Ohio Lawmakers, Concerned About Jobs, Support FirstEnergy Nuclear Power Plant Plan

Uranium (Nuclear Minerals) / Nuclear Power - Economics, Design, & Industry

Date posted: 08/19/16

Kathiann M. Kowalski reports that two Democratic lawmakers concerned about job losses in their southeast Ohio districts have spoken out in support of a FirstEnergy plan that critics say is an unlawful bailout of a nuclear power plant. In letters filed with Ohio regulators this week, state senator Lou Gentile (D-Steubenville) and representative Jack Cera (D-Bellaire) stressed the fact that the FirstEnergy Sammis power plant employs 350 to 400 people in their area. The jobs sustained by this facility have a significant impact on the people, businesses, and communities of Jefferson County, and I remain committed to their success, Gentile wrote. As advocates see it, however, FirstEnergy plan does not assure that success. Rep. Cera and Senator Gentile are understandably concerned about the jobs and local tax revenue associated with uneconomic power plants in their district, said Dick Munson at the Environmental Defense Fund (a commercial adversarial company supported by membership). What FirstEnergy does not want to admit, however, is its latest subsidy proposal does nothing to guarantee that those plants stay open and those workers stay employed. FirstEnergys initial plan was to guarantee sales for all electricity from the Sammis plant, the Davis-Besse nuclear plant and FirstEnergys share of two 1950s-era coal plants for 15 years. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio approved a slightly modified version with an eight-year term this spring. Soon afterward, federal regulators said they would require close scrutiny before letting the deal proceed. At that point, FirstEnergy asked the PUCO to let it still collect the new charges, but without any clear specification of how the company would use the money to provide a hedge for consumers. Either way, challengers said the plan would likely cost Ohio ratepayers up to $4 billion. Then a filing by FirstEnergy last month suggested that amount could balloon to more than $8 billion.