Back in the spring, FirstEnergy Solutions – the subsidiary responsible for power generation – declared bankruptcy. The move is the result of years of bad business decisions, like buying more coal plants as natural gas prices were dropping.

FirstEnergy Solutions racked up $2.8 billion in debt owed to creditors. But that’s not the extent of the company’s financial responsibilities: It also faces massive costs associated with decommissioning its nuclear reactors and cleaning up its coal-ash and other pollution. (Decommissioning = important process that ensures workers and communities’ safety from radioactive materials from nuclear plants and hazardous wastes from coal ash.)

Now, parent company FirstEnergy is trying to play the “get out of jail free” card, claiming the bankruptcy means FirstEnergy doesn’t have to pay the decommissioning costs. Instead, U.S. taxpayers should pick up the tab. Because that seems fair.

The hearing is set for Tuesday, September 25.

For the wonk, you can check out the objections that Environmental Law and Policy Center filed on behalf of Ohio Citizen Action (OCA), Ohio Environmental Council (OEC) and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).

Like a child throwing a tantrum, FirstEnergy makes a lot of unreasonable demands – and threats when those demands are not met.

Exhibit A: The utility giant recently announced plans to close its remaining coal-fired power plants in the next five years, essentially claiming an unfair electricity market was to blame for the closures.

The reality is that FirstEnergy’s power plants simply can’t compete – they are old, dirty, and expensive. According to S&P Market Intelligence, their operating costs “are higher than wholesale power market prices.” Put another way, FirstEnergy is losing money with each kilowatt-hour it generates.

That fact, however, doesn’t stop the company from lobbying for federal and state bailouts. In April, FirstEnergy submitted a brazen request to the Department of Energy to get an emergency order to save its uneconomic power plants. And then, going beyond brazen, the proposal was expanded to include all of the ailing coal and nuclear plants throughout the entire country.
 
FirstEnergy’s continuous bailout pleas are not really a shock, but you would think the utility would get the message that it’s time for a change, that it should accept responsibility for its own bad business decisions, that it should embrace innovation and efficiency, and that it should support the affected communities to transition to modern technologies.