Warren, Bullock spar over ‘no first use’ nuclear 
policy, The Hill
In defending the proposed policy, Warren argued for diplomatic and economic solutions to conflict, saying “we should not be asking our military to take on jobs that do not have a military solution.”
But Bullock opposed that proposal, saying, “I don’t want to turn around and say, ‘Well, Detroit has to be gone before we would ever use that.’”
Warren is the lead sponsor of the Senate version of a bill that would make it U.S. policy not to use nuclear weapons first.
It has long been the policy of the United States that the country reserves the right to launch a preemptive nuclear strike.
Backers of a no first use policy argue it would improve U.S. national security by reducing the risk of miscalculation while still allowing the United States to launch a nuclear strike in response to an attack.
During the debate, Warren argued such a policy would “make the world safer.”
“The United States is not going to use nuclear weapons preemptively, and we need to say so to the entire world,” she said. “It reduces the likelihood that someone miscalculates, someone misunderstands.”
Bullock argued he wouldn’t want to take the option off the table, but that there should be negotiations to eliminate nuclear weapons……https://thehill.com/policy/defense/455472-warren-bullock-spar-over-no-first-use-nuclear-policy
August 1, 2019
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By Harvey Wasserman, 1 August 19A bought, gerrymandered Ohio Legislature has just handed a much-hated $150 million/year public bailout to two dinosaur nuke reactors primed to explode.
It also bails out two filthy 50-year-old coal burners and guts programs for increased efficiency.
But a possible repeal referendum could reverse all that—-and have a serious impact on the Trumpsters who pushed it—-in the 2020 election.
Here are some basics:
X The 42-year-old Davis-Besse reactor near Toledo and 33-year-old Perry, east of Cleveland, are both dangerously crumbling.
X Neither can compete with wind, solar, gas or increased efficiency.
X Both would shut immediately in a free market environment.
X Like all nuke reactors, both emit substantial quantities of heat, radiation and carbon.
X Both threaten the entire north coast and Great Lakes region with a radioactive apocalypse.
X Neither can get private disaster insurance.
X Their owner, FirstEnergy (FE) of Akron, is bankrupt.
X The utility stands to gain some $150,000,000/year at the expense of ALL Ohio electric consumers, not just those in its territory. .
X FE’s top seven execs are paid roughly $25,000,000/year; CEO Chuck Jones gets $9,500,000.
X In 2003 FE blacked out 50,000,000 people.
X Davis-Besse’s infamous 2002 “hole-in-the-head” came when boric acid ate nearly all the way through the reactor pressure vessel.
X In 1986 (as the Challenger blew up) Perry became the first US reactor to be damaged by an earthquake; a 4.0 shock recently hit less than 25 miles away.
X A state-mandated 1986-7 study showed northern Ohio cannot be evacuated from a melt-down…and certainly not amidst an earthquake.
X Ohio’s North Coast is flat, blown by constant lake-based winds, criss-crossed with transmission lines and good turbine sites near the cities to be served.
X Local farmers are desperate for the income the turbines would provide.
X Some $4.2 billion in private capital is poised to pour into the region for wind farms creating thousands of jobs and lowering electric rates.
X Turbines in Lake Erie, plus land-based wind and solar farms, enhanced by batteries and efficiency, can provide all Ohio’s electricity far cheaper than from nukes and/or fossil fuels, creating far more jobs.
X But in 2014, with zero basis in health or environmental protection, FE’s bought legislators put in the Ohio Code a setback clause that has killed wind development in the state.
X Ohio now has far less installed wind capacity than neighboring Indiana, Michigan, New York or Pennsylvania, which have comparable wind resources but no such set-back clause.
X Ohio is a national leader in manufacturing wind turbine components, virtually none of which are deployed in Ohio.
X Perry & DB have been repeatedly bailed out dating back at least to 1999, when FE scammed a $9 billion “stranded cost” give-away.
X It was called a “stranded cost” bailout because FE complained even then the reactors could not compete in an open market.
