AEHI tangled with anti-nuclear activists in Idaho. Last year AEHI sued the Snake River Alliance (SRA) for calling the firm a “scam.” The SRA is a self-appointed "watchdog" of all things nuclear in the gem state.

For her part, SRA director Andrea Shipley later claimed the statement was an “opinion” and not a fact. AEHI subsequently dropped the litigation, but not before making a big deal out of being insulted by Ms. Shipley’s over-the-top rhetoric.

AEHI’s hard line approach to public criticism of its atomic energy project may earn it kudos among Idaho’s ‘cave’ people’ [conservatives against virtually everything], but it does not bode well for its ability to successfully navigate an NRC regulatory process for a new nuclear reactor with its multiple opportunities for public input.

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