4 ms·

Ohio Nuclear Bribery Scandal

27 points by jhallenworld 5y ago

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
toomuchtodo 5y ago
ComEd in Illinois had a similar scandal, also around economically uncompetitive nuclear power plants owned by Exelon but also juicing profits under the guise of smart meters and grid resiliency. https://www.npr.org/local/309/2020/07/20/893009659/breaking-down-the-com-ed-patronage-scandal-and-what-s-next-for-michael-madigan https://www.npr.org/local/309/2020/07/20/893009659/breaking-... https://www.wbez.org/stories/the-comed-scandal-shows-every-illinoisan-the-true-cost-of-taxpayer-funded-corruption/b0994134-3d0a-4a06-84d8-31ebdbfb2a0a https://www.wbez.org/stories/the-comed-scandal-shows-every-i...
jhallenworld 5y ago
Householder is out: https://apnews.com/article/larry-householder-ohio-expel-indictment-bribery-3c0347d54c1669b5243ef2b5c4f91e0b https://apnews.com/article/larry-householder-ohio-expel-indi... Also, one of the involved nuclear plants in Davis-Besse, which is the one which had that boric acid corrosion hole in it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis%E2%80%93Besse_Nuclear_Power_Station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis%E2%80%93Besse_Nuclear_Po...
m463 5y ago
Regulatory capture has arguably the best ROI of any "investment". Fighting it should be well supported and well funded.
- Arrath 5y ago
  It has never ceased to amaze me how small these donations to political candidates and campaigns usually are.
  - raincom 5y ago
    Exactly. In the third world, politicians demand at least 10% cut.
justin66 5y ago
The Ohio bill HB 6 that was paid for with illegal bribery was only partially repealed. The nuclear industry in Ohio didn't get to keep their money, but other interests did. It was, no shit, actually controversial in the Ohio legislature whether or not they'd actually repeal it at all after the bribery was revealed. https://energynews.us/2021/04/19/utility-and-fossil-fuel-interests-still-ahead-in-ohio-under-house-bill-6/ https://energynews.us/2021/04/19/utility-and-fossil-fuel-int... https://www.cleveland.com/open/2020/10/heres-why-ohio-lawmakers-havent-done-anything-about-scandal-tainted-house-bill-6-so-far.html https://www.cleveland.com/open/2020/10/heres-why-ohio-lawmak... https://www.cleveland.com/open/2021/03/ohio-senate-votes-to-repeal-nuclear-subsidies-in-house-bill-6.html https://www.cleveland.com/open/2021/03/ohio-senate-votes-to-... Before the bribery scandal, there was an attempt to forward a referendum to repeal HB 6. The efforts made against getting it on the ballot were cartoonishly corrupt and evil, and ultimately successful. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23922302 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23922302 https://www.cleveland.com/opinion/2019/09/end-the-damaging-and-precedent-setting-anti-hb-6-referendum-overkill.html https://www.cleveland.com/opinion/2019/09/end-the-damaging-a... https://www.cleveland.com/open/2019/10/ohio-house-bill-6-repeal-campaign-files-federal-lawsuit-challenging-states-referendum-rules.html https://www.cleveland.com/open/2019/10/ohio-house-bill-6-rep... https://www.cleveland.com/open/2020/01/house-bill-6-referendum-effort-is-dead-after-group-drops-lawsuit-appeal.html https://www.cleveland.com/open/2020/01/house-bill-6-referend...
imtringued 5y ago
Offtopic: Funding challenges for nuclear reactors are overblown. Renewables are cheaper but as the lack of deficit spending itself is a problem using nuclear power as a black hole investment is not a bad idea. Just make sure that decommissioning and storage are not a nightmare.

27 points by jhallenworld 5y ago

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

ComEd in Illinois had a similar scandal, also around economically uncompetitive nuclear power plants owned by Exelon but also juicing profits under the guise of smart meters and grid resiliency. https://www.npr.org/local/309/2020/07/20/893009659/breaking-down-the-com-ed-patronage-scandal-and-what-s-next-for-michael-madigan https://www.npr.org/local/309/2020/07/20/893009659/breaking-... https://www.wbez.org/stories/the-comed-scandal-shows-every-illinoisan-the-true-cost-of-taxpayer-funded-corruption/b0994134-3d0a-4a06-84d8-31ebdbfb2a0a https://www.wbez.org/stories/the-comed-scandal-shows-every-i...

jhallenworld 5y ago

Householder is out: https://apnews.com/article/larry-householder-ohio-expel-indictment-bribery-3c0347d54c1669b5243ef2b5c4f91e0b https://apnews.com/article/larry-householder-ohio-expel-indi... Also, one of the involved nuclear plants in Davis-Besse, which is the one which had that boric acid corrosion hole in it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis%E2%80%93Besse_Nuclear_Power_Station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis%E2%80%93Besse_Nuclear_Po...

m463 5y ago

Regulatory capture has arguably the best ROI of any "investment". Fighting it should be well supported and well funded.

Arrath 5y ago
It has never ceased to amaze me how small these donations to political candidates and campaigns usually are.
- raincom 5y ago
  Exactly. In the third world, politicians demand at least 10% cut.

justin66 5y ago

The Ohio bill HB 6 that was paid for with illegal bribery was only partially repealed. The nuclear industry in Ohio didn't get to keep their money, but other interests did. It was, no shit, actually controversial in the Ohio legislature whether or not they'd actually repeal it at all after the bribery was revealed. https://energynews.us/2021/04/19/utility-and-fossil-fuel-interests-still-ahead-in-ohio-under-house-bill-6/ https://energynews.us/2021/04/19/utility-and-fossil-fuel-int... https://www.cleveland.com/open/2020/10/heres-why-ohio-lawmakers-havent-done-anything-about-scandal-tainted-house-bill-6-so-far.html https://www.cleveland.com/open/2020/10/heres-why-ohio-lawmak... https://www.cleveland.com/open/2021/03/ohio-senate-votes-to-repeal-nuclear-subsidies-in-house-bill-6.html https://www.cleveland.com/open/2021/03/ohio-senate-votes-to-... Before the bribery scandal, there was an attempt to forward a referendum to repeal HB 6. The efforts made against getting it on the ballot were cartoonishly corrupt and evil, and ultimately successful. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23922302 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23922302 https://www.cleveland.com/opinion/2019/09/end-the-damaging-and-precedent-setting-anti-hb-6-referendum-overkill.html https://www.cleveland.com/opinion/2019/09/end-the-damaging-a... https://www.cleveland.com/open/2019/10/ohio-house-bill-6-repeal-campaign-files-federal-lawsuit-challenging-states-referendum-rules.html https://www.cleveland.com/open/2019/10/ohio-house-bill-6-rep... https://www.cleveland.com/open/2020/01/house-bill-6-referendum-effort-is-dead-after-group-drops-lawsuit-appeal.html https://www.cleveland.com/open/2020/01/house-bill-6-referend...

imtringued 5y ago

Offtopic: Funding challenges for nuclear reactors are overblown. Renewables are cheaper but as the lack of deficit spending itself is a problem using nuclear power as a black hole investment is not a bad idea. Just make sure that decommissioning and storage are not a nightmare.