U.S. Rep. Keith Rothfus has sent a second letter to President Donald Trump, urging him to enact an emergency order that could keep struggling coal and nuclear plants open.
The letter, signed by 20 other members of Congress, is the second this year calling on the president to act. Rothfus, R-12, Sewickley, sent the first letter in February, and several weeks later, Trump said he was considering acting on the matter.
FirstEnergy Corp., which owns two power plants in Shippingport, has said time is of the essence if lawmakers want to intervene. The chief nuclear officer of FirstEnergy Solutions on Wednesday said the company could start closing its nuclear plants by mid-next year.
During a conference call Thursday, Rothfus said that’s exactly why he sent a second letter.
“I think there’s certainly urgency about this, which is why we’re pushing it,” he said.
At issue are power plants that are “fuel secure,” Rothfus said, or plants that have fuel sources on-site in case of emergency. That applies to the Bruce Mansfield coal-fired plant and the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station.
Bruce Mansfield has a 90-day coal supply on site, and the nuclear plant has more than a year’s worth of fuel.
As he has previously, Rothfus mentioned a recently released study by the National Energy Technology Laboratory that claimed the nation’s power grid was close to “systemic failure” during the so-called “bomb cyclone” weather event earlier this year.
Citing that report, Rothfus claimed the grid would have collapsed if not for fuel-secure power plants, mostly because reserves of natural gas were not enough to keep the grid online.
“Fuel-secure nuclear and coal-fired power plants provide safe, reliable and resilient electricity that millions of Americans depend on,” he said. “These plants are vital to our nation, especially during winter when demand is very high and consequences of power outages are dire.”
Rothfus said he is “concerned” about the possible premature retirement of coal and nuclear plants, which is why he continues to press the issue on the federal level.