Economic development officials in Kewaunee County are putting together a Community Response Team to talk about a game plan to address the upcoming closure of the Kewaunee Power Station.
Jennifer Brown, executive director of the Kewaunee County Economic Development Corporation says the team -- made up of local, regional and state partners -- is scheduled to meet for the first time November 1.
"We're going to be talking about how to deal with the immediate community response and of course the workforce and economic development issues, both short-term planning and some long-range planning," says Brown.
Brown says part of their research