Published August 2, 2020

“Lawmakers in Pennsylvania have a real opportunity to combat the looming public health crisis of our generation, climate change, while rebuilding a stronger economy in the wake of COVID-19. Linking to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a flexible and proven cap-and-invest program that allows member states to reduce carbon emissions from the electric power sector, is a simple, cost-effective way to achieve that objective.”

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Published July 22, 2020

“If Pennsylvania participates as well, the state could see hundreds of millions of dollars in proceeds from the program every year, spurring job growth and boosting the economic recovery we’ll need after the pandemic.”

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Published February 12, 2020

“The report outlines a number of steps that policymakers can take to improve our air quality and protect our health. One of those steps is to ensure that Pennsylvania follows through on a commitment to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which will reduce fossil fuel emissions from electricity generation.”

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Pennsylvania’s Failed Energy Policy Results in a Loss of 675 Full-Time Jobs and Emissions-Free Electricity

LONDONDERRY TOWNSHIP, PA – Leaders of Clean Jobs for Pennsylvania (CJFP) gathered today near Three Mile Island (TMI) to mark the premature and permanent closing of the power plant. TMI Unit 1 was closed today after 45 years of stellar operation because Pennsylvania lawmakers failed to address the widely acknowledged market flaws that unfairly disadvantage nuclear power plants.

“Today is a difficult day for Central Pennsylvania and for the 675 people who work full-time at Three Mile Island,” said Mike Pries, Co-Chair of Clean Jobs for Pa. and a Dauphin County Commissioner. “The plant had 15 years left on its operating license and is one of the best performing plants in the industry. While it’s too late for Governor Wolf and the state legislature to save TMI, there is still time to act to prevent additional premature nuclear plant closures around the state.”

“Not only could our elected representatives have taken action to save jobs they could have helped save our environment,” said Anna Dale, CJFP member and Chair of the Londonderry Township Board of Supervisors. “Since 2000, TMI has offset more than 95 million metric tons of carbon. That’s the equivalent of taking nearly 20 million cars off the road. TMI’s power will now be replaced by carbon emitting natural gas. That just doesn’t seem to make sense.”  

“My immediate thoughts are with the TMI employees who have been struggling through this difficult period. We tried to save the plant with House Bill 11 but we were not successful,” said State Representative Tom Mehaffie. “The state needs to take immediate action to value nuclear energy’s environmental attributes and ensure this outcome doesn’t happen at Pennsylvania’s four other nuclear power stations.”  

“I am feeling a deep sense of loss because today there should be more than 1,200 tradesmen and women coming into Middletown for a routine refueling and maintenance outage. Carpenters, pipefitters, insulators, boilermakers, electricians all would be earning excellent wages here over the next month. Now those jobs are gone forever,” said Joe Gusler, CJFP Co-Chair and President of the Central Pa. Building Trades. “State lawmakers bend over backwards to attract new jobs to our state, but sat idly by when it came to preserving existing family-sustaining jobs for highly-skilled workers.”

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About Clean Jobs for Pennsylvania

Clean Jobs for Pennsylvania (CJFP) is a diverse coalition of business, labor, environmental, education, civic and local elected leaders who have come together to support the continued operation of Three Mile Island and the Commonwealth’s four other nuclear plants and the benefits they provide to their local communities. For more information about the coalition, please visit cleanjobsforpennsylvania.com.

CJFP formed on the heels of the announcement that TMI would close in September 2019 without necessary policy reform. The coalition has also seen a strong response from concerned citizens on social media. Clean Jobs for Pennsylvania’s Facebook page has more than 24,000 followers, and nearly 8,000 people follow the coalition on Twitter.

SEVEN OUT OF TEN PENNSYLVANIANS SAY THEY’D BE MORE LIKELY TO VOTE FOR A STATE LEGISLATOR WHO FIGHTS TO KEEP NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS OPEN

 

New Poll Results Released by Dauphin County Commissioner Mike Pries
During Testimony Before PA House Consumer Affairs Committee

 

HARRISBURG (April 8, 2019) – Seven out of ten likely voters in Pennsylvania report they would be more likely to vote for a state legislator who fights in Harrisburg to keep the state’s nuclear power plants open. That is among the findings of a new statewide poll released this morning by Dauphin County Commissioner and Clean Jobs for Pennsylvania (CJFP) Co-Chair Mike Pries during testimony before the state House Consumer Affairs Committee. The hearing is focused on House Bill 11, known as the Keep Powering Pennsylvania Act, which seeks to properly value the clean energy attributes of nuclear power.

