The latest bill put before the Ohio General Assembly to save two aging nuclear power plants, including Davis-Besse 30 miles east of Toledo, is a swing and a miss.
While Ohio has some legitimate reasons to try to preserve the Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear power stations, or at least postpone their phase-out, the legislation introduced by state House Speaker Larry Householder (R., Perry County) has not achieved the critical mass to justify a “yes” vote.
While posing as green-energy legislation, it’s really a bailout for a private company and a not-balanced energy policy; too much campaign finance influence and not enough sacrifice by parent owner FirstEnergy Corp. of Akron. The plants are owned by FirstEnergy Solutions Corp., a FirstEnergy subsidiary that has filed for bankruptcy.
And while it’s true that nuclear is a carbon-free energy generator — unlike natural gas and coal — it is not renewable. This legislation needs to reward conversion to renewable sources of energy, not give up on it.
The measure would provide a credit of $9.25, to be adjusted annually for inflation, for each megawatt hour of carbon-free electricity generated. Together, Davis-Besse and Perry, in Lake County, east of Cleveland, generate 90 percent of the zero-carbon energy in the state.
Mr. Householder’s bill would impose surcharges on all electric-utility customers in the state — $2.50 a month for the typical residential consumer. It would also eliminate renewable and energy efficiency mandates, thereby saving ratepayers $1.89 per month, on average.
Davis-Besse went online in 1977 and is licensed to operate until 2037. The plants are slated to close because they no longer produce electricity as cheaply as burning natural gas, thanks to the fracking revolution.
Though they produce no climate-warming carbon, Davis-Besse and Perry, like all nuclear plants, are potential environmental disasters. They generate hazardous waste and a radiation release into the atmosphere would have severe consequences.
PJM, the interstate organization that coordinates the transmission of electricity through Ohio and 12 other states, has said the plants are not critical to maintaining reliable and affordable power in the region. But the plants are a public utility, whose regulation and oversight has required significant public investment.
And Ohio has an interest in diversified electrical energy sources, rather than allowing natural gas to be the sole source of power while new, renewable sources are brought up to scale.
Ultimately, it is FirstEnergy’s problem, not the consumers’. FirstEnergy bears the burden of these plants’ economic inefficiency.
FirstEnergy has made sure to spend generously on getting friendly lawmakers elected to the statehouse.
Toledo needs an energy policy that promotes power through renewable sources like wind, solar, and water power. The Householder bill is not that policy.
First Published April 22, 2019, 4:00 a.m.
