"DC Consumer Advocate Seeks Delay in Exelon-Pepco Proceedings"

Logo courtesy of Public Citizen Energy ProgramAs reported by RTO Insider, Washington, D.C.'s consumer advocate, the Office of People's Counsel (OPC), has requested a months-long delay from the D.C. Public Service Commission in the Exelon-Pepco merger proceeding, because Exelon's recent filings are a "procedural mess." The OPC was joined in its motion to the D.C. PSC by the Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington.

In addition, the article reports, "the American Antitrust Institute asked the U.S. Department of Justice to block the merger or impose mitigation measures."

EXELON LEGISLATION, FERC COMMENTS A “DECLARATION OF WAR” ON RENEWABLES AND EFFICIENCY, GROUP ASSERTS

In a press release, Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS) of Chicago has warned the energy future of IL is at stake, as Exelon Nuclear lobbyists have unveiled their wish list bill seeking $580 million from state legislators, at ratepayers' expense. In addition, Exelon seeks another $560 million from transmission grid operator, PJM Interconnection, also at ratepayers' expense.

NEIS has been defending IL ratepayers and residents against the state's nuclear utilities since 1981.

Exelon's Ginna atomic reactor in upstate NY also at risk of near-term shutdown

NRC file photo of Exelon's Ginna atomic reactor on the Lake Ontario shore of upstate NY near RochesterAs reported by the Democrat and Chronicle, Exelon Nuclear's Ginna atomic reactor -- one of the oldest in the U.S. -- is at risk of near-term shutdown. Dr. Mark Cooper of Vermont Law School, in his July 2013 report Renaissance in Reverse, identified Ginna as one of a dozen atomic reactors across the U.S. most at risk of near-term, permanent shutdown, for a variety of safety, financial, and societal reasons.

The 45-year-old Ginna reactor is located in Ontario, NY, near Rochester, on the shoreline of Lake Ontario (photo, left). Exelon is trying to gouge Rochester Gas and Electric (RG&E) ratepayers to prop up its failing Ginna reactor.

It joins five of Exelon's atomic reactors in the utility's home state of IL at risk of permanent closure due to economic uncompetitiveness. Just yesterday, Public Citizen, Maryland PIRG, and others protested at Exelon's Baltimore HQ against the utility's attempt to plunder Mid-Atlantic ratepayers to prop up its failing reactors across the country.

Exelon is also trying to stick it to IL ratepayers, but is not alone in the attempted gouging of its own customers: FirstEnergy has sought permission to overcharge Ohio ratepayers to the tune of billions, to prop up its problem-plagued Davis-Besse atomic reactor near Toledo on the Lake Erie shore, as well as a dirty coal plant on the Ohio River. See Beyond Nuclear's "Nuclear Costs" website section for more news on these and related issues.

Stop Exelon's Power Grab Regional Solidarity Event (Baltimore, MD), Feb. 5

Logo from Public Citizens' action alertPublic Citizen, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, PowerDC, and others have organized a rally in opposition to the proposed Exelon-Pepco merger, to be held in downtown Baltimore, MD at 10:30am on Thurs., Feb. 5th.

If you live in the area, please consider attending, and spread the word!

As posted at Public Citizen's action alert, here are details:

Stop Exelon’s Power Grab Regional Solidarity Event

• What: Advocates from Delaware, Maryland and Washington, D.C. will speak out against the proposed Exelon takeover.
• When: Thursday, February 5 @ 10:30 a.m.
• Where: Outside Exelon’s Headquarters at 750 E. Pratt Street, Baltimore

Public Citizen asks that you RSVP if you are planning to attend the rally.

Nuclear DOESN'T Matter!

Carol Browner, a paid spokesman for industry PR front group "Nuclear Matters," is but the latest in a long line of nuclear power snake oil salesman, seeking to gouge ratepayers and taxpayers"Nuclear Matters," a high-priced front group featuring paid, pro-nuclear spokespeople -- former members of congress and administration agency heads -- was created by Exelon Nuclear and its PR machine last year. It has since been joined by other nuclear utilities.

"Nuclear Matters" spokespeople, such as former Clinton administration EPA administrator, and Obama administration White House "climate czar," Carol Browner, are in Chicago today, and plan to be at FirstEnergy's Davis-Besse atomic reactor in Carroll Township, Ohio (east of Toledo, on the Lake Erie shore) on Feb. 5th.

"Nuclear Matters" is trying desperately to prop up dirty, dangerous, and uncompetitive atomic reactors, through massive ratepayer bailouts, in both Illinois and Ohio. (And check out Grist's coverage of Exelon's attempt to take over Pepco, and gouge ratepayers in D.C., MD, and beyond in the Mid-Atlantic region!) In fact, in Chicago, they were joined by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), the industry's lobbying and PR HQ in Washington, D.C. Exelon, the single largest nuclear utility in the U.S., also dominates NEI -- both Exelon's and NEI's CEO is one and the same person: Christopher Crane.

For her own part, one of Browner's claims to infamy as EPA administrator was to propose Yucca Mountain radioactive waste dump regulations that were so weak, that the incoming George W. Bush EPA head, Christie Todd-Whitman, simply adopted them verbatim. (Todd-Whitman is herself a paid spokesman for NEI front group CASE Energy.) An environmental coalition, in alliance with the targeted State of Nevada, later successfully challenged EPA's illegal attempt to cut off regulations at Yucca after only 10,000 years: ordered by the courts to rewrite the regulations, EPA several years later acknowledged high-level radioactive waste is hazardous for a million years.

See entries below about the grassroots environmental, consumer protection, and public interest push back against this attempted ratepayer robbery by Exelon, FirstEnergy, "Nuclear Matters," and NEI.

Nuclear power was infamously touted as "too cheap to meter" in the early 1950s by an earlier snake oil salesman, Atomic Energy Commission chairman Lewis Strauss. Scott Saleska and Arjun Makhijani of IEER's 1999 book The Nuclear Power Deception documented that the entire nuclear establishment, including Strauss, already knew by that time that nuclear power would be too expensive to matter -- until the massive subsidies gouged from taxpayers and ratepayers began. Now "Nuclear Matters" is back for more!

Update on January 28, 2015 by admin

NEIS's director, Dave Kraft, rebutted "Nuclear Matters'" Carol Browner on WBEZ, NPR's Chicago affiliate.

See also NEIS's press advisory, press release, post event follow up, and a photo, a couple entries below.