Republican Illinois State Rep. Tom Demmer, determined to save Exelon’s Byron Generating Station from closure, launched a website last week to gin up support for state subsidies to stop the plant from closing next fall.
Exelon announced plans to close the Byron and Dresden Generating Stations in late August, calling them “uneconomic” and plagued by revenue shortfalls due to “declining energy prices and market rules that allow fossil fuel plants to underbid clean resources.”
The closures will cause massive economic disruption to the communities they inhabit, together costing around 1,500 full-time employees, 2,000 supplemental workers and nearly $63 million in annual taxes, according to Exelon.
Company spokesman Paul Dempsey said Monday that Exelon has no news regarding the Byron plant’s decommissioning should it go through with the closure, adding that the company will have a better idea of any developments later in the month.
In a press release announcing the plants’ closure, the company implied the decision wasn’t fixed and could be reversed through appeals to lawmakers like Rep. Demmer. The plant is still licensed to operate another 20 years.
“We recognize this comes as many of our communities are still recovering from the economic and public health impacts of the pandemic, and we will continue our dialogue with policymakers on ways to prevent these closures,” Exelon President and CEO Christopher Crane said in a press release. “To that end, we have opened our books to policymakers and will continue to do so for any lawmaker who wishes to judge the plants’ profitability.”
Demmer’s appeal is supported by Illinois State Sen. Brian Stewart (R), U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R) and Illinois State Rep. Andrew Chesney (R). The plea is also supported by local leaders, like City of Byron Mayor John Rickard and local school superintendent Buster Barton, who have expressed concern over the tax hit to town, which has a population of about 3,600, according to City Data.
“Over the past four decades, Byron Station has helped provide good paying jobs to thousands of citizens all throughout Northern Illinois,” Barton said in an Oct. 6 press release. “In a time when clean and reliable energy is at a premium, closing down Byron Station would be a tremendous mistake.”
Barton is part of the local Byron Station Response Committee, which formed last month after the school district got word of the closure. Members are hoping to see a bill introduced by the spring legislative session to prevent the shuttering of the plant, which provided the school district more than $19 million in tax revenues last year.
Illinois has bailed out Exelon nuclear plants before. In 2016, the state passed legislation to keep the company’s Clinton and Quad Cities plants afloat until 2030, providing a subsidy worth $235 million per year.
Rep. Demmer did not respond to requests for comment Monday afternoon.
