Local Groups Sue to Stop Sale of Wisconsin Nuclear Power Plant
May 20 - The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Several groups that have lobbied against the sale of the Kewaunee nuclear plant filed suit Friday to block the deal, which two Wisconsin utilities hope to complete next month.
The opponents also worry that the $220 million sale creates a precedent for
selling off other state power plants. They want a judge to agree with the Public
Service Commission's initial decision last fall that the Kewaunee plant sale
isn't in the public interest.
After some new conditions were offered by the utilities and Dominion, the
commission reversed itself and approved the decision in April.
"In our opinion, the commission has flip-flopped on whether the sale is
in the public interest," said Charlie Higley, executive director of the
Wisconsin Citizens' Utility Board.
The opponents say several conditions attached are outside the scope of the
commission because they are federal in nature, and as such, the commission
doesn't have the power to enforce them.
Linda Barth, a commission spokeswoman, said she hadn't seen the lawsuit, but
that the commission believes its conditions are enforceable.
"When the commission approved the sale with the new conditions, they
determined the conditions were legally binding, that they protect Wisconsin
citizens for the long term, and that they provide economic benefits to
ratepayers," she said.
Charlie Schrock, president and chief operating officer of generation at Green
Bay-based Wisconsin Public Service Corp. said that work to complete the sale of
the deal will still proceed, despite the lawsuit.
The utilities will have to review the suit, which they had not seen as of
Friday afternoon.
The deal is expected to close within days after the one-reactor nuclear plant
returns to service. The plant has been shut down for three months to address
safety concerns raised during a Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspection in
January. WPS said this week it expects the reactor to resume generating power in
the first half of June.
The suit was filed less than a month after executives at Wisconsin Energy
Corp. said the commission's Kewaunee decision had opened up an opportunity for
the utility to consider the possibility of selling Point Beach nuclear power
plant at some point.
That has opponents even more concerned about the precedent the Kewaunee case
could set.
"We are very concerned about what precedential nature this decision
would have if other power plants are offered up on the sale block," said
Dave Benforado, executive director of the Municipal Electric Utilities of
Wisconsin.
Schrock said the lawsuit doesn't seem necessary, given that the issues in the
case were fully analyzed by the commission.
The value of the deal has been borne out by the higher costs that customers
have had to pay this year because of the shutdown of the plant. The commission
has granted approval to increase prices to utilities that are buying more costly
electricity to replace the output of Kewaunee.
Had the sale already closed, Dominion -- not the customers of WPS and
Madison-based Wisconsin Power & Light Co. -- would have to absorb the higher
costs resulting from a plant shutdown, Schrock said.
Opponents of the deal contend that the benefits of the deal, which include
the return to utility customers of a decommissioning fund, are offset by the
possibility of higher costs when the power purchase contract expires in 2013.
Profits from power sales for a plant paid for by Wisconsin customers will then
be sent to Dominion after 2013, Higley said.
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