By Adam Studzinski
CLINTON – The fight to save the Clinton nuclear power plant isn’t over.
That was the message Thursday afternoon in Clinton from State Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) and State Rep. Bill Mitchell (R-Forsyth), following the announcement the plant will close. Mitchell explained he and Rose will continue working on legislation to aid the plant.
“I think Chapin and I will both agree the number one challenge in front of us here in Central Illinois is jobs,” said Mitchell. “This is just not good news. So we are going to continue to work.”
Rose said there’s more at stake than good paying jobs.
“Let me be really clear, these jobs are extremely important to our economy, but the entire future of downstate Illinois is at stake here,” said Rose. “Because if you lose 20 percent of the power on the grid on any given day of the week, that will be a massive rate hike on consumers that live well outside of Clinton, DeWitt County, and Central Illinois.”
Meanwhile, Clinton Mayor Roger Cyrulik said his primary concern at the moment is for the families of the workers who will lose their jobs.
“They’re out there with a good paying job and now they’ve got to uproot their families if they want to stay with Exelon, which has also been a good neighbor to Clinton and also surrounding communities,” Cyrulik said.
Exelon has said if something is passed to aid the plant by September, it’s possible the facility will not close. Right now, the plant is scheduled to shut down in June 2017.
Adam Studzinski can be reached at adam.studzinski@cumulus.com.
