Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Monday 27 March 2017

American Living:

Ripples from US nuclear plant closings overwhelm small towns

JOHN SEEWER the local school board to
Associated Press shelve plans to build a new
OAK HARBOR, Ohio (AP) elementary building for the
— Living in the shadows district, which stands to
of the Davis-Besse nuclear lose $8 million a year with-
power plant’s cooling tow- out the plant.
er, which soars above Lake New Orleans-based En-
Erie in Ohio like an over- tergy Corp., owner of the
sized lighthouse, brings with Palisades nuclear plant
it some give-and-take. in Michigan, announced
On the plus side, it gener- plans late last year to close
ates tax money that once in 2018 even though it has
paid for a high school a license to keep operat-
swimming pool and audi- ing another 14 years.
torium. Then there are the How much the losses will
stockpiles of radiation pills add up to isn’t clear yet,
and emergency drills for said Dennis Palgen, a
students in case of a disas- township supervisor where
ter. the plant has operated
For the small, mostly rural since 1971.
towns that are home to This August 1986 file photo shows Commonwealth Edison’s nuclear power plant, closed by parent “We’re just in a state of
61 U.S. nuclear plants that company Exelon Corp. in 1998, in Zion, Ill. As costs of running aging nuclear reactors increase, limbo right now,” he said,
produce one-fifth of the some small, mostly rural towns that are home to the nation’s nuclear plants are bracing for what’s adding that plans to buy a
nation’s electricity, each to come, as towns where nuclear plants were shuttered deal with higher property taxes, cuts in new fire truck are on hold.
one has been like the gold- services and less school funding. The plant and its 600
en goose supplying high- (AP Photo/Charles Bennett) workers have been good
paying jobs and money for neighbors, he said, buying
roads, police and libraries. cades. wiping out a third of your er natural gas-fired plants backpacks for school chil-
But those same places and In Wisconsin, the tiny town county,” said Citrus County and renewable energy dren and emergency gen-
their residents are bracing of Carlton saw the source Administrator Randy Oliver. sources. erators for the township.
for what may come next of roughly 70 percent of its To make up the difference, The former head of the nu- “The list goes on and on,”
due to the soaring costs of yearly budget disappear property tax rates went clear industry’s trade group Palgen said.
running aging reactors that when the Kewaunee nu- up by 31 percent and 100 said last year that econom- In some cases, utilities are
have speeded up the clos- clear power plant closed county workers were let go ic pressures have put 15 to paying communities and
ings of a handful of sites four years ago. That result- — so many that Oliver wor- 20 plants at risk of a prema- schools during the first few
and are threatening at ed in the first town tax in its ries there won’t be enough ture shutdown. years to help ease the sud-
least a dozen more. That’s history. to evacuate residents and FirstEnergy Corp. will de- den loss of their largest em-
because once the power “Financially, we benefited, clear roads if a major tropi- cide by next year whether ployer and taxpayer.
stops flowing, so does the but now we’re going to cal storm hits. to close or sell its plant in But what makes recover-
money. pay the price for the next 40 While the nation’s fleet Pennsylvania and two in ing tough is that almost all
Towns that already have years,” said David Hardtke, of nuclear power plants Ohio, including Davis-Besse, nuclear plants are in out of
seen nuclear plants shut- the town chairman. wasn’t designed to last for- unless the states change the way places that have
tered are now dealing with When operations ceased ever, closures are happen- regulations to make them become heavily reliant on
higher property taxes, cuts at the Crystal River Nuclear ing earlier than expected more competitive. them. And they employ
in services and less school Plant along Florida’s Gulf because repair costs are The uncertainty around specialized workers who
funding — a new real- Coast, “it was like some- astronomical and it’s hard- Davis-Besse and a plan are quick to leave for still-
ity that may linger for de- thing going through and er to compete with cheap- to lower its value caused operating locations.q