Exelon is a profitable company that shouldn't threaten to close its plant in Cordova, or ask Illinois customers to pay more. That's according to the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition whose members include 50 groups and 150 companies across the state.
Today, Exelon announced the Quad Cities Nuclear Generating Station will not receive any revenue from a power capacity auction on Friday.
Coalition spokesman Billy Weinberg says Exelon's Illinois customers have already paid for the Cordova plant and its maintenance "over and over again."
Exelon has asked the General Assembly to pass a bill to help keep Cordova and two other nuclear plants open. But Weinberg says the request is "disingenuous" because in the first half of the year, the company has already made $1.3 billion in profits.
The coalition says Exelon's threat to close the Quad Cities plant makes it even more urgent for lawmakers to pass the Illinois Clean Jobs Bill. Weinberg says it would encourage the development of renewable energy and create jobs. Legislators took no action on it when it was introduced last winter.