X This latest bailout was directly pushed by Trump, at least one of whose co-conspirators personally lobbied key legislators for it.
X Ohio is roughly 50/50 Republican/Democrat, but the GOP has heavily gerrymandered majorities in both houses of the Legislature.
X In 2018 FE targeted a dozen GOP legislative primaries, buying at least 11 bailout votes.
X This latest bailout bill could not have passed without votes from key corporate Democrats.
X A strong statewide grassroots movement arose to oppose the bailout.
X An overwhelming majority of testifiers before the Legislature were opposed.
X A strong majority of the state’s newspapers was also opposed.
X All were ignored by Democrats and Republicans alike.
X Efforts are now underway to put a referendum on the fall 2020 ballot.
X If filed within 90 days, the bailout will be put on hold until the vote.
X Polls show a strong majority of Ohioans oppose the bailout.
X If the bailout is on the 2020 ballot, it could encourage a strong opposition turnout that could hurt Trump and help tip the election in a key swing state.
X But Trump, FE and the nuke industry will spend unlimited millions to defeat it.
X It’s been widely known since at least 2004 that Ohio’s registration rolls and voting procedures are heavily rigged to favor the GOP and its corporate owners.
X The longer Perry and Davis-Besse operate the higher the odds they’ll obliterate Toledo, Cleveland and the entire Great Lakes region.
X Neither has private disaster insurance.
X FE can’t handle its radioactive wastes, evacuate the region when disaster strikes or credibly maintain the reactors in their current (deteriorating) state.
Should the referendum get on the ballot, it could help take down Trump and save the region from an apocalyptic catastrophe, as well as economic ruin. Should it fail, the odds on a major nuclear catastrophe along the shores of Lake Erie are too high to contemplate.
The stakes could not be higher.
—————
Harvey Wasserman is co-author of KILLING OUR OWN: THE DISASTER OF AMERICA’S EXPERIENCE WITH ATOMIC RADIATION (free on line) and SOLARTOPIA! OUR GREEN-POWERED EARTH at
www.solartopia.org.
August 1, 2019
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U.S. Senate Targets Saudi Nuclear Technology https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/07/30/us-senate-targets-saudi-nuclear-technology-senate-van-hollen-lindsey-graham/
The bipartisan bill follows the revelation that a longtime Trump advisor was pushing for lucrative nuclear deals with Riyadh.
BY ROBBIE GRAMER JULY 30, 2019 A bipartisan group of lawmakers is introducing new legislation aimed at restricting the transfer of nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, the latest sign of growing congressional backlash to the Trump administration’s close relationship with the wealthy Gulf nation.
The bill, put forward by Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, would bar the U.S. Export-Import Bank from financing the transfer of nuclear technology and equipment to Saudi Arabia, absent nuclear cooperation agreements, and adopting restrictive international standards to safeguard against nuclear proliferation. The Export-Import Bank plays a key role in funding the export of U.S. nuclear energy equipment and technology abroad.
“We should never allow nuclear material to fall into the wrong hands, and certainly the [Saudi] crown prince and this regime have demonstrated they can’t be trusted,” said Van Hollen in a phone interview.
The legislation comes on the heels of a bombshell new report from a House oversight committee that alleges a longtime associate of U.S. President Donald Trump, the wealthy businessman Thomas Barrack, was using his relationships in the White House to advance lucrative business deals on nuclear power in Saudi Arabia and stood to profit from the efforts.
The report, released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Monday, “exposes how corporate and foreign interests are using their unique access to advocate for the transfer of U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia,” Rep. Elijah Cummings, the Democratic chairman of the committee, said in a statement.
Van Hollen and Graham’s bill, according to a draft obtained by Foreign Policy, would bar the Export-Import Bank from funding such transfers to Saudi Arabia unless Riyadh renounces uranium enrichment and reprocessing, establishes a nuclear cooperation agreement in line with the Atomic Energy Act that regulates civilian nuclear energy, and adopts additional safeguard protocols in line with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Republican Sen. Jerry Moran and Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley are also co-sponsoring the bill.
