Capitalism Good, Nuclear Bailout Bad

Over the past few weeks, there have been calls in Harrisburg for the taxpayers of Pennsylvania to save the nuclear industry with a taxpayer- or ratepayer-funded bailout. While some have called this an environmental cause, I believe it is corporate greed at its finest. How can we ask citizens of the Commonwealth to either pay more in taxes or utility bills to subsidize an industry that made more than $600 million in profits in 2018?

Throughout the past ten years, Pennsylvania has become a world leader in energy production and innovation. This is what capitalism looks like. When a void is created, such as a plant closing, the market will fill that need. This process leads to innovation, increased competition, job creation, and lower utility rates. It even leads to a better environment. Pennsylvania is leading the way in reducing carbon emissions over the last decade and would be the only state in the country to meet the Paris Climate Accord. In addition, families in Pennsylvania are saving $1,200 annually because of this innovation.

While it is certainly important to support a robust energy policy and local jobs, it is not the role of government to prop up businesses. Nuclear energy is an old industry with lots of government regulations and nuclear waste that nobody wants stored near them. Two years ago, construction was abandoned on two reactors in South Carolina.

It is bad policy to prop up an antiquated industry at the cost of families here in Pennsylvania. Ratepayers have already doled out over $9 billion dollars to fund the reactors in the first place. Now, to ask for even more funds from the people (ratepayers) of Pennsylvania to keep these facilities alive and line the pockets of corporate shareholders is insulting, especially to the tune to of $981 million annually. The people of Pennsylvania are not a piggy bank to be broken anytime profits don’t meet expectations.

The multi-billion-dollar companies operating these nuclear power plants do not need a bailout. They should instead work to find a path to continue operations within the free market by innovating, selling to another business or closing. Last year, it was reported that Three Mile Island was the only nuclear power plant not to have a sizeable surplus. No amount of bailout money is going to fix TMI.

I hope that my colleagues in Harrisburg widely reject any bailout of the nuclear industry. It is not the role of government to pick winners and losers, especially in the form of crony capitalism.