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Say  “NO!” to Exelon Nuclear Bailouts!

  • $694 million from Illinois Legislature expected to pass on Monday, Sept. 13
  • As much as $25 BILLION could go to Exelon from Congress

On Monday Sept. 13th the Illinois Legislature and Gov. Pritzker are expected to give yet another state bailout to fund corporate welfare queen Exelon’s money-losing Byron and Dresden nuclear reactors.

Some time that week Congress is expected to vote on the Budget Reconciliation and Infrastructure legislation in Washington.  Nuclear lobbyists have been very active arranging for your pockets to be picked there too, once again.

We’re told we can’t afford a $15 minimum wage; can’t provide universal health care during a pandemic; and don’t have enough money to build new renewable energy sources to replace nuclear at a time of “Climate Code Red.”  Yet, they can find money to bailout profitable nuclear corporations like Exelon.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

  • Call Sens. Durbin [202-224-2152] and Duckworth [202-224-2854]; and tell them “No more nuclear bailouts! Fund renewables instead.”
  • Call your representative to Congress with the same message. Call the Capitol Switchboard number [202-224-3121] if you don’t know his/her number.  If you don’t know who that is, click this link and follow instructions.
  • Find numbers for your state and fed officials at:

https://www.elections.il.gov/Default.aspx

click “Find my elected officials”

Gov. Pritzker: 312-814-2121;  217-782-6830

For more information: NEIS, (773)342-7650;  neis@neis.org

Thank you!

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

Sept. 3, 2021

This originally was going to be a “summer summary” of NEIS’ work.  However, the importance and prominence of the proposed nuclear bailouts at both the Illinois-State and federal levels argued for a delay of that idea, and an update report to people committed to safe-energy and a less-nuclear world and the negative effects of the continued “nuclear hostage crisis” on our carbon-free/nuclear-free future.

ILLINOIS ENERGY BILL MOVES FORWARD, STILL IN LIMBO:

The omnibus energy bill (SB18, amended; now SB1751, House Amendment 1, no link available yet) continues to lurch forward with the surprise Senate passage on Tuesday Sept. 2 in the wee hours Read more

Illinois Legislators should oppose Exelon’s current $700 million nuclear ransom demand.  You can’t build an energy future by bailing out the past.

Recent revelations [1] that Exelon’s business partner EDF is curbing its enthusiasm for the creation of Exelon’s spin-off company “SpinCo” should warn Illinois legislators about the danger of granting the recently proposed nuclear bailout [4].

Earlier this year Exelon announced it would be splitting off and segregating its money-losing, unprofitable nuclear reactors into a separate entity called “SpinCo.” Read more

STATEMENT ON ILLINOIS LEGISLATIVE INACTION

 ON ENERGY LEGISLATION

Tick…tick…tick…

Everything in its own time.  Or so the old saying goes.  The Illinois Legislature demonstrated that old maxim once again by failing to vote before the end of Spring session on a critical piece of energy legislation designed to create Illinois’ energy future.

The Planet has its own schedule, too.  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) frantically warned in October 2018 that we humans have at best 10 years left – until 2028 – to totally revamp our energy and economic systems, or risk an irreversible climate crisis that could threaten the very functioning of civilization as we have come to know it.  In this regard it’s important to recall another old maxim:  Nature bats last.

Like the grasshoppers in Aesop’s Fable, we, the Governor, and the Legislature ignore this imminent peril, and instead, content ourselves to “Count the victories,” as House Speaker Chris Welch, D-Hillside, advised yesterday as the clock stroked midnight.  Well, looks like it will now be easier to get to-go cocktails.  Come 2029 and beyond, we will need them, and much more. Read more

Illinois’ Energy Legislation Due for Completion This Week

Your LAST Chance to Tell Them What You Want!

7 competing bills; over 3,500 pages of competing legislation!

This week (May 10, 2021)  the Illinois Legislature will determine the energy fate of Illinois for years to come.

We have long understood that the Illinois energy legislation that will be acted upon in 2021 will be an amalgam of pieces from the numerous proposed bills.  Currently these bills cumulatively amount to between 3,000-4,000 pages of text.  Except for discussion about bailouts, nuclear power is again excluded from detailed examination, significant nuclear-related issues have been ignored, and nuclear critics have been left out of direct discussions. Read more