The legislation would also require the bank to report to Congress details of any agreement on nuclear transfers to Saudi Arabia. One such proposal is already underway. The Export-Import Bank in 2018 received an application to finance U.S. exports for a proposed nuclear power plant in Saudi Arabia, according to an email sent by a senior Export-Import Bank official to Senate staff, obtained by Foreign Policy. “The application is in the early stages of review,” the official wrote in the email.
While Saudi Arabia has plans to develop an extensive nuclear power program, its government thus far “has demonstrated little willingness to accept strong non-proliferation measures” the draft legislation reads.
Critics of the Trump administration say it is not requiring Saudi Arabia to use the so-called “gold standard” in a nuclear cooperation agreement, which requires a foreign country to commit to not using transferred nuclear technology to make nuclear weapons.
Van Hollen said the Trump administration has not been transparent with Congress on its push to transfer nuclear technologies to Saudi Arabia. “This administration’s been secretly moving ahead to try to transfer nuclear technology to the Saudis without appropriate oversight and without appropriate conditions,” he said. When Congress asks for more information, “they’ve been totally opaque, they’ve been dragging their feet, they’ve not been providing information,” he said.
The Trump administration has locked horns with Congress for months over the United States’ relationship with Saudi Arabia in the wake of Riyadh’s role in the deadly conflict in Yemen and Saudi officials’ roles in the murder of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year.
August 1, 2019
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Japan to scrap remaining nuclear reactors in Fukushima, Aljazeera, 1 Aug 19
Tepco to decommission four more reactors in the Fukushima prefecture, eight years after Japan’s worst nuclear disaster. Tokyo Electric Power Company has announced plans to decommission its Fukushima Daini nuclear plant, located a few kilometres south of the Fukushima Daiichi plant where three reactors melted down after an earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
The decision by Tepco’s board on Wednesday means all 10 nuclear reactors in the northeastern Fukushima prefecture will be decommissioned.
The prefectural government had previously urged the operator to dismantle the Daini plant, saying its existence has hampered reconstruction efforts, according to Kyodo news agency.
The Daini plant, which started its commercial operation in 1982, only narrowly avoided a major accident at the time of the disaster at the Daiichi. …….In April, Japan partially lifted an evacuation order in one of the two hometowns, Okuma, for the first time since the disaster, but many former residents are still reluctant to return.
The other hometown, Futaba, remains off-limits, as are several other towns nearby.
Tepco said it will take more than four decades to dismantle the four reactors at the Daini plant. The estimated cost for dismantling and decontamination will be 280 billion yen ($2.6bn).
Company president Tomoaki Kobayakawa visited Fukushima Governor Masao Uchibori and told him about the decision and the governor asked Kobayakawa to “make safe and steady progress” on the decommissioning.
The utility plans to build an on-site facility to store spent nuclear fuel from the plant, though it has yet to pick a final disposal site for the fuel, Japanese daily The Mainichi reported.
The decommissioning means Japan is left with 33 reactors to generate electricity nationwide, compared with 54 before the disaster.
Of the 33 units, seven reactors are in operation amid lingering concerns about nuclear energy………. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/07/japan-shut-remaining-nuclear-reactors-fukushima-190731134314037.html
August 1, 2019
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East Anglian Daily Times 30th July 2019 County council chiefs are to write again to Government to voice their concern over the number of massive energy projects planned for a small area of east Suffolk. The decision follows a high-level meeting with community
leaders from across the area over their ongoing worries over the proposals
for Sizewell C.
Officials said the group of 86 representatives from 28 town
and parish councils remained unconvinced over EDF Energy’s plans for the
new twin reactor nuclear power station, particularly whether it will
provide a long lasting legacy for the socio-economic benefit of the area,
and its impact on wildlife and flood risk.
