Bill Text: OH SCR4 | 2011-2012 | 129th General Assembly | Enrolled
Bill Title: As Introduced 129th General AssemblyRegular Session2011-2012S. C. R. No. 4 Senator Daniels
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 18-3)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2011-06-15 - Concurrence [SCR4 Detail]
Download: Ohio-2011-SCR4-Enrolled.html
To urge the President of the United States to direct the United States Department of Energy to ensure the continuation of the uranium enrichment work being developed by USEC, Inc., at its Piketon, Ohio plant by granting USEC's application for a federal loan guarantee and to direct the Secretary of Energy to strongly consider providing federal funding assistance for the Clean Energy Park Demonstration Project.
Be it resolved by the Senate of the State of Ohio
(The House of Representatives concurring):
WHEREAS, USEC, Inc. is a global and leading supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants; and
WHEREAS, USEC currently operates the American Centrifuge Demonstration Facility in Piketon, Ohio, that develops next generation uranium enrichment technology; and
WHEREAS, The United States Department of Energy (USDOE) currently is considering USEC's application for a federal loan guarantee for the construction of its American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon; and
WHEREAS, USEC and the Ohio General Assembly believe that the American Centrifuge Plant project has met the financial and technical requirements of the USDOE's Loan Guarantee Program as well as President Obama's policy objectives for energy security and climate change goals and that the plant has demonstrated with confidence that it is technologically ready to transition to commercial operation; and
WHEREAS, The construction and operation of the American Centrifuge Plant will create up to an estimated 8,000 jobs, approximately half of which will be in Ohio; and
WHEREAS, USDOE's failure to grant a loan guarantee will force USEC, at a critical time in Ohio's economy, to demobilize its American Centrifuge Plant uranium enrichment project jeopardizing the expansion efforts at the Piketon plant and resulting in job losses in Ohio and several other states; and
WHEREAS, President Obama has expressed his support for the American Centrifuge Plant when campaigning in Ohio; and
WHEREAS, In a separate effort, USEC, the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative, and power developers have joined to form the Southern Ohio Clean Energy Park Alliance for the purpose of pursuing the proposed development of a Clean Energy Park Demonstration Project at the USDOE site in Piketon and to support reindustrialization and asset reutilization as the cleanup work at this site nears completion; and
WHEREAS, The Alliance proposes to evaluate the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site in Piketon as a potential location for a new nuclear power plant and include in the evaluation both a plant siting study and the preparation of licensing documents for submission to the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission as part of its Early Site Permit process; and
WHEREAS, A Generation III+ nuclear power reactor located at this site, would create over 2,000 construction jobs with an estimated payroll of $1.2 billion over six years and add approximately 500 permanent professional and technical jobs to the region without producing carbon emissions; and
WHEREAS, A shared funding approach between the USDOE and the Alliance is an appropriate method of funding this multi-billion dollar project due to possible environmental contamination at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site, and whereby, under this approach, the USDOE would fund the preparation of the Early Site Permit and the Combined Operating License Application, and then the Alliance would fund the nuclear power plant project as it progresses; and
WHEREAS, The USDOE has the authority to direct federal funds toward projects such as the Clean Energy Park Demonstration Project; now therefore be it
RESOLVED, That we, the members of the 129th General Assembly of the State of Ohio, urge the President of the United States to direct the Secretary of USDOE to award USEC, at the earliest opportunity, the federal loan guarantee for which it applied; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we, the members of the 129th General Assembly of the State of Ohio, urge the President of the United States to direct the Secretary of USDOE to give strong consideration to the request made by the Southern Ohio Clean Energy Park Alliance for federal funding assistance for the Clean Energy Park Demonstration Project in Piketon, Ohio; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the Senate transmit duly authenticated copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, the Secretary of the United States Department of Energy, the members of the Ohio Congressional delegation, the Governor of Ohio, the Board of Pike County Commissioners, and the news media of Ohio.