 

“The clock is ticking. My constituents – your constituents – are counting on you to get this done,” Pries told the committee. “Pennsylvanians have made it quite clear where they stand. Let’s not look back five years from now and ask ourselves, why did we allow these jobs, these economic engines, to vanish? I urge you to take prompt action to pass House Bill 11 to ensure our state continues to enjoy the economic, environmental and reliability benefits of our zero-emission nuclear power plants.”

 

Among other key survey findings:

• 75% of likely PA voters favor a proposal to add nuclear energy to Pennsylvania’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards (AEPS), giving nuclear energy many of the same incentives as wind, solar, and hydroelectric, which would help keep electricity prices in check
• 63% have a favorable opinion of nuclear power
• 68% believe maintaining PA’s nuclear plants provides fuel diversity and allows for healthy competition and leads to lower energy costs in the long term
• 71% responded favorably to the statement that Pennsylvania’s nuclear power plants are the largest source – 93% – of our state’s emissions-free energy and play a pivotal role in keeping our air clean

“Pennsylvania voters of all stripes and in every region of the state hold strongly positive views of nuclear energy and value its importance to the Commonwealth,” said Brock McCleary, President, Harper Polling. “And they clearly want lawmakers to find solutions, with a strong majority supporting the addition of nuclear to the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards.”

 

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Updating Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Will Protect Electricity Prices, Jobs and the Environment

 

HARRISBURG, PA – Leaders of Clean Jobs for Pennsylvania (CJFP) today applauded the formal introduction of bipartisan legislation (HB 11) – known as the Keep Powering Pennsylvania Act – in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives that would reform an existing state law to recognize the contributions the state’s nuclear energy makes throughout the Commonwealth.

The legislation was introduced by State Representative Tom Mehaffie who held a news conference today at Ironworkers Local 404 to provide details on the bill.  The proposed legislation would properly value the environmental attributes of nuclear energy by updating Pennsylvania’s landmark 2004 clean energy legislation, called the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards (AEPS).  AEPS was designed to foster economic development and encourage reliance on more diverse and environmentally friendly sources of energy, yet excludes the one source of energy – nuclear power – that provides 93 percent of the Commonwealth’s zero-carbon electricity.

"This legislation is important to the economic and environmental well-being of the entire state and in particular central Pennsylvania,” said Mike Pries, co-Chair of CJFP and a Dauphin County Commissioner.  "Without its passage, Three Mile Island will be shuttered in September and our region will lose more than 600 full-time, family-sustaining jobs and thousands of supplemental jobs forever."

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CLEAN JOBS FOR PA APPLAUDS STATE LAWMAKERS FOR IDENTIFYING LEGISLATIVE SOLUTION TO PROPERLY VALUE NUCLEAR ENERGY 

Calls On Members of House and Senate to Join Effort to Update
Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Law to Include Nuclear Energy

 

HARRISBURG, PA. (Feb. 4, 2019) – Leaders of the Clean Jobs for Pennsylvania (CJFP) coalition today praised a bi-partisan initiative that would use an existing state law – the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act (AEPS) – as the legislative vehicle to recognize the environmental attributes of nuclear energy. Doing so is projected to protect the state’s existing nuclear fleet, including Three Mile Island, from premature closures. The coalition is urging legislators to join State Senators Ryan Aument, Lisa Boscola, Mike Folmer, John Gordner, Elder Vogel, Jr. and John Yudichak and State Representative Thomas Mehaffie in co-sponsoring this important legislation.

Despite the fact that Pennsylvania’s nuclear power plants are the state’s largest source of electricity and provide 93 percent of the Commonwealth’s zero-carbon electricity, nuclear energy has been excluded from Pennsylvania’s AEPS program since its creation in 2004. Unless the state legislature addresses this inequity, Pennsylvania will lose the state’s nuclear energy industry putting the 16,000 in-state full-time jobs supported by the industry in jeopardy.

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LONDONDERRY TOWNSHIP, PA. (Nov. 29, 2018) – Leaders of the Clean Jobs for Pennsylvania (CJFP) coalition today said that a report from the state legislature’s Nuclear Energy Caucus is a critical next step to finding a solution for preserving Pennsylvania’s fleet, including Three Mile Island, and is further proof that nuclear energy provides thousands of jobs, improves our air quality, ensures grid reliability and national security, and will help to keep electricity rates affordable for Pennsylvanians for years to come.

