The details: The updated report breaks out the consumer and emissions impacts of the retirements, with findings as follows:
■ The Byron and Dresden plants alone prevent more than 20 million metric tons of CO2 each year—like taking nearly 4.5 million cars off the road.
■ The shuttering of the plants, which are licensed to operate for another 10 years (Byron) and another 20 years (Dresden), would cause Illinois consumers and businesses to pay $313 million more annually for electricity, or $3.1 billion more over a decade.
Economy boost: A spokesperson for the AFL-CIO added, “The two plants also boost Illinois’s economy, generate money for local communities, and support thousands of family-sustaining jobs in their regions.”
