SCRIBA — Exelon Generation’s (NYSE: EXC) acquisition of the James A. FitzPatrick nuclear-power plant in Scriba should close in the second quarter of 2017.

Under the deal totaling $110 million, New Orleans, Louisiana–based Entergy would transfer FitzPatrick’s operating license to Chicago, Illinois–based Exelon, according to a joint news release that Entergy issued Aug. 9. Exelon describes itself as the “owner of the nation’s largest nuclear fleet.”

The agreement to continue operation of the plant will save nearly 600 jobs, the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a news release issued the same day.

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) has agreed to transfer the decommissioning trust fund and liability for FitzPatrick to Entergy. The firm would then transfer the fund and associated liability to Exelon, if regulatory approvals are obtained and the transaction closes.

Transaction closure is dependent upon regulatory review and approval by state and federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice; the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; and the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC).

The firms credited Cuomo with helping to facilitate the transaction. Cuomo had asked the PSC to adopt a clean-energy standard, which will provide hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies, funded by utility customers, to help keep nuclear-power plants open in upstate New York.

Cuomo announced the pending sale at a rally in Scriba in support of the FitzPatrick plant the morning of Aug. 9.

“Saving FitzPatrick is an enormous win for Central New York and the entire state, preserving hundreds of jobs and maintaining a reliable, carbon-free power source for New Yorkers,” Cuomo said in the release. “FitzPatrick’s continued operation is essential both to the regional economy and our nation-leading efforts to power the state with 50 percent renewable energy by 2030.”

IBEW, UEJ reaction
The FitzPatrick nuclear-power plant has helped shape Oswego’s middle class by offering well-paying, high-skilled jobs and “providing a ladder of opportunity” for all New Yorkers, Ted Skerpon, president and chair of the IBEW Local 97 Utility Labor Council, said in Cuomo’s release. 

IBEW is short for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents workers at the FitzPatrick and other upstate New York nuclear-power plants.

FitzPatrick’s role as a “vital economic engine for our region cannot be denied,” L. Michael Treadwell, CEO of the County of Oswego Industrial Development Agency, said in a statement that the Upstate Energy Jobs (UEJ) Coalition released the afternoon of Aug. 9. Treadwell is a member of UEJ.

“[FitzPatrick] supplies 615 jobs, contributes $500 million per year in regional economic activity and brings in $17.3 million in annual property taxes. In addition, FitzPatrick provides opportunities for 1,000 building tradesmen and skilled workers who are involved in the refueling and maintenance of the facility,” said Treadwell.

FitzPatrick’s current employee count is 545. The plant did have 615 workers at the time of the initial plant-closure announcement, an Entergy spokesperson says.

UEJ is a coalition of more than 130 upstate New York elected representatives, business leaders, members of organized labor, education institutions, economic-development organizations, and community leaders who are “leading efforts to raise awareness among policymakers of the importance of keeping upstate New York’s nuclear-energy plants open,” according to the group’s description on its statement. 

Clean-energy standard
The PSC on Aug. 1 approved New York’s clean-energy standard (CES).

Entergy, which owns the FitzPatrick nuclear-power plant, on July 13 announced that it was in discussions with Exelon for the potential sale of the FitzPatrick plant. Entergy on Nov. 2, 2015, announced plans to close and decommission the plant.

Exelon operates the Nine Mile Point nuclear-power station, which is also located in Scriba.

The July 13 Entergy news release included a quote from Bill Mohl, president of Entergy wholesale commodities, who indicated “we are working with Exelon to come to commercial terms on a sale transaction that depends largely on the final terms and timeliness of the New York State Clean Energy Standard.”

The clean-energy standard provides “bridge support” to upstate nuclear-power plants to “ensure that critical progress on greenhouse-gas emissions reductions is sustained” as the state works toward achieving its goal to generate 50 percent of New York’s electricity from renewable-energy sources like wind and solar by 2030, according to Cuomo’s office.

The CES, which the PSC approved Aug. 1, will also “spur hundreds of millions of dollars in short-term investments” in energy infrastructure in upstate New York, both Entergy and Exelon contend.

Without the CES, upstate nuclear plants “would have been at risk of closure,” the firms added.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com