nuclear-news

Vote advances on nuclear plant rescue,

The Republican-controlled chamber failed last week to muster the votes for approving House Bill 6 as the passage of the bill and the state budget dragged beyond the expected date for summer recess and ran into conflicts with planned vacations.

Four state representatives who supported a prior bill version in May were not on the floor last week, leaving Speaker Larry Householder (R., Glenford) short of the 50 needed for passage……

FirstEnergy Solutions, currently in bankruptcy proceedings, has indicated it will begin decommissioning its Davis-Besse nuclear plant by May 31, 2020, and its Perry plant east of Cleveland in 2021 without the $150 million a year House Bill 6 would generate annually through 2027. …..

The Senate passed the bill last week 19-12, and Gov. Mike DeWine said last week he will sign it.

House Bill 6, sponsored by Rep. Jamie Callender (R., Concord) and Shane Wilkin (R., Hillsboro), would require consumers to pay surcharges on their monthly electric bills — ranging from 85 cents for residential customers to $2,400 for big industrial factories — beginning in 2021 to fuel a $170 million-a-year fund.

The two power plants would get $150 million of that while $20 million would go to five utility-scale solar fields already holding state site approval —one in Hardin County and four in southern Ohio.

The bill also spreads statewide the cost of supporting two coal-fired plants owned by the multi-utility Ohio Valley Energy Corp. — one in southern Ohio and the other in southeast Indiana. The monthly surcharges, separate from the nuclear/solar surcharges, would be capped at $1.50 for residential customers and $1,500 for large industrial customers.

The bill, however, promises that the measure will result in a net decrease in customer bills by eliminating costs associated with existing state mandates that utilities find increasingly more of their power from wind, solar, and other renewable sources and reduce energy consumption……

Environmental groups — the Ohio Environmental Council, Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy, and Ohio Citizen Action — will hold a press conference before the vote to urge the bill’s defeat.

“Despite urging by opponents to strengthen the bill for all Ohioans, the legislation has not been materially improved,” their announcement read. “The bill does nothing more than enact a blatant consumer-funded bailout of FirstEnergy Solutions’ nuclear plants and two old, dirty coal plants while gutting the state’s renewable energy and efficiency standards. The bill continues to move Ohio in the wrong direction.”….. https://www.toledoblade.com/local/environment/2019/07/22/vote-on-firstenergy-solutions-nuclear-plant-rescue-advances-davis-besse-perry-plant/stories/20190722108