Washington, D.C.'s mayor, attorney general, and Office of People's Counsel reject PSC conditions for Exelon takeover of Pepco!

Hold the presses! As reported by PowerDC, as well as NIRS and CCAN, the Mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser, as well as D.C.'s Attorney General, Karl Racine, and the Office of People's Counsel, Sandra Mattavous-Frye, Esq., have all rejected the PSC's conditions for the Exelon takeover of Pepco to proceed. As reported by the Washington Post, this could well doom the corrupt deal. (Note that an earlier version of the Washington Post article stated, appropriately, that "The debate over the merger centered on the role of renewable energy sources like wind and solar against legacy technologies, such as nuclear power and natural gas. Many environmental groups opposed the deal because they believed it would hinder the migration toward renewable energies." (emphasis added) But, Orwellian "down the memory hold" style, the current version of the article has edited out this entirely appropriate language!) But eternal vigilance and redoubling of efforts is more called for than ever: PowerDC will hold a press conference at the JW Marriott near the mayor's office at the Wilson Building in downtown D.C. on Wed., March 2nd at noon, calling for an end to this bad deal, once and for all. You can take action too, by writing D.C. decision makers. [See entry below, for more background to this rapidly changing story!]

"A huge loss" for the public interest, ratepayers, and environment: Exelon Nuclear takeover of Pepco poised for approval

Sept. 17, 2015 PowerDC rally against Exelon takeover of Pepco, before marching to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser's office to deliver the hand-signed banner

[See entry above, and "follow up" posted below, for updates on this rapidly changing story!]

As reported by Crain's Chicago Business, the Washington Post, and Bloomberg, Exelon Nuclear is now poised to take over Mid-Atlantic utility Pepco. Exelon won the war, despite a determined public interest, ratepayer, and environmental group coalition winning all the battles against the controversial merger over the course of the past two years.

The D.C. Public Service Commission issued a 270-page Opinion and Order, and a press release.

As explained in the DC PSC press release, "the Commission ruled by a vote of 2 to 1 that if all settling parties accept the proposed conditions within 14 days from the date of the Order, the Revised NSA [Nonunanimous Full Settlement Agreement and Stipulation] and the Exelon/Pepco Merger will be approved as in the public interest without further Commission action."

PSC Commissioners Joanne Doddy Fort and Willie L. Phillips voted in favor of the merger; PSC Chairman Betty Ann Kane dissented, holding -- as she has since August 2015 -- that the merger is not in the public interest.

As reported by the Washington City Paper:

Opposing the merger, PSC member Betty Ann Kane said there was no evidence Pepco couldn't keep running without the purchase from Chicago-based Exelon. A merger, Kane said, would leave the PSC "forever playing whack-a-mole" to enforce the terms of the deal on Exelon. 

As quoted in the Blooomberg article:

"This is a huge loss for consumers, a discouraging setback for the institutions to protect them and a sad commentary on how things are done in the District," said Allison Fisher, public outreach director for Public Citizen.

(See Allison Fisher's full statement here.)

As summarized by PowerDC:

THE PSC REJECTED EXELON'S PROPOSAL, BUT LEFT THE DOOR WIDE OPEN FOR THE MERGER TO GO THROUGH. CHAIR KANE, IN MINORITY ON DECISION TO OFFER NEW TERMS, STRESSED THAT MERGER IS FUNDAMENTALLY FLAWED AND NOT IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST.

PowerDC has issued the following action alert:

Today the D.C. Public Service Commission (PSC) proposed a settlement offer to Mayor Bowser and the Office of People’s Council (OPC) that removes rate protections for D.C. residents. If the mayor and OPC accept this bad deal it means Exelon will take over Pepco and your monthly electric bill will increase.

Tell Mayor Bowser and OPC not to sign off on this bad deal!

Per the PSC’s decision, the settling parties have 14 days to either accept or reject the agreement. This is our last chance to stop Exelon.

The initial settlement included $25 million dollars meant to protect residential customers from expected rate increases. This protection is not included in the PSC’s alternative settlement. The PSC’s terms would allow the money to be allocated in the next rate increase. This means that money could end up anywhere.

In Baltimore, BG&E has raised its rates four times since its takeover by Exelon. We can’t let that happen here.

We need to stop this bad deal and we need your help today!

Thank you,

The PowerDC Coalition

David Kraft, Executive Director of Nuclear Energy Information Service in Chicago, a 35-year watchdog on Exelon/Commonwealth Edison, also issued a statement. 

