Future of nuclear plant in question

Officials seek solution regarding future of Perry Nuclear Power Plant

Last week, Lake County Commissioner Jerry C. Cirino, North Perry Village Mayor Ed Klco and Perry Fire District Chief Jim McDonald sat down with the Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council’s Board of Directors at its headquarters in Solon.

“The purpose of the meeting was for us to find out why NOPEC has been actively lobbying against any solution that would help our Perry Nuclear Power Plant remain operating and contributing to our community’s economy,” Cirino said.

In addition to the board, NOPEC CEO Chuck Keiper and other staff members were present.

The Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council is a nonprofit energy aggregation with members serving more than 200 communities in 13 counties in Northeast Ohio. Formed in 2000 as a council of governments, NOPEC uses bulk buying to bring discounted electricity and natural gas to residents and businesses in its member communities.

Klco and Cirino addressed the importance of the Perry Nuclear Power Plant with board members, specifying the significant blow Lake County’s economy would suffer if the plant were to close.

Cirino detailed the potential loss of taxes from real estate devaluations, reductions in utility taxes, sales taxes and other areas of economic impact.

“The annual losses to our schools, the county and programs such as ADAMHS (Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services) Board, senior services, children’s services, fire services, the crime lab and many more would be in the many millions of dollars per year,” he said, adding that it would be difficult to replace those losses with other businesses or through the repurposing of the Perry facility.

According to a Lake County news release, the officials also discussed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s recent decision to ask regional transmission organization PJM (Interconnection) to review the resiliency of the grid and the value of nuclear power generation.

“It was clear that NOPEC would favor a federal solution to this issue since the additional costs would be borne by a larger population,” Cirino said, who specifically asked the board to consider actually helping Lake County in influencing PJM to make a decision in the county’s favor.

While NOPEC has been very vocal against the proposed state solution to keep the Perry facility open, the release stated, Cirino, Klco and McDonald asked the board to consider supporting another version of a state bill that would provide a lower support level to keep the Perry plant operating.

“It is our hope that NOPEC, which serves our community, we are their customers, would come around and figure out a way to help us instead of lobbying against us,” Cirino said.

The board promised to consider the officials’ requests and get back to them.

In a follow-up call this week, Cirino noted that he was told NOPEC is still considering support for a federal solution, but that support for a state solution would be unlikely.

ANDREW CASS — THE NEWS-HERALD The inside of the cooling tower at the Perry Nuclear Power Plant during the plant’s scheduled shutdown in March for refueling and maintenance work.