Hundreds of happy Exelon workers jammed into a high school gym Wednesday near the Quad Cities to watch Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner sign the bill that will save their jobs at the nuclear plant in Cordova and one in Clinton, in central Illinois..
The bill also enables Exelon to increase costs for all the electricity consumers it serves.
Rauner told them there was a lot of opposition to the Future Energy Jobs Bill.
“I’m a free market guy. I don’t want government in things," Rauner said. "But you know what? I refused to gamble on thousands of good payin’ jobs. I refused to gamble on the future of the communities in the Quad Cities and central Illinois. And I refused to gamble on the energy diversity and opportunities for the people of Illinois. That’s why I fought to make sure this bill happened.”
The bill contains subsidies and other provisions that Exelon says will allow it to keep the two nuclear power plants open, with 800 direct jobs in Cordova and 700 in Clinton, plus thousands more dependent on those workers and their families.
Rauner attended a similar rally and ceremonial bill signing Wednesday afternoon in Clinton.
Meanwhile, manufacturers say the energy law Rauner signed will make it harder for them to compete.
The law requires households and large-scale consumers alike to pay a subsidy that Exelon will use to fund a pair of nuclear plants.
The Illinois Manufacturer's Association's Mark Denzler says that hike in electric rates will cost some of his members millions of dollars a year.
"Certainly for manufacturing companies, energy prices are often the single most expensive cost they have,” Denzler said. "even more than personnel,"
Denzler says Illinois' relatively low energy prices had been seen as a draw.
Exelon threatened to lay off thousands of workers in Clinton and the Quad Cities without the subsidy.
- Amanda Vinicky and WVIK contributed to this report
