With the nuclear reactor crisis emerging in Ukraine as a backdrop, a bill – HB 5589 — has been introduced in the Illinois Legislature that would remove a decades-old moratorium on constructing new nuclear reactors in Illinois. Read more
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“Public Official A” — the former Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan — has (finally) been indicted under the charges of racketeering, relating to the ComEd lobbying scandal of 2020. It ultimately led to Madigan leaving his post in the Illinois legislature after serving as House Speaker for 36 years.
The scandal resulted in a guilty plea by ComEd and a $200 million fine; and the indictment of three of ComEd/Exelon’s top executives: Exelon Utilities CEO and President Anne Prammagiore, former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker, and consultant Jay Doherty. ComEd’s vice president of governmental and external affairs Fidel Marquez resigned, and later plead guilty to a charge of bribery. Trial dates are expected in 2022. Throughout initial FBI investigations relating to these individuals, references were made of “Public Official A”, which by description could only have been Madigan.
Madigan becomes the second state legislature House speaker to be indicted by the FBI. Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder was also indicted relating to a $60 million bribery scheme to support a nuclear utility in Ohio. Madigan continues to proclaim his innocence.
It is amazing how nuclear power utilities and federal indictments relating to bribery and more are being paired up in recent years. In addition to the two indictments above, a utility executive overseeing the construction of SCANA’s VC Summer nuclear plant in South Carolina also plead guilty in the $11 billion fraud case in 2020.
Nuclear power seems to go hand in hand with political corruption.
Ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is indicted on federal racketeering charges
By Dan Mihalopoulos, Dave McKinney, Tony Arnold — WBEZ-FM
An otherwise excellent Chicago Tribune summary of the proposed Comprehensive Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CCEJA) was marred by the oversimplified one-line explanation for critics’ opposition to continued Exelon nuclear plant bailouts. While legitimate to question and oppose bailing out a profitable corporate welfare queen like Exelon, the real reasons are more numerous and complex.
The $694 million Exelon bailout proposed in CCEJA is nearly twice the amount found financially defensible by Governor Pritzker’s $250,000 independent audit commissioned earlier this year. What’s the justification for increasing ratepayer abuse? Read more
THE CORROSIVE EFFECTS OF NUCLEAR BAILOUTS
David Kraft, Director, Nuclear Energy Information Service
July 15, 2021
Nuclear bailouts represent the government’s way of turning people into utility ATM machines. At the state level, that would be ratepayers. At the federal level, that would be the U.S. taxpayers. It’s always easier to spend somebody else’s money, especially when trying to score political points with voters and donors.
Nowhere is this more in evidence than in the states of Illinois and Ohio, characterized by not only outrageous nuclear bailouts imposed on ratepayers, but also horrendous amounts of political corruption essential and intrinsic to sealing the deals. Read more
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