With NOPR Decision, FERC Rejects Coal and Nuclear Industries Bailout

Columbus, OH - The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) terminated its consideration of Rick Perry’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) that would have bailed out uneconomic coal and nuclear plants in Ohio that cannot compete against cleaner, cheaper energy sources like solar, wind, and energy efficiency. FERC also initiated a new proceeding to investigate issues of grid resilience in a more comprehensive and evidence-driven manner, requesting that grid operators submit comments in 60 days.

Despite his own staff’s findings that there was no economic or legal justification for the propping up aging fossil and nuclear plants, Perry had asked FERC to create rules that would force electricity customers to pay billions of extra dollars to support uncompetitive coal and nuclear plants heading toward retirement. FERC’s decision today is a rejection of DOE’s request that it take precipitous action that would have imposed billions of dollars in costs to consumers.

In response, Neil Waggoner, Campaign Representative of Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign in Ohio, released the following statement:

"FERC made the right decision today; it does not make sense to force electric customers to pay more to bail out old, dirty, uneconomic coal and nuclear plants.

“Ohioans are all too familiar with the sort of bailout scheme the Department of Energy was trying to push with the NOPR. For years, Ohio electric customers have steadfastly opposed similar state attempts at a utility bailout based on the same sort of non-factual arguments.

“While this likely won't be the last attempt to force Ohioans to pay more for dirty, outdated, expensive energy, the economics of these plants are not going to improve, and we will continue to fight back against these dirty energy bailouts."