State Representative Andrew Chesney issued the following statement about the announcement by Exelon on August 27 about its proposed closure of its Byron Nuclear Generating Station:
“The Byron Nuclear Generating Plant is important to our region, important to our property tax base and critical for the high-paying jobs it provides for Northwest Illinois.”
“It is a terrible shame that the criminal misconduct of ComEd in its corrupt partnership with House Speaker Mike Madigan has jeopardized this important asset for our region and our state. I support a transparent process of a negotiated “all of the above” energy policy for Illinois. I will go to bat for saving these skilled jobs for our region, but not if it means compromising my core principles to the corruption and self-dealing that have maligned past energy policy decisions. We owe our property taxpayers, area ratepayers, and our region’s highly-skilled, mostly union, workers at this facility not only our best efforts, but honest practices.”