 

The report, released today at an event in Londonderry Township, details possible policy solutions that would properly value the contributions of nuclear energy and avoid the premature closure of Pennsylvania nuclear plants, including Three Mile Island and Beaver Valley. Clean Jobs for Pennsylvania includes hundreds of community leaders, labor officials, small business owners, elected officials and others from central Pennsylvania who have advocated for policy changes that will keep Three Mile Island operating well into the future. 

 

“We commend the Nuclear Energy Caucus for its thoughtful approach to this important issue,” said CJFP co-Chair and Dauphin County Commissioner Mike Pries. “It is now up to our state leaders to come together on a solution. If they don’t act, in less than one year from now we will lose 675 full-time jobs and millions of man-hours for skilled labor during outage and maintenance work, 800 megawatts of carbon-free energy, and millions of dollars in lost tax revenue and other economic spin-offs when TMI closes.”

 

“TMI and the overall value of nuclear power to Pennsylvania is clear,” said Chris Reilly, York County Commissioner and Co-chair of CJFP.  “In 2017, nuclear power produced 42 percent of our state’s electricity. TMI alone produced more carbon-free energy than all of the state’s renewable energy combined and all told more than 16,000 Pennsylvanians are employed by the nuclear industry. I urge all lawmakers to read this report and take action to protect our economy and environment.”

 

“Premature nuclear plant closures don’t just hurt workers. Communities, businesses and families across Pennsylvania rely on the nuclear industry to reliably provide affordable energy,” said Anna Dale, Londonderry Twp. Supervisor. “Pennsylvania families will pay $788 million more annually to keep the lights on if nuclear plants close studies show.”

 

Pennsylvania today ranks second in the nation for nuclear power generating capacity, owed to a long tradition of nuclear energy leadership and technological innovation. However, that production is threatened with news that at least two of Pennsylvania’s five nuclear plants are preparing for premature closure without a legislative remedy. Three Mile Island in Dauphin County and Beaver Valley in Beaver County are slated for closure in 2019 and 2021, respectively. According to an April 2018 report from The Brattle Group, should those two plants close, along with two nuclear plants slated for closure in Ohio, it would reverse environmental benefits equal to 25 years of wind and solar development.

 

NPP thanked Caucus leadership, including Co-Chairs, Senators Ryan Aument and John Yudichak, and Representatives Becky Corbin and Rob Matzie for their leadership in leading a process that thoughtfully considered that complex challenges facing the nuclear industry. In total, nearly 80 lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats alike, from both the House and Senate, are members of the Nuclear Energy Caucus.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:  Steve Aaron
[email protected]
717-554-8614

 

THREE MILE ISLAND’S PREMATURE CLOSURE NOW JUST ONE YEAR AWAY; LOCAL LEADERS SAY THE ‘CLOCK IS TICKING’ TO SAVE THOUSANDS OF JOBS

Clean Jobs for Pa. leaders and other supporters gathered at the historic Middletown Town Clock to call for federal and state policy solutions that will fairly value nuclear energy for the environmental, economic, and resiliency benefits it provides Pennsylvania  

MIDDLETOWN, PA. (Sept. 27, 2018) – Local leaders of the Clean Jobs for Pennsylvania coalition, dozens of Three Mile Island employees, and other supporters gathered at the historic Middletown Town Clock today to remind elected leaders that the “clock is ticking” to find a policy solution that fairly values nuclear energy in Pennsylvania and saves thousands of local jobs, preserves the environment, and protects the resiliency of the nation’s power grid.

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PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Steve Aaron, 717-564-8614

 

On one-year anniversary of Three Mile Island premature closure announcement local leaders say the ‘clock is ticking’ on a solution to save thousands of jobs

Clean Jobs for Pa. coalition leaders and other supporters gather on City Island to call on federal and state energy policy solutions that will fairly value nuclear power plants for the environmental, economic, and resiliency benefits they provide Pennsylvania  

 

HARRISBURG (May 30, 2018) – Saying the “clock is ticking” on a solution to save thousands of local jobs, preserve the environment, and protect the resiliency of the nation’s power grid, local leaders of the Clean Jobs for Pennsylvania coalition gathered on City Island today to call for federal and state energy policy solutions that fairly values nuclear power plants in Pennsylvania.

The event took place on the one-year anniversary of the announcement to close Three Mile Island prematurely in the fall of 2019 unless such policy changes are put in place. Since that announcement, the owner of the dual-unit Beaver Valley nuclear power plant near Pittsburgh announced it, too, plans to close that station well before its licensed closure date. 

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