Today, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) announced the House Energy and Commerce Committee will prioritize hearings and legislation to put the country on a path to a 100% clean economy.

96 FirstEnergy’s deception is losing legislators on HB6 p{ margin:10px 0; padding:0; } table{ border-collapse:collapse; } h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6{ display:block; margin:0; padding:0; } img,a img{ border:0; height:auto; outline:none; text-decoration:none; } body,#bodyTable,#bodyCell{ height:100%; margin:0; padding:0; width:100%; } .mcnPreviewText{ display:none !important; } #outlook a{ padding:0; } img{ -ms-interpolation-mode:bicubic; } table{ mso-table-lspace:0pt; mso-table-rspace:0pt; } .ReadMsgBody{ width:100%; } .ExternalClass{ width:100%; } p,a,li,td,blockquote{ mso-line-height-rule:exactly; } a[href^=tel],a[href^=sms]{ color:inherit; cursor:default; text-decoration:none; } p,a,li,td,body,table,blockquote{ -ms-text-size-adjust:100%; -webkit-text-size-adjust:100%; } .ExternalClass,.ExternalClass p,.ExternalClass td,.ExternalClass div,.ExternalClass span,.ExternalClass font{ line-height:100%; } a[x-apple-data-detectors]{ color:inherit !important; text-decoration:none !important; font-size:inherit !important; 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line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .headerContainer .mcnTextContent,.headerContainer .mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .bodyContainer .mcnTextContent,.bodyContainer .mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .footerContainer .mcnTextContent,.footerContainer .mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - Edition #72

Deception #1 – Failing to provide financial information

FirstEnergy long has sought a bailout from ratepayers or taxpayers to make up for its own bad business decisions. The Ohio Supreme Court, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission beat them back, but the company now is spending millions of dollars in campaign contributions, lobbying fees and advertisements to appeal anew to Ohio legislators. Facing that political pressure, the Ohio Senate last week approved a $1.1-billion bailout, but the House couldn’t muster the votes to pass it. FirstEnergy Solutions and its political supporters are still twisting arms, but not with convincing arguments.

Wouldn’t you think legislators would want to know if FES really needs $1.1 billion to keep its two reactors operating? Wouldn’t you want your elected officials to examine the company’s books? FES flatly refuses to prove it needs the money, saying its bankruptcy proceeding precludes it from disclosing financial information. Tom Becker of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the bankruptcy attorneys he contacted said that argument was patently false. 

When independent experts did look at FES’s numbers, they found the reactors to be comfortably profitable. According to the former chief economist for PJM Interconnection, the Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear plants generated annual profits of $28 million and $44 million, respectively, and are “among the most profitable of their kinds in the nation.” According to the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, FES’s nuclear subsidiary enjoyed a profit of $18.4 million in May 2019 alone.
And they need a bailout, why?


Deception #2 – Buying nuclear fuel

In order to rush Ohio legislators to a decision, FES has said it needed a decision by the end of June in order to purchase radioactive fuel for one of it reactors; if it didn’t get the bailout by then, it promised to shutter the plants and put its workers out on the streets. Of course, June came and went and nothing happened. We’re now in late July.

Why, you might wonder, hasn’t FES pulled the plug as threatened? Well, it seems, contrary to what it told legislators: the company already bought the nuclear fuel.

In the fine print of filings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, FES admitted: “Enrichment services are contracted for essentially all the enrichment requirements for nuclear fuel through 2020…. Fabrication services for fuel assemblies are contracted for … Davis-Besse (reactor) through 2024.” 

Only one word for that deception – “Wow.”

Deception #3 – Who do bailouts benefit?

FES likes to say that it needs a $1.1-billion subsidy so it can pay off Ohio-based creditors. But a July 8 headline in The Bond Buyer declared: “FirstEnergy nuclear bailout would be a win for bondholders,” the largest of whom are Wall Street hedge funds that bought the bonds for pennies on the dollar, hoping legislators would approve a bailout and they would profit handsomely. 

Sounds like Main Street is being asked to subsidize Wall Street, with ratepayers being asked to send their hard-earned dollars directly to creditors with no expected return on their investments. Makes you wonder why Ohio legislators would want to hear the swooshing sound of bailout money leaving the state.
 

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