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Statehouse full steam ahead on nuclear plants’ bailout Columbus Dispatch,  20 May 19,  Say this much for the proposed bailout by Ohioans of FirstEnergy Solutions’ two Ohio nuclear power plants: The debate shows who really has power at the Statehouse.

Shameless as plant-closing General Motors’ CEO Mary T. Barra is (amid layoffs, her total 2018 compensation was $21.7 million) can anyone imagine Barra asking the Republicans who run Ohio’s General Assembly to boost the sticker price of every car sold in Ohio to save GM’s Lordstown plant?

That’s not far from what House Bill 6, the proposed nuclear bailout, would do to the checkbook of an Ohioan who pays an electric bill, whether to DP&L, FirstEnergy, AEP or Duke. The Perry and Davis-Besse nuclear plants, built by what’s now FirstEnergy, can’t produce power as cheaply as ever-more-plentiful natural gas. Without customer subsidies, Perry and Davis-Besse will shut down. Something like St. Paul on the road to Damascus, Ohio’s GOP-run House has suddenly become a convert to clean air. And, in fairness, HB 6 would to an extent promote clean (maybe cleaner) Ohio air.

Here’s what the federal Energy Information Administration says: “Unlike fossil fuel-fired power plants, nuclear reactors do not produce air pollution or carbon dioxide while operating.” The federal agency also says this: “However, the processes for mining and refining uranium ore and making reactor fuel all require large amounts of energy.”

This, too, though: Nuclear plants produce radioactive waste — something seemingly unmentioned in Ohio House “debate” on HB 6. (Also unmentioned: If the Ohio General Assembly extends the generating lives of Perry and Davis-Besse, that’d create a couple of money-earning assets for creditors owed money thanks to the bankruptcy of FirstEnergy Solutions, a soon-to-be-independent FirstEnergy tentacle.)

“Debate” is in quotes because of last week’s attempt by Rep. Nino Vitale, an Urbana Republican who chairs the House committee hearing HB 6, to “save time” by stifling Democrats’ questions. ……

On the downside, for HB 6 supporters: The Republican-run Pennsylvania General Assembly appears to have backed off a plan to subsidize the Three Mile Island nuclear plant’s Unit 1, owned by Exelon Corp. (In 1979′s TMI accident, Unit 2, then owned by General Public Utilities, partially melted down and has been shuttered ever since. GPU later merged with FirstEnergy Corp.) ……….

At the Statehouse, the actors change. The script doesn’t. Reaching back to the Ohio Gang of Statehouse lobbyists who swarmed around future Republican President Warren G. Harding 100 years ago, utilities, banks and insurance companies more often win than lose General Assembly battles. That’s why, HB 6′s merits aside, every Ohio electricity customer may want to keep his or her checkbook handy.Thomas Suddes is a former legislative reporter with The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and writes from Ohio University.tsuddes@gmail.com  https://www.dispatch.com/opinion/20190520/column-statehouse-full-steam-ahead-on-nuclear-plants-bailout