For the past many long months, Beyond Nuclear has joined with public interest, environmental, and ratepayer allies in the PowerDC coalition to resist Exelon's takeover of Pepco at every twist and turn. This included the submission by Beyond Nuclear of extensive comments to the D.C. Public Service Commission, detailing the abuse Exelon has heaped on its own neighbors and workers (especially whistle-blowers) in Illinois, with a warning to not welcome such a rogue corporation to town. Given the permissive approval poised to take place, it is clear Beyond Nuclear's warnings fell on deaf ears, in terms of the 2-1 majority vote at the D.C. PSC. 

The approval deal comes despite a warning by financial analysts that the Exelon-Pepco merger is value destructive, and underlying weakness threatens total returns.

Update on March 1, 2016 by admin

Hold the presses! As reported by PowerDC, as well as NIRS and CCAN, the Mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser, as well as D.C.'s Attorney General, Karl Racine, and the Office of People's Counsel, Sandra Mattavous-Frye, Esq., have all rejected the PSC's conditions for the Exelon takeover of Pepco to proceed. As reported by the Washington Post, this could well doom the corrupt deal. (Note that an earlier version of the Washington Post article stated, appropriately, that "The debate over the merger centered on the role of renewable energy sources like wind and solar against legacy technologies, such as nuclear power and natural gas. Many environmental groups opposed the deal because they believed it would hinder the migration toward renewable energies." (emphasis added) But, Orwellian "down the memory hold" style, the current version of the article has edited out this entirely appropriate language!) But eternal vigilance and redoubling of efforts is more called for than ever: PowerDC will hold a press conference at the JW Marriott near the mayor's office at the Wilson Building in downtown D.C. on Wed., March 2nd at noon, calling for an end to this bad deal, once and for all. You can take action too, by writing D.C. decision makers.

"As hearings conclude, FirstEnergy subsidy proposal remains in doubt"

Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Associates, Inc., has called our attention to this article by Robert Walton at Utility Dive: "As hearings conclude, FirstEnergy subsidy proposal remains in doubt."

Arnie was Beyond Nuclear et al.'s expert witness, in the steam generator replacement intervention at Davis-Besse in May 2013. Sierra Club joined Beyond Nuclear, Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, and Don't Waste Michigan in that intervention. Pat Marida, coordinator of the Ohio Sierra Club Nuclear-Free Committee, and others from Sierra Club Nuclear-Free Campaign, and beyond, made generous personal donations to make Arnie Gundersen's expert witness work possible.

Beyond Nuclear is thankful to the Sierra Club Ohio Chapter, Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign, Earthjustice, and other environmental and public interest allies, who are official parties to the PUCO proceeding, for continuing to fight this particular dirty, dangerous, and expensive energy bailout at ratepayer expense.

Davis-Besse is a catastrophe waiting to happen. It has already dodged more near-misses than any other single atomic reactor in the U.S. -- perhaps the world -- and now FirstEnergy would like ratepayers to pay for another 20-years worth of radioactive Russian roulette on the shore of the Great Lakes (2017-2037).

It would likely otherwise close permanently, without the bailout, due to losing money.

If Davis-Besse doesn't dodge the next radioactive bullet, the concrete containment Shield Building can't be counted on to contain the monstrous amounts of hazardous radioactivity inside the melting down reactor core. It has been severely cracked since at least 1978, FirstEnergy admitted in Feb. 2012.

But the "White Wash" of Aug.-Oct. 2012 (weather-sealing the exterior, 40 years too late) locked water inside the concrete walls, so now, every time it freezes out, the cracks grow by a half-inch or more. This can add up to a whopping nine inches of crack growth in a single year, due to Ice-Wedging Crack Propagation, FirstEnergy admitted in July 2014.

FirstEnerg kept the water in the walls secret from Jan. 2012 till July 2014, 2.5 years, including the whole time we were intervening against the license extension, based on the cracking. FirstEnergy, and NRC staff, swore up and down the cracking was fixed in place, and would not grow over time. The NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel (ASLBP) swallowed that one hook, line, and sinker, and blocked our intervention hearing "day in court," because we supposedly could not prove aging-relatedness, a Byzantine NRC requirement.

In Aug.-Sept. 2013, FirstEnergy admitted cracking growth, but the ASLBP continued to deny us a hearing, regardless of aging-relatedness being belatedly admitted by FirstEnergy.

On Sept. 23, 2015 (sub-committee), and again on Nov. 4, 2015 (full committee), before the NRC Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) considering Davis-Besse's license extension, FirstEnergy made some more startling admissions. FirstEnergy spokesmen said they had known since the cracks were first discovered in Oct. 2011, that there was a risk of large chunks of concrete falling off the exterior face of the Shield Building. Numerous safety-significant systems, structures, and components (SSCs) are located below, FirstEnergy now admitted: the Auxiliary Building (containing numerous safety-significant SSCs itself); the borated water storage tank(s), needed for criticality control in the reactor and high-level radioactive waste storage pool; a radiation containment/control portal (air lock) for worker access into the Shield Building; man-hole covers that contain essential electric transmission connections; etc.