The meeting to discuss the Stage
4 consultation was held by members of Sizewell C Joint Local Authorities
Group (JLAG). JLAG chairman Richard Smith said: “These local leaders are
all very well informed and knowledgeable surrounding EDF Energy’s proposals
having been through 3 stages of consultation so far. As expected, there was
a lot of strong feeling within the room and it was important for us to hear
the concerns of the community as we consider a joint response to the Stage
4 consultation from Suffolk County Council and East Suffolk Council.
https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/jlag-sizewell-c-worries-outlined-1-6189261
August 1, 2019
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This motion was moved by Senator Hanson-Young and passed by the Senate, 29 July 19
July 30, 2019
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AUSTRALIA, politics |
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EXPLAINER: The Letters of Last Resort – Boris Johnson’s secret instructions on nuclear action, There are, at most, nine countries on earth with nuclear weapons. Joe, 28 July 19
Before today, two of those arsenals were in the hands of Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un. As of today, they have been joined by Boris Johnson.
Among the very first things that will happen as Johnson begins is premiership, is a briefing from the Chief of the Defence Staff, who will tell him exactly the kind of devastation and death a nuclear Trident missile would cause. Johnson will then be tasked with composing the “letters of last resort.”
The letters of last resort are an almost mythical device, the kind of thing that would make more sense in a Tom Clancy novel than they do in real life. But they are real, and they are terrifying.
They are four letters, each one issued to the commanding officers of each of the United Kingdom’s four nuclear-capable ballistic missile submarines. They are only to be opened under one specific circumstance: the destruction of the government of Britain through a major, likely nuclear, bombing campaign.
The letters are only to be opened under the assumption that the Prime Minister and any designated deputies are dead, and that it is up to the UK’s military submarines to respond.
Typically, the UK has one of these submarines patrolling at any given time, armed with 40 of its 120 operational nuclear warheads. The other three subs are based in Faslane naval base in Scotland.
And right now, those letters are being written by Boris Johnson. Cool.
Four possible directives are known:
- That the UK should retaliate.
- That the UK should not retaliate, and should retreat to a commonwealth nation.
- That the commanding officer should use their own judgment.
- Place the submarines under the command of an allied country, such as the United States.
It is very possible, however, that a PM will be much more specific than this.
When quizzed on the matter of their own letters by the BBC, former Prime Ministers John Major, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown all revealed that they had included a caveat that under no circumstances should civilians be targeted with nuclear weapons.
Nobody will ever know for sure though, since the letters are burned in their unopened state as soon as an outgoing premiership comes to a close……… https://www.joe.ie/life-style/boris-letters-of-last-resort-676243
July 29, 2019
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Despite Hinkley, the new plan for nuclear is hardly better than the old one https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jul/27/despite-hinkley-new-plan-nuclear-hardly-better-than-old-oneJillian Ambrose Taxpayers are still on the hook, and renewable options are still being overlooked. he government’s new funding model at the heart of its plan for a nuclear renaissance is an improvement since it struck a deal three years ago to support Hinkley Point C in Somerset. This is the best that can be said for the new strategy, outlined by officials in a consultation last week. It is also very faint praise.
EDF Energy’s deal to build Hinkley Point C, Britain’s first new nuclear power plant in a generation, has been dubbed the world’s most expensive power plant of all time, a “white elephant” in a changing energy landscape, and a risky and expensive gamble with taxpayers’ money.
There was little chance that a deal so politically unpalatable could be repeated for EDF’s follow-on project at Sizewell B. Instead, officials returned to the drawing board to re-engineer a multibillion-pound funding framework that could help lower the eye-watering costs of constructing a nuclear reactor.
The £20bn Hinkley Point C project will cost energy bill payers £92.50 for every megawatt-hour of electricity it produces for 35 years. It is a price well above both the UK’s wholesale energy price of around £55 a megawatt-hour, and the new breed of offshore wind farms.
The new funding model promises to cut the cost of building a new nuclear plant by a fifth – but this, too, comes at a cost. The government’s plans to make nuclear affordable means Britons will twice shoulder the risk of building new nuclear reactors.
