The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
County commissioners request meeting with Department of Energy leader
Lake County Commissioner Jerry Cirino and Ottawa County Commissioner Mark Stahl have requested a meeting with Department of Energy Secretary Rick Perry to discuss the future of Ohio’s two nuclear power plants.
Commissioners from each of Ohio’s 88 counties were invited to meet White House administrative staff Aug. 29. After the meeting, Cirino and Stahl pulled aside Department of Energy staff to discuss the power plant situation.
FirstEnergy is looking to sell or shutter the Perry Nuclear Power Plant in North Perry Village and the DavisBesse Nuclear Power Plant in Oak Harbor, in Ottawa County, as the company looks to exit the competitive power generation business.
FirstEnergy President and CEO Charles E. Jones has previously said that market prices for energy have been pushed down by cheap energy from natural gas and other sources, and those low prices aren’t high enough to justify continuing to power those plants.
The company has been pushing for a “Zero Emission Nuclear Resource Program,” or ZEN, to subsidize the plants. Bills proposed in the Ohio Senate and the House would generate an estimated $300 million-plus annually. The ZEN program would last at least four years, working on two-year periods for up to 16 The inside of the cooling tower at the Perry Nuclear Power Plant during the plant’s scheduled shutdown for refueling and maintenance work.
years (eight program periods).
Under the plan, FirstEnergy’s average residential customer would pay about $5 more per month while businesses and factories would see a much larger increase.
The bills have stalled in the legislature and Gov. John Kasich recently said he can’t see supporting the plan. He said it’s up to the utility to figure out how to keep its nuclear plants operating without a state-approved bailout.
On Aug. 28, 12 representatives from FirstEnergy met with area stakeholders. Among those in attendance were Cirino, fellow county Commissioner Daniel P. Troy, as well as trustees, council members, mayors, administrative staff, school board members, the Perry fire chief and the county’s Emergency Management Agency director.
“FirstEnergy’s indication was that it’s not going well, but they’re not giving up,” Troy said.
Last year, the Perry Nuclear Power Plant generated more than $4.5 million in tax revenues. The Perry School District is far and away the biggest beneficiary, receiving more than $2.1 million of those funds.
Cirino said the indication they were given is FirstEnergy could decide within the next few months what they are doing with the power plants.
Cirino and Stahl wrote a follow-up email to Bryan Kellogg of the Department of Energy Aug. 31, requesting an urgent meeting with Perry.
“The closure of these plants, in our opinion, would deal a severe blow to the local economies, with very little time to develop alternatives to replace lost property tax revenues,” the pair wrote. “We would also see the loss of over 1,500 high-paying jobs directly related to the plants as well as hundreds of others on the periphery.”
Another concern for the commissioners is that Ohio is a net importer of power.
“The elimination of these plants simply doesn’t make for sound energy policy,” they said. “Additionally, we have concerns about backup should any natural or terrorist events compromise natural gas production/generation.”
With such a short time frame to work with, Cirino and Stahl said action is needed “right now.”
“Once they make the decision to close the plants… there is no turning back,” they wrote in the email. “Our communities would suffer greatly from this. What we need right now is more time to develop a negotiated resolution among the parties to keep them operating.”
They want the Department of Energy to assume a seat at the table and assist in those efforts.
“We would like to begin by requesting a meeting with Secretary Perry as soon as possible …we feel that the secretary will want to be aware of this urgent situation and that he would want to play a role in the resolution,” they wrote.
Cirino said he’s trying to push people to understand the seriousness of the issue to the community both economically and from an energy policy standpoint.
“I’m not pushing for the ZEN as it is,” Cirino said. “I’m not pushing for any particular solution. All I want to do is to do my job, which is to help protect the economic vitality of this county and this plant closing would be a huge blow.”