Testimony in Opposition to HB5589 before the Energy & Environment Committee

Chairperson Williams, Vice Chairperson Didech, Spokesperson Welter, honorable members of the committee: thank you for the opportunity to testify today in opposition to House Bill 5589.

My name is Abraham Scarr and I am the Director of Illinois PIRG. Illinois PIRG is a statewide, citizen funded, non-partisan public interest advocacy organization that speaks out for a healthier, safer world in which we’re freer to pursue our own individual well-being and the common good.

Illinois’ moratorium on new nuclear power plant construction is sound policy that should be maintained. The United States has no long-term plan for the safe storage of nuclear waste, nuclear power is cost-prohibitive, and Illinois can better meet its long-term energy needs through 100% renewable energy.

Safety

Illinois law currently places a moratorium on the construction of new nuclear power plants until the federal government “has identified and approved a demonstrable technology or means for the disposal of high level nuclear waste.” HB5589 would remove this common sense policy.  With more nuclear generating capacity than any other state in the country, and no viable plan for federal nuclear waste storage, Illinois could become the largest nuclear waste storage site in the country. We should not make this problem worse.

Cost

Nuclear power is expensive and its high cost has negatively impacted Illinois for decades.

Of 75 nuclear reactors completed between 1966 and 1986, the average reactor cost more than triple its original construction budget. Reactors under construction today follow this pattern: in Georgia, two new units at the Vogtle nuclear plant were originally scheduled to be operational by 2016-17 at a cost of $14 billion. Current estimates are to be operational in 2023 at a cost of over $28 billion.

In the 1980s, ComEd’s nuclear power plant construction was beset by delays and skyrocketing costs — 13 times what ComEd had spent on plants completed in the 1970s. Due to the cost overruns, ComEd customers paid the highest electrical rates in the country. In order to deal with financial pressure from its nuclear plant construction, ComEd, according to its own assessment, embarked on “one of the most extensive austerity programs since the great [sic] Depression,” which “particularly hurt the [transmission and distribution] side of the company.” This led to reliability problems that were only adequately addressed after ComEd used the promise of fixing reliability problems as part of its campaign to pass the formula rate law at the outset of its bribery scheme. 

After paying exorbitant rates for the nuclear power plants when ComEd was vertically integrated in the 1980s and 1990s, Illinois consumers once again paid high power prices after restructuring created a competitive market for power generation. The original market design for competitive power, pushed by then-ComEd parent company Exelon, resulted in spiking power prices and profits for Exelon Generation. In more recent years, Illinois consumers have been put on the hook to subsidize these plants once again, to the tune of $3 billion. 

There is no reason to continue throwing good money after bad. Illinois  should prioritize renewable energy solutions – technologies that deliver safe, reliable and secure electricity supplies at a reasonable cost.

100% renewable future

While nuclear power continues to be expensive and noncompetitive in power markets, the costs of renewable energy sources have declined over time as they have scaled up. Every dollar Illinois wastes on failed energy policies of the past is a dollar it cannot spend on building the 100% renewable energy future. 

Thank you for the opportunity to submit written testimony. I will be happy to answer any questions the committee may have.