First, by paying upfront for the reactors through energy bills to help fund their construction. Second, by taking on the cost of any overruns or construction delays through a taxpayer guarantee. The public purse would also compensate nuclear investors if the project were scrapped.
It is the same model used to fund London’s £4.2bn super-sewer project, the Thames Tideway tunnel, which has drawn criticism for raising water bills while investors reap financial rewards.
By shifting the risk from private investors to taxpayers, nuclear developers will be able to borrow money at cheaper rates, which will lead to lower bills for consumers.
On paper, the proposal is a better deal than Hinkley, but it’s far from perfect.
The National Infrastructure Commission has taken a dim view of the model. “This makes projects appear cheaper as consumers are effectively financing the projects at zero interest. At least some of the risk associated with construction costs also sit with consumers, a further hidden cost, since consumers are not paid to hold these risks in the way investors would be,” it said.
In addition, the sums hold true only if the project remains on schedule and on budget for the decade it takes to construct a nuclear plant. There are worryingly few examples where this has been the case; EDF Energy’s forerunner to the Hinkley project, at Flamanville in Normandy, is expected to cost four times original estimates. It was expected to begin generating electricity in 2012, but is now expected to start up in 2022.
he French energy giant has said the lessons learned from Flamanville mean Hinkley Point will avoid a similar fate. Sizewell will be at an even greater advantage because it will use the same UK workers once Hinkley is complete.
Why take the risk at all, though?
“If ministers want affordable and clean energy, the fastest, safest and cheapest way to do that is to boost renewables like wind and solar,” said Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace.
There have been major advances in flexible renewable energy technologies in recent years, but ministers retain an appetite for the “firm” low-carbon electricity generated by nuclear reactors despite the financial hurdles to building them.
The UK’s energy landscape is littered with stalled nuclear plant projects which have so far failed to make a financial case. Already half the projects proposed three years ago have foundered.
But the government’s commitment to a new atomic era is still the most reliable element of its nuclear programme to date.
July 29, 2019
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Eastern Europe’s Love Affair With Nuclear Is Hitting the Rocks
Countries in the former Soviet bloc are desperately trying to upgrade facilities but are squeezed by time and money. Bloomberg, By James M Gomez and Zoltan Simon, July 28, 2019 Zoltan Gorog is ready for the Russian invasion. The real estate agent in the Hungarian town of Paks has added Cyrillic to the blue and white sign hanging above his offices. He’s set up empty desks for when he needs to expand to cope with the surge in business.
Rather than a flood of people, though, there’s barely a trickle. Five years after Hungary’s government signed an agreement with nuclear energy company Rosatom Corp. to build two new reactors at the aging plant near the town, there’s still no start date for the bulk of the work….. (subscribers only) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-28/eastern-europe-s-love-affair-with-nuclear-is-hitting-the-rocks
July 29, 2019
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EUROPE, politics |
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UK’s new premier promises boost for nuclear power, WNN. 26 July 2019 Boris Johnson expressed his “passionate” support for nuclear power when he addressed the House of Commons for the first time as UK prime minister yesterday. Seven of the country’s eight existing nuclear plants are set to be retired by 2030, while new-build projects have faced financial uncertainty over the last two year………On 22 July, the day that Johnson was elected leader of the Conservative Party and two days before he officially replaced Theresa May as prime minister, the government launched a consultation into funding large-scale nuclear power plants and a proposed GBP18 million (USD22 million) investment into small modular reactors.
Greg Clark, secretary of state for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) – who Johnson replaced this week with Andrea Leadsom – announced in June 2018 that the government would review the viability of a Regulated Asset Base (RAB) model for new nuclear projects. The consultation states that, as the cost of renewable technologies continues to fall, they are likely to provide the majority of the country’s low-carbon generating capacity in 2050. It adds however there will still be a crucial role for low-carbon ‘firm’ – always available – power in 2050.
