Carson reports that the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station will stay open beyond 2020, after the Ohio Legislature passed House Bill 6 in July. The nuclear power plant is Ottawa County's largest employer, with roughly 700 full-time employees. (Photo: Daniel Carson/The News-Messenger) "Without Davis-Besse, there would be a lot of jobs leaving this community," Cook said Tuesday inside the West Water Street store. It's been almost two weeks since the Ohio House of Representatives passed House Bill 6 in July.
HB 6 will give up to $150 million a year starting in 2020 to FirstEnergy Solutions, which operates both the Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear plants. Both plants will get subsidies of $150 million a year through 2026. Starting Jan. 1, 2021, a fee to support FirstEnergy's nuclear plants will be tacked onto Ohioans' electric bills of 85 cents a month for residential customers and up to $2,400 for major industrial plants. The community dodged a bullet when the Ohio Legislature passed HB 6. Parmigian said it would have been catastrophic for the community's future if Davis-Besse had closed down in 2020, as it had been scheduled to do, with businesses closing and families leaving the school district. "I know it was a tough vote for the legislators," Parmigian said Monday. "At the end of the day, I think they reached the right decision." After Gov. Mike Dewine signed House Bill 6 into law, FirstEnergy Solutions announced it would immediately resume preparations to refuel Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station next year. FES announced the move July 24, the day after the Ohio Legislature passed HB 6 to keep the Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear plants open beyond originally scheduled deactivation dates in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
An analysis from the Energy and Policy Institute, a utility watchdog that promotes renewable energy, found FES spent $3.75 million since March 2018 on lobbying, public relations and advertising in Ohio and Pennsylvania, where it also was seeking subsidies for its nuclear plants. But plant officials told the News-Messenger in April the plant could run for at least 20 more years, with more than $1 billion in improvements made at Davis-Besse over the last decade. Cook said he used to live down the road from the nuclear power plant and watched it go up when contractors started work on Davis-Besse in the 1970s. While glad that the plant is operating beyond its scheduled deactivation date, Cook acknowledged that Davis-Besse will eventually close and wondered if community leaders were prepared for that day [...but not for 10 years, and by the SMRs may be ready for operations].
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-