FirstEnergy had made no such admissions prior to that, not in nearly four long years (Jan. 2012-present) of public meetings, NRC meetings, and even ASLBP hearings focused on the cracking. To the contrary, when environmental watchdogs made such allegations, FirstEnergy -- with NRC staff collusion -- denied them, at every turn, tooth and nail.

The small additional force that could bring those chunks of concrete raining down include earthquakes (whether natural or artificial -- remember Youngstown's fracking wastewater disposal-caused 4.0 on 12/31/11), tornado-driven "missiles" (such as a telephone pole), or, if the Ice-Wedging Cracking Propagation grows badly enough, this little natural phenomenon known as "gravity." (Unless, of course, the nuclear industry lobbied Ohio legislature, Gov. Kasich, and U.S. Congress decide to repeal the Law of Gravity, Second Law of Thermodynamics (Entropy), etc.?!)

But such last second admissions didn't deter the ACRS from rubber-stamping Davis-Besse's 20-year license extension. As with the NRC staff and NRC Commissioners themselves, the ACRS is a part of the collusion and complicity with FirstEnergy, at the expense of public health, safety, and the environmental risks downwind, downstream, up the food chain, and down the generations.

In short, for safety's sake alone, Davis-Besse should be permanently shut down ASAP. Certainly no later than the expiration of its initial 40-year license, on Earth Day (April 22), 2017.

As our coalition's expert witness, Dr. Al Compaan (emeritus prof. and chairman of the University of Toledo Physics Dept., and a solar PV materials scientist/inventer), testified in 2010-2011, onshore wind power alone (never mind offshore wind power potential in Lake Erie), solar PV alone, and certainly the two in combination, combined with energy storage (such as the Norton Compressed Air Energy Storage facility that FirstEnergy owns near Akron), could readily, affordably, and dependably replace Davis-Besse's 908 Megawatts-electric. Of course, they would do so much more cleanly, safely, and securely as well.

The ASLBP actually granted us a hearing on that renewables alternatives contention, not long after the still ongoing Fukushima nuclear catastrophe began in 2011. But FirstEnergy appealed that ruling, and some months later, the shameless NRC Commissioners voted unanimously FirstEnergy's way, overruling their own licensing board, and blocking our hearing. Thus was gutted the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires a "hard look" (not the right decision in the end, just a comprehensive investigation and comparison) at alternatives to NRC's "preferred" one -- in this case, 20 more years of operations at the problem-plagued Davis-Besse atomic reactor. So much for rule of law. "Nobody Really Cares" about that (that's what NRC actually stands for!)

And speaking of rule of law...Ohio law would appear to make this $3.9 billion bailout to FirstEnergy, at ratepayer expense over 8 years, illegal. That didn't stop the PUCO staff from endorsing the proposal. We'll see how the Republican and Independent PUCO Commissioners now vote (there is not one Democrat on the PUCO). FirstEnergy competitors, such as Dynegy, who stand to gain no such illegal bailout advantage from the PUCO, have threatened to file a lawsuit to block the bailout on that point alone.

"Former [Idaho] nuclear power company executive sentenced"

As reported by KIDK Eyewitness News:

BOISE, Idaho - A Meridian, Idaho woman was sentenced to 30 months in prison Thursday for securities fraud.  Jennifer R. Ransom, 41, pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud on April 21, 2015.

Ransom appeared before Judge Edward J. Lodge in U.S. District Court in Boise. She will spend the first six months of her sentence under home confinement.  Ransom was also ordered to forfeit $580,780 and pay $116,138 in restitution to victim-investors.

According to a plea agreement, Ransom was Senior Vice President of Administration of Alternate Energy Holdings, Inc.  Headquarter[ed] in Eagle, Idaho, the development stage company was planning to construct and operate a nuclear power plant in Payette County...

Ransom's co-defendant, Donald Gillespie, failed to appear for two scheduled arraignment hearings in May of 2015.  He is a fugitive and is being pursued by the U.S. Marshal's Service.

The prosecution is part of efforts underway by President Obama's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF), which was created in November 2009 to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes.