The RAB model would not apply to Hinkley Point C (HPC), which is currently under construction by EDF Energy in Somerset, England, but would apply to future plants. As many as five more new-build projects had been planned – by EDF Energy together with China General Nuclear (CGN); NuGeneration (NuGen); and Horizon Nuclear Power……… http://world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/UKs-new-premier-promises-boost-for-nuclear-power
July 29, 2019
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Utility Week 26th July 2019 , Boris may not need the nuclear option to reach net zero. The proposal to use the regulated asset base model to fund new nuclear projects this week
was given a mixed reaction. SSE chief executive Alistair Phillips-Davies
writes exclusively for Utility Week about why he believes the government
should now be showing the same level of support for renewable electricity
if it is serious about reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.
https://utilityweek.co.uk/boris-may-not-need-nuclear-option-reach-net-zero/
July 29, 2019
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Times 27th July 2019 As French existential jokes go, little beats building a nuclear power plant
at a place called Flammable. OK, it’s actually Flamanville. But who cares
about that sort of nicety – not least when the project’s proving so
incendiary?
It was due to be up and running in 2012 at a cost of €3.3
billion. Not only that. Flaming Ville was to be the showcase for the
European Pressurised Reactor, the wizzy new tech developed by the
state-backed EDF. True, it’s living up to the pressurised bit, at least for
EDF boss Jean-Bernard Lévy.
He’s just been forced to announce another
delay: a howitzer, even by usual standards, of “more than three years”. The
end of 2022 is now the earliest start date; a delay bound to jack up
project costs that have already exploded to €10.9 billion
The reason?
France’s spoilsport nuclear safety authority has ordered EDF to repair
eight bits of dodgy welding: who’d have thought nukes had to be welded
together properly? And, yes, the whole thing is turning into a nice French
farce. Except for one thing, of course: the joke’s on us.
Flamanville is the prototype for our very own nuclear disaster: the £20 billion Hinkley
Point C. It’s being built by EDF and the Chinese in return for the
contractual right to fleece UK consumers for 35 years: an index-linked,
guaranteed £92.50 per megawatt hour that’s twice the wholesale price. Even
better, the 3,200MW Hinkley is the planned forerunner for a fleet of new
nukes.
Indeed, so thrilling is the prospect that Greg Clark spent his dying
days as business secretary agonising over whether it might actually be
better to fleece consumers upfront instead, via his “regulated asset base”
funding model, before the plant was built. His verdict? A “consultation”,
the sort of non-decision-making for which he was deservedly sacked. Surely
someone in government can see the big picture here.
It’s not just
Flamanville that’s proving new nuclear so radioactive; a heady mix of
last-century tech, uncontrollable costs, endless delays and a dirty great
clean-up bill. EDF’s sister project, at Olkiluoto in Finland, has proved a
similar disaster. And didn’t ministers notice while their mooted plant at
Moorside was imploding that the project’s promoter, Japan’s Toshiba, was
blowing itself in the US with subsidiary Westinghouse?
No bribe was big enough, either, for Hitachi at Wylfa: no big shock when the group’s from
Fukushima-land. True, nuclear accounts for a fifth of Britain’s energy
needs. But its costs keep going up, while those of wind, solar, battery
power and carbon capture are falling. And they don’t require dangerous
clean-ups. Yes, maybe it’s too late to stop Hinkley. But someone in Boris’s
new team must see that new nuclear’s a route to torching money. Flammable
is all the evidence they need.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/5268801e-afd9-11e9-84cf-31ddba0e0fae
July 29, 2019
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The Ohio legislation reads as if it were designed specifically to undermine the planet’s continued capacity to support a steady human population.
It even ends programs aimed at encouraging Ohio residents to reduce power consumption, through upgrades to appliances or heating and cooling systems
OHIO REPUBLICANS BALKED AT A NUCLEAR BAILOUT, SO THE INDUSTRY ELECTED NEW REPUBLICANS — AND WALKED AWAY WITH $1.1 BILLION The Intercept, Ryan Grim, , Akela Lacy 25 July 19 ON TUESDAY, a dark-money effort linked primarily to the Ohio nuclear industry delivered an audacious payoff, as a newly elected state legislature overcame years of opposition to shower a $1.1 billion bailout on two state nuclear plants.
