[ad_1]
HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (AP) – They are talking about nuclear power in rural Pennsylvania.
This spring, the question of whether to save Pennsylvania's nuclear power plants could dominate the debate at Capitol Hill, which is of great financial interest to hundreds of thousands of rural electricity co-op members who are dependent strongly of nuclear energy.
Cooperatives in the country's second-largest nuclear state may have the greatest interest in what critics call a bailout and they redouble their efforts to get their message across to employees, cooperative members and, ultimately, legislators.
"Every opportunity we have, I encourage our member owners to raise this issue.Every occasion, if I do it at a meeting," said Frank Betley, President and CEO of Pennsylvania Rural Electric Association, including the 14 cooperative. "I hope our people talk to lawmakers at every turn to let them know that," Hey, it's important to us. "
For the past two years, Chicago-based Exelon Corp. and other nuclear power plant owners have been working to provide rescue support in Pennsylvania, warning that the fleet is threatened by unprofitability, mainly by a flood of inexpensive natural gas power plants penetrating competitive electricity markets. .
Nuclear energy, they say, should benefit from the same favorable Pennsylvania treatment as wind farms, solar installations and other "carbon – free" energy sources in the era of global warming.
To achieve this, co-ops and other owners of nuclear power plants support legislation that would cost Pennsylvania's taxpayers about $ 500 million a year. That's about 3 percent of the more than $ 14 billion that Pennsylvania's electricity customers have paid for electricity in 2018, including distribution charges and taxes, according to federal data.
The 14 rural electricity cooperatives, 13 in Pennsylvania and one in New Jersey, own 10% of the Susquehanna nuclear power plant in northeastern Pennsylvania.
Susquehanna, in turn, supplies about 60% of the electricity used by more than 230,000 cooperative households, businesses and industrial consumers, helping them to keep their rates well below the rates charged by for-profit utilities. . taxpayers.
The stakes for cooperatives are as follows: if Susquehanna closes prematurely, co-op members can expect a sharp increase in their electricity bills.
However, if legislators enacted nuclear-friendly legislation, co-operatives – like other nuclear power plant owners – would earn more money. In the meantime, the bill would protect members of cooperatives from rate increases that most other Pennsylvania electricity customers will pay.
Betley would not provide an estimate of the increase in costs if Susquehanna were to close. But Rep. Thomas Mehaffie, R-Dauphin, who introduced the bill in the House, said it could mean a 25% to 30% increase in members' bills, or even a rise if natural gas prices rise.
"They are really worried," Mehaffie said.
The immediate deadline for legislators is June 1st.
The Three Mile Island accident was strangely announced by a Hollywood blockbuster a few days before
The moment was cold. "The China Syndrome," a thriller on the urgency of a nuclear power plant, debuted on March 16, 1979, less than two weeks before the partial merger of TMI. Today we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the film's release.
It was then that the owner of Three Mile Island, Exelon, announced that he was going to begin the process of closing the plant, which was to last four months, was the scene of a partial collapse in 1979, unless Pennsylvania comes to his rescue.
In addition to Three Mile Island, opponents of the bill question whether the three other nuclear plants in Susquehanna and Pennsylvania require a grant to stay afloat.
All indications are that Susquehanna is profitable at the present time, although nuclear power plant owners warn that the same market dynamics that make Three Mile Island uneconomic will eventually sink the entire Pennsylvania nuclear fleet.
They warn of a future without nuclear power plants. Carbon emissions will increase, natural gas will become the dominant source of energy and Pennsylvania will have no protection against soaring prices, they say.
Passing a complicated, highly charged and politically thorny bill will not be easy.
To gain the support of Governor Tom Wolf and his fellow Democrats in the Legislature, it will likely be necessary to add clean energy concessions and limit subsidies to nuclear energy. At the same time, tipping the votes of rural lawmakers could make the difference between its success and failure in the Republican-controlled legislature.
Some rural legislators may have shared loyalties if the Pennsylvania natural gas sector maintains its opposition to any nuclear-friendly legislation.
And cooperatives are not important campaign donors.
But nearly 70 members of the House and Senate have a territory of cooperative services in their districts, say the cooperatives. Some staff members and board members of cooperatives are well known to legislators. Cooperatives are involved in civic causes and donate to local organizations.
"It means a lot," said R-Adams representative Dan Moul about his local co-op, Adams Electric. "I will manage to protect this business. They are important to the community. "
This month marks the 40th anniversary of the partial merger of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station. PennLive works with PA Post and WITF multimedia, month after month, about the accident, its impact and the future of TMI and the nuclear industry. This includes new TV and radio documentary programs, long audio stories, photos and digital videos. The work will include the voices of those affected as well as community events to engage with listeners, readers and viewers.
[ad_2]
Source link