Davis-Besse's attempted $3 billion ratepayer robbery hearings before the PUCO postponed yet again!

At Davis-Besse's front entrance in Oak Harbor, OH, Humpty Dumpty and Homer Simpson protest the Snow Job by recreating the Blizzard of '78--FirstEnergy and NRC's false root cause explanation of the severe cracking of Davis-Besse's Shield Building, that worsens with every freeze.The hearings were scheduled for April...then postponed to June...then to July...and now to August!

Pat Marida, coordinator of Ohio Sierra Club's Nuclear-Free Committee, reports:

"THE PUBLIC UTILTIES COMMISSION OF OHIO (PUCO) HAS POSTPONED EVIDENTIARY HEARINGS ON FIRSTENERGY’S BAILOUT REQUEST FOR WHAT I RECALL IS THE FOURTH TIME, TO AUGUST 31, FOR WHICH DATE WE WILL RESCHEDULE OUR RALLY.

Postponing is likely a good sign. PUCO has gotten a lot of push-back from the public, showing statistics that contradict the propaganda being fed to them by FirstEnergy. They will have a harder time rubberstamping the request and any complicity with industry would stand out.

RALLY AUGUST 31 with the Sierra Club and others at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.  Tell them, "DON'T CHARGE ELECTRIC RATEPAYERS $3 BILLION TO BAIL OUT FirstEnergy's unprofitable coal plants and the aging, accident-plagued Davis-Besse nuclear reactor!

EMAIL THE PUCO and tell them No Nuclear and Coal Bailouts!  No rate hikes to subsidize FirstEnergy!  The PUCO is seeking public comments.  Here is the address: Email docketing@puc.state.oh.us and begin your statement with “Please file this as an opposition comment under CASE #: 14-1297-EL-SSO.”

FirstEnergy led the fight that overturned Ohio's renewable and efficiency standards. BOO!  Now the PUCO is going to decide whether to hand them an enormous monetary gift, at the expense of the public health and purse. 

                                                NO BAILOUTS!  NO KIDDING!"

Pat mentioned "at the expense of the public health and purse" in her alert above.

Here is a passage from a Davis-Besse backgrounder Beyond Nuclear published a few years ago, on how bad the public health and property damage would be if Davis-Besse has a catastrophic radioactivity release:

"How  bad  would  the  casualties  and  property  damage  be?  The  NRC-­commissioned,  Sandia  National  Lab-­conducted “Calculation  of  Reactor  Accident  Consequences”  (CRAC­‐2)  report [officially titled as the 1982 Sandia Siting Study or as NUREG/CR-2239] sheds  terrifying  light  on  this  question.  NRC  actually  tried  to  bury  the  report,  but  U.S.  Congressman [now U.S. Senator]  Ed Markey  (D‐MA),  who wrote  a  four‐page  letter  to  NRC  Chairman  Jaczko, expressing  his  concerns  about  the  recently  revealed  shield  building  cracking  at  Davis­‐Besse) [46] forced  CRAC‐2’s  publication  via  his  congressional  hearing  powers  in  1982.

CRAC­‐2  lists  the  following  casualty  and  property  damage  figures from  a  catastrophic  radioactivity  release  at Davis­‐Besse:  1,400  Peak  Early  Fatalities;  73,000  Peak  Early  Injuries;  10,000  Peak  Cancer  Deaths;  $84  billion  in  property  damage.  But  CRAC­‐2  was  based  on  1970 U.S.  Census  data;  populations  around  Davis‐Besse  have  grown  significantly  in  the  past  42  years,  meaning  that  those  casualty  figures  would  now  be  much  worse.[47] And  when  adjusted  for  inflation  from  1982  dollar  figures,  property  damage  would  today  surmount  $187  billion in  2010  dollar  figures.[48]"

And the CRAC-2 report did not account for a severely cracked concrete containment Shield Building, which cracks worse every time it freezes at Davis-Besse! That's why we entitled our backgrounder "What Humpty Dumpty doesn't want you to know: Davis-Besse's cracked containment Snow Job." (see image, above left)

Ironically, that $3 billion would be about what it would take to replace Davis-Besse's Shield Building. But FirstEnergy has no such plans, nor does NRC have any such requirement. FirstEnergy would simply pocket that $3 billion, at the expense of ratepayers. It would line the pockets of FirstEnergy shareholders and corporate executives. No structural repairs would be made, using that money, at Davis-Besse. This is unacceptable.

Please take action! Urge the PUCO to reject FirstEnergy's bailout request (see PUCO's email address, above).