Letter to the editor
Who is paying for NextEra?
In an op-ed published last Sunday in the Herald-Standard, Park Burroughs suggested that taxpayers are paying to construct the newly announced power generation plant in Luzerne Township. That characterization overlooks an important fact about how the NextEra project is being financed.
The project was selected under the U.S.-Japan Strategic Trade and Investment Agreement, through which Japan committed $550 billion toward major American infrastructure and industrial investments.
The U.S. Department of Commerce identified up to $17 billion for the South Mon natural gas generation project in southwestern Pennsylvania, with NextEra serving as developer and operator.
This is not a project being constructed through a direct appropriation from Fayette County taxpayers or ratepayers. It is part of an international investment arrangement involving Japanese financing, government-backed investment structures and commercial development agreements.
In August, NextEra announced that definitive agreements had been executed with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Government of Japan.
It is fair to examine the financing terms, public guarantees and any potential exposure associated with government-backed investments. It is equally important, however, to distinguish those arrangements from the suggestion that local taxpayers and/or ratepayers are simply being handed the construction bill. That is not the case.
There are legitimate questions. But public debate should begin with an accurate understanding of who is providing the capital, who assumes the financial risks and who ultimately pays for the electricity. The U.S.-Japan financing agreement is an essential part of that discussion, and leaving it out creates a misleading picture of the project.
Scott Dunn
Chairman, Fayette County Board of Commissioners