Several dark-money groups spent millions to replace key Republican state legislators in the spring of 2018, followed by a furious lobbying campaign to make sure those new lawmakers elected a new House speaker — one who was amenable to the subsidy. The nuclear industry in Ohio has been on the brink of failure for several years, but previous legislatures had objected to a bailout, reading the writing on the wall: Nuclear power is neither a cost-effective solution for power nor an effective response to climate change, despite hopes for its success.
In April 2018, two nuclear plants, both owned by the electric utility FirstEnergy, filed for bankruptcy and have been threatening to cease operations if not bailed out. They were under increasing pressure to compete with cheaper alternatives, ranging from natural gas to wind and solar. The bankruptcy filings give a glimpse into the company’s political spending: more than $30 million from 2018-2019 on lobbying and campaigns in Ohio and Pennsylvania (where the company also sought a bailout, so far unsuccessfully).
The dark-money effort deployed a variety of vehicles that went by names like the Conservative Leadership Alliance and the Ohio Clean Energy Jobs Alliance. Murray Energy, a coal company, also gave heavily to current state House Speaker Larry Householder and his allied candidates, and the bailout from Ohio also includes subsidies to prop up failing coal plants in the state.
The payoff is extraordinary in degree Continue reading →
July 27, 2019
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In Cumbria 25th July 2019 New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pledged his support for a nuclear renaissance, the Barrow-based Dreadnaught submarine programme and Northern
Powerhouse Rail in his maiden speech. On nuclear, Copeland MP Trudy
Harrison asked him: “Does the Prime Minister agree that the time is now
for a nuclear renaissance and that Copeland is the centre of nuclear
excellence?”
Mr Johnson replied: “It is time for a nuclear renaissance
and I believe passionately that nuclear must be part of our energy mix and
she is right to campaign for it and it will help us to meet our carbon
targets.”
His comments were made just days after the Government launched
a consultation into funding large-scale nuclear power stations and an £18
million Government investment into the development of small modular
reactors through a consortium led by Rolls-Royce, and including the
National Nuclear Laboratory, Wood and Nuvia. Opinions are being sought
between now and October 14 on a proposed Nuclear Regulated Asset Base (RAB)
model to fund large power stations.
https://www.in-cumbria.com/news/17795753.boris-johnson-pledges-back-nuclear-renaissance-dreadnought-submarine-programme-northern-powerhouse-rail/
July 27, 2019
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Ohio Governor Signs Coal and Nuclear Bailout at Expense of Renewable Energy
Opponents fear the law will send the growing wind and solar industry to neighboring states while Ohio homeowners are stuck boosting old, uneconomical power plants. Inside Climate News. Dan Gearino, 26 July 19
In a year when several states have taken big steps to embrace a future that runs on renewable energy, Ohio is taking a leap in the opposite direction.
The Ohio legislature passed a measure Tuesday that cuts renewable energy and energy efficiency programs while adding subsidies for nuclear and coal-fired power plants—a policy cocktail that opponents say is backward-looking and harmful to the economy, consumers and the environment.
Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, signed the bill into law within hours.
Opponents were unable to match the political power of FirstEnergy Solutions, the owner of the state’s two nuclear plants, and its allies.
While much of the debate was about nuclear power, the law may end up functioning as more of a coal bailout.
On Friday, FirstEnergy Solutions said it had decided to cancel plans to close the W.H. Sammis coal-fired power plant, an eastern Ohio plant that has been described as a “super-polluter.” The plant, previously scheduled to shut down in 2022, is not covered by the bailout law, but the windfall from the state money is improving the company’s finances enough to make moves unrelated to the nuclear plants.
The new law is in line with Ohio’s recent history of hostility to renewable energy, while also making the state an outlier as several other states have increased their support for renewable energy, including plans to move to 100 percent carbon-free or renewable electricity, most recently in Maine and New York.
“This is one of the worst pieces of energy related legislation we’ve seen,” said Dan Sawmiller, Ohio energy policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
His group was one of many across the business and political spectrum that fought the bill, a rare moment in which environmental advocates such as the Sierra Club were on the same side as the American Petroleum Institute.
“We are bailing out a corporation, a failing corporation,” while harming the growing wind and solar industries, said Rep. Casey Weinstein, a Democrat.
He said the legislation would steer solar and wind investment away from Ohio and toward neighboring states such as Michigan. Other states, including South Carolina and Georgia, are being much more forward thinking about renewable energy.
The Ohio Senate passed the bill 19-12 last week, but the House put off its vote until Tuesday because several lawmakers were absent and the bill would not have passed without them.
DeWine’s office went so far as to approve the use of state aircraft to pick up two lawmakers from a conference in Chicago so they would be in Columbus for the Tuesday vote, though that flight plan was eventually canceled when the lawmakers determined they could drive back…….
FirstEnergy Solutions, which is in bankruptcy protection, had said its nuclear plants were not profitable enough to continue to operate and would need to close in 2020 and 2021 unless they received more support—about $150 million per year. However, the company has not provided the public with evidence of the plants’ financial condition.
The bailout is indirectly helping the Sammis coal plant. Last month, FirstEnergy Solutions CEO John Judge spoke at a public forum in Steubenville, Ohio, about the connection between the nuclear aid, which at that point had not become law, and the old coal-fired plant that his company had intended to shut down………
Victory for FirstEnergy, Politician It Supported
The new law is a victory for House Speaker Larry Householder, a Republican who rose to his position in January by ousting the incumbent Republican. He made it a top priority to pass nuclear plant subsidies, following a 2018 campaign cycle in which FirstEnergy—the Akron-based utility that until recently owned FirstEnergy Solutions—spent heavily to support him.
This support included donations to Republican primary candidates who had pledged to back Householder’s bid for speaker and have been leading supporters of the bill……..
The new law will add two new monthly fees to utility bills across the state. Households will pay up to $1.50 per month to help keep uncompetitive coal plants running, plus up to 85 cents per month into a fund that will provide tens of millions of dollars to support the nuclear plants (businesses would pay more on both charges).
Cuts to Efficiency, Renewable Energy Programs Much of the opposition to the bill stemmed from lawmakers’ decisions to help pay for the subsidies by reducing charges for programs that support renewable energy and energy efficiency—programs that reduce greenhouse gases and help to lower customers’ power bills.
Under the law DeWine signed, utilities will now only be required to get 8.5 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by the end of 2026—down from a target of 12.5 percent. At one point, a version of the bill would have eliminated the renewable energy standard entirely. Ohio’s renewable energy standard is already modest compared to most states.
The new law also freezes annual increases in energy efficiency standards at the end of 2020, meaning utilities will no longer need to operate programs that help customers reduce their energy use. Consumer advocates say the cuts to energy efficiency are especially harmful because the programs lead to savings that exceed their costs. The net savings were $5.1 billion from 2009 to 2017.
As the bill moved toward passing, opponents spoke about next steps, including how to make this an issue in 2020 legislative elections and the possibility of sponsoring a statewide referendum to overturn the future law.
Bill Siderewicz, president of Clean Energy Future, a company that has developed natural gas power plants in Ohio, has hinted at a referendum. He opposes the bill because he thinks it gives nuclear plants an advantage over natural gas.
“The simple answer is that poll after poll shows that voters are AGAINST utilities’ BAILOUTS in Ohio!!!” he wrote in an email before the Senate vote. https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23072019/ohio-coal-nuclear-bailout-law-signed-cuts-renewable-energy-efficiency-programs-governor-dewine
July 27, 2019
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
politics, USA |
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