PA Marcellus Gas Claims a Nuclear Scalp in Central NY
Low-cost Marcellus Shale gas has just taken out a nuclear plant in New York State. Entergy, owner of the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant in Scriba, NY, says they will shut down the plant in 2016 or 2017 because of the "continued deteriorating economics of the facility" and because of "significantly reduced plant revenues due to low natural gas prices, a poor market design that fails to properly compensate nuclear generators like FitzPatrick for their benefits, as well as high operational costs." The FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant generates 838 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 800,000 homes, and employs 600 people in Oswego County, NY. Essentially over-regulation that drives up costs have shut it down. The question now is, where will those 800,000 homes get their electricity? Oh, they won't go dark. But they will begin to pay much higher prices for their electricity than they do now. Unless a new natgas-fired electric plant opens up...
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