Beyond Nuclear's comments to DC PSC opposing Exelon Nuclear's takeover of Mid-Atlantic's Pepco

Participants in the PowerDC rally on Sept. 17, 2015, against Exelon's takeover of Pepco took a group photo before marching to DC Mayor Muriel Bowwer's officeBeyond Nuclear has joined efforts for many months with the PowerDC coalition, and many others, in opposing Exelon Nuclear's takeover of the Mid-Atlantic utility Pepco. Exelon regards Pepco's D.C., MD, and Mid-Atlantic ratepayers as a cash cow, for funneling a steady revenue stream back to IL, to prop up five uncompetitive (not to mention dirty, dangerous, and age-degraded) atomic reactors there.

The Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia had rejected the takeover in August 2015 because it was not in the public interest. But Washington, D.C. Mayor, Muriel Bowswer, reached a secretive, back room deal with Exelon's lobbyists, sending the matter back to the D.C. PSC. Public comments are due by Dec. 18, 2015.

Beyond Nuclear testified at oral hearings before the D.C. PSC in mid-November. It has also submitted the following written comments, in an attempt to shine a light on Exelon Nuclear's rogue corporate behavior, and toxic track record:

Dec. 7, 2015: Beyond Nuclear's comments regarding Exelon's abuse of its own workers, which is documented in Dreux Richard's March 11, 2013 article in the Japan Times, "Toxic management erodes safety at 'world's safest' nuclear plant: Echoes of Fukushima at Exelon's flagship Byron Station in Illinois." This should serve as a cautionary tale for the health, safety, and wellbeing of Pepco workers in and around Washington, D.C., that of their families, and of the community at large, and is reason enough to block Exelon's takeover of Pepco.

Dec. 7, 2015: Beyond Nuclear's comments opposing Exelon takeover of Pepco, due to Exelon's abuse of health, safety, and environmental whistleblowers. The comments tell the story of Commonwealth Edison/Exelon whistleblower Oscar Shirani, who made public major quality assurance and safety regulation violations involving Exelon's containers for ultra-hazardous high-level radioactive waste. The comments also reference U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) whistleblower, Dr. Ross Landsman's, support for Shirani's allegations. Ultimately, Exelon made Shirani pay a high personal price for his whistleblowing. This should serve as a cautionary tale for Pepco employees, who have the courage and integrity to do the right thing, to protect public health, safety, and the environment, when their employer prioritizes profits over these principles. Such whistleblower abuse is a significant reason for the D.C. PSC to block Exelon's takeover of Pepco, for the public's health, safety, and environment is at stake.

Dec. 9, 2015: Beyond Nuclear comments opposing Exelon takeover of Pepco, due to Exelon's demonstrated willingness to harm the health, safety, and environment of its neighbors, including children, in its pursuit of profits. (See the Word version of the comments, for live URL links to relevant documents.) The comments tell the story of the Sauer family of Morris, IL, whose 7-year-old daughter Sarah was diagnosed with a rare form of childhood brain cancer. Morris is the location of Exelon's three reactor Dresden nuclear power plant, as well as the GE-Morris high-level radioactive waste storage facility. The Sauer's research revealed that Exelon's Braidwood nuclear power plant, not far from Morris, had repeatedly leaked massive amounts of hazardous radioactive water (contaminated with tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen), measuring millions of gallons at a time, into the local drinking water supply. Exelon, with the complicity of the State of IL Environmental Protection Agency, had concealed the leaks from the public for a decade. Sarah's father, Joe Sauer, a medical doctor, documented alarmingly high cancer rates in and around Morris and Braidwood, significantly higher than elsewhere in IL as a whole. The concern is that a toxic, rogue corporation like Exelon, willing to harm its neighbors in IL, may very likely be wiliing to put its new neighbors in the Mid-Atlantic at risk, if allowed to takeover Pepco. This should not be allowed.

Dec. 10, 2015: Beyond Nuclear's comments opposing Exelon's takeover of Pepco, due to Exelon's demonstrated "nuclear war against renewables," in an attempt to "kill the competition," both in IL and nationally -- for which behavior, it has earned the dubious distinction of being the only company ever kicked out of the American Wind Energy Association! Exelon's behavior is averse to D.C.'s cutting edge vision for green, clean, sustainable energy, so it should not be allowed to takeover Pepco and undermine D.C.'s hard won progressive energy policies. (See the Word version of the comments, for live URLs linking to relevant documents.)

For more information on Exelon's nefarious behavior, see Nuclear Energy Information Service of Chicago's exposés on Exelon's attempts to rob ratepayers and taxpayers in IL of more than $1.5 billion. NEIS has been watchdogging Exelon, and its predecessor Commonwealth Edison, for 35 years.

You can take action to stop the Exelon takeover of Pepco. PowerDC has a webform you can personalize, to urge the DC Public Service Commission to stand strong, and once again reject the Exelon takeover of Pepco as not in the public interest!