NRC accuses Exelon of 'deliberate' deception

[bananas]

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20130201/NEWS11/130209981/nrc-accuses-exelon-of-deliberate-deception

NRC accuses Exelon of 'deliberate' deception

By Steve Daniels February 01, 2013

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is accusing Exelon Corp. of deliberately misleading the agency over several years on the health of its funds to clean up many of its nuclear power plants, including in Illinois.

In a Jan. 31 letter and summary to the Chicago-based electricity giant, the NRC asked for a conference with the company to discuss potential enforcement actions. The conference is...

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-01/exelon-probed-on-nuclear-funding-shortfall-u-s-says.html

Exelon Probed on Nuclear Funding Shortfall, U.S. Says

By Julie Johnsson - 2013-02-01T21:12:43Z

Exelon Corp. (EXC), the largest U.S. nuclear operator, “deliberately” under-reported for four years the amount of money needed to retire its reactors, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.

Exelon, based in Chicago, faces “escalated enforcement action” for the financial reporting errors that may total as much $140,000 for each day of the violation, Scott Burnell, a spokesman for the regulatory agency, said in a phone interview today. The agency asked Exelon to explain the errors for the years 2005-2007 and 2009 in a Jan. 31 letter.

The investigation is “very unusual” and may be the first related to contributions to a federal nuclear decommissioning trust fund, Anneliese Simmons, a financial analyst with the commission’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, said in a phone interview. The shortfall totaled $1 billion in 2009. The company is now in compliance, Simmons said.

Exelon “disputes” the commission’s findings and is conducting its own investigation of the matter, David Tillman, a spokesman for Exelon’s power generation unit, said in an e-mail.

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[Octafish]

1. Gee. Exelon just so happens to be a big financial backer of President Obama.

Ties To Obama Aided In Access For Exelon Corporation

The New York Times | By ERIC LIPTON
Aug. 22, 2012

Early in the Obama administration, a lobbyist for the Illinois-based energy producer Exelon Corporation proudly called it “the president’s utility.” And it was not just because it delivers power to Barack Obama’s Hyde Park neighborhood in Chicago.

Exelon’s top executives were early and frequent supporters of Mr. Obama as he rose from the Illinois State Senate to the White House. John W. Rogers Jr., a friend of the president’s and one of his top fund-raisers, is an Exelon board member. David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s longtime political strategist, once worked as an Exelon consultant, and Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago mayor and Mr. Obama’s former chief of staff, helped create the company through a corporate merger in 2000 while working as an investment banker.

With energy an increasingly pivotal issue for the Obama White House, a review of Exelon’s relationship with the administration shows how familiarity has helped foster access at the upper reaches of government and how, in some cases, the outcome has been favorable for Exelon.

White House records show that Exelon executives were able to secure an unusually large number of meetings with top administration officials at key moments in the consideration of environmental regulations that have been drafted in a way that hurt Exelon’s competitors, but curb the high cost of compliance for Exelon and its industry allies.

In addition, Exelon, which provides power to more than 6.6 million customers in at least 16 states and the District of Columbia, was chosen as one of only six electric utilities nationwide for the maximum $200 million stimulus grant from the Energy Department. And when the Treasury Department granted loans for renewable energy projects, Exelon landed a commitment for up to $646 million allowing it, on extremely generous financial terms, to finance one of the world’s largest photovoltaic solar projects.

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“I would like to get some treatment in Washington like that,” said Ken Anderson, general manager at Tri-State G&T, a Colorado-based power supplier that has been at odds with Exelon over environmental regulations. “But Exelon seems to get deference that I can’t get.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/us/politics/ties-to-obama-aided-in-access-for-exelon-corporation.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0