Ohio faces a decision soon about its two nuclear reactors, Davis-Besse and Perry, and on Wednesday, neighbors of one of those plants issued a cry for help. The reactors’ problem is that the price of electricity they sell on the high-voltage grid is depressed, mostly because of a surplus of natural gas. And the reactors do not get any revenue for the other benefits they provide. Some of those benefits are regional – emissions-free electricity, reliability with months of fuel on-site, and diversity in case of problems or price spikes with gas or coal, state and federal payroll taxes, and national economic stimulus as the plants buy fuel, supplies and services. Some of the benefits are highly localized, including employment and property taxes. One locality is already feeling the pinch: Oak Harbor on Lake Erie, home to Davis-Besse. The town has a middle school in a building that is 106 years old, and an elementary school from the 1950s, and on May 2 was scheduled to have a referendu
Comments
There once was a president named Bush
Who hurried to war in a rush
His latest decision
Is safe nuclear fission
He’s talking right out of his tush!
There once was a fool who said oil
Has definitely gone off of the boil
We must rather go "newkular"
For a safe and clean future
And poison the air, water and soil.
There once was a moron from Maine
Who made a preposterous claim,
He said nuclear fission
Was his number one mission
To keep us safe, healthy and sane.
There was a goofball named Gunter,
Who was simply a one-note wonder.
He hates everything nuke,
Which proves he's a kook.
In this we can't be any blunter!
Gunter says nukes are bad.
But in their place he has nothing to add.
Wind and solar miss the mark.
Gunter freezes in the dark.
But perhaps that isn't so bad!!
So let's raise a dirge for old Paul,
He really hasn't a clue at all.
Nukes will clean up the air,
For the environment we'll care.
With clean energy at low cost for all!!!
(See, others can use exclamation points too.)