February 13, 2019

On Monday, Feb. 4, Pennsylvania State Senators Ryan Aument, Lisa Boscola, Mike Folmer, John Gordner, Elder Vogel, Jr., John Yudichak and State Representative Tom Mehaffie introduced co-sponsor memos that propose updating a 2004 law to include providing support for nuclear power.

The law, called the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards (AEPS), was designed to foster economic development and encourage the use of more diverse and environmentally friendly sources of energy. In their filings the bi-partisan legislators note that the AEPS excludes the one source of clean energy – nuclear power – that provides 93 percent of the Commonwealth’s zero-carbon electricity.

The legislators stated that, among other advantages, the five nuclear power plants in Pennsylvania:

• Keep electricity prices low,
• Avoid more than 37 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, and,
• Bring resilience to the grid by reliably operating all day every day of the year.

In their filing, legislators stated: “Pennsylvania cannot stand by and watch all these benefits disappear as nuclear power plant after nuclear power plant prematurely retires. It’s time to finally acknowledge nuclear generation for its considerable zero-carbon energy production by including it in Pennsylvania’s AEPS program.”