CCB MEDIA PHOTO
The Mayflower II along the Plymouth waterfront.
PLYMOUTH – Plymouth residents are speaking out about the decision to close the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station.
The plant’s owner, Entergy, made the announcement yesterday to close the station by June of 2019 due to poor market conditions, reduced revenues and increased operational costs.
A long-time Plymouth resident who declined to give her name said she is happy to see the closure of the plant, even if the nearly $10 million tax benefit the town sees from Entergy could affect her.
“I’m concerned about it because my taxes are going up, but it was time for it to close.”
Kacie McMahon said she feels bad for her neighbor who is an engineer at Pilgrim who just moved to the area recently. She hopes her neighbor and others who work at the plant will be taken care of.
“The other people, who may or may not be engineers or just work there, hopefully they can find jobs or be transferred,” said McMahon.
The closure has also caught the attention of a Hanson resident, Georgia, who declined to give her last name, said it was time for the 43-year-old facility to close.
“I think it probably needs to be shut down. It’s old. It needs a lot of work and it’s not cost effective,” she said.
Jil McMahon, the owner of Jil’s Kitchen Design Studio on Main Street, expressed some concerns about future town plans to get ready for the 400th anniversary celebration in 2020.
“Now with the plant closing down, and losing that revenue, it’s hard to say how much they can do for the celebration,” said McMahon.
She said the town has started repairing roads and has fixed the waterfront rotary in an attempt to gear up for 2020.
Many residents did not express immediate reaction to the news, with some saying they hadn’t heard the news, others saying they wanted to read up on the matter.
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