The Salem and Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Stations in Lower Alloways Creek, New Jersey, is shown on Aug. 9, 2012. (Photo: Gary Emeigh / GARY EMEIGH/THE NEWS JOURNAL)
Nicholas Pugliese and David P. Willis report for NorthJersey.com
Worried that New Jersey’s nuclear power plant operator would follow through on its threat to shutter the state’s nuclear fleet, regulators on Thursday approved $300 million a year in subsidies — money that will be raised from homeowners through their electric bills.
“In my view, the board is being directed to pay ransom and the hostages are the citizens of New Jersey,” said Bob Gordon, a commissioner with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities who voted for the subsidy. “We are here today not because these three plants are losing money but because they are not profitable enough.”
Newark-based Public Service Enterprise Group, the largest owner of the state’s three nuclear reactors, at the Salem and Hope Creek plants in Salem County, has said it will close the facilities down with the bailout. That, the company warned, would put thousands of people out of work and force it to develop new natural-gas-fired generators that would spew greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and cost residents more in the long run.
But a diverse coalition of opponents, which includes business, consumer and environmental groups, argued that PSEG has failed to prove its plants are in danger of shutting down. They point to independent reports by the New Jersey Rate Counsel and the Independent Market Monitor for PJM, the operator of the regional power grid, that found the plants are profitable and do not qualify for the subsidies.
Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, cleared the way for the subsidies last year when he signed off on the creation of a so-called “zero emission certificate program” for the nuclear plants as part of legislation that also sought to accelerate the development of solar and wind energy.
New Jersey is not the first state to grapple with whether to subsidize its nuclear plants, which provide about 40 percent of all power produced in the state and the vast majority of its carbon-free electricity.
New York and Illinois have approved similar bailouts in recent years. Several plants in other states, undercut by cheap natural gas, have been retired prematurely.
Developments in recent days have heightened the drama around Thursday’s meeting of the Board of Public Utilities.
PSEG on Tuesday notified federal regulators of its intention to shut down the Salem and Hope Creek plants, adding in a filing: “If ZECs are awarded to all three plants, the retirement submittals would be unnecessary.”
That came a day after the coalition of opponents sent letters to Murphy and the BPU commissioners asking that a state-commissioned analysis of PSEG’s financials by an independent consultant be made public.
Related news coverage:
Public utilities board approves $300M subsidy for PSEG nuclear plants (NJBIZ)
Critics slam PSEG’s notice of nuclear shutdown on eve of subsidy decision (WHYY)
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