DeKalb Times

State Rep. Jeff Keicher (R-Sycamore) has advice for Gov. J.B. Pritzker when it comes to the long-debated energy legislation.

“Nuclear and Byron Station in particular must be a part of any secure energy future,” Keicher posted on Facebook. “The governor needs to stop playing games with our energy and lead.”

As the debate revs up, Exelon is set to soon pull the plug on the Byron plant, which at full power generates enough energy to service at least 2 million homes across the area.

“We’re preparing right now to shut down these reactors forever,” Exelon Executive Vice President and Chief Generation Officer Bryan Hanson told WTTW. “That means shutting the plant down, turning the turbines off, the generators off, shutting down the reactor.”

Byron Mayor John Rickard is already lamenting what he thinks that will mean for the entire region, but sighs his hands are tied.  

“We feel like we’re pawns in a game we can’t control,” he said. “The discussions in Springfield we don’t seem to have any influence on anymore. We’re kinda sitting here going ‘do you realize what you’re doing to us?’”

Byron School Board President Christine Lynde worries what the trickle-down effect could be.

“To do nothing is to condemn this town, our school district,” said Lynde, who also serves on the Byron Station Response Committee, which is dedicated to seeing the generation station remain open.

While property taxes from the nuclear plant comprise a staggering 74% of the district’s budget, or in the neighborhood of $19 million, Exelon executives insists they have no choice but to shutter the plant. They further warn without action from the Illinois legislature, the same fate could soon befall the area’s Dresden plant.

One proposal making the rounds in the statehouse would have ratepayers pay a subsidy in the form of an extra charge on their electric bill, with the added revenues being used to keep the plants open for at least the next five years.

Earlier this summer, company subsidiary Commonwealth Edison was hit with bribery charges, ultimately leading to the resignation of longtime House Speaker Michael Madigan, who has been implicated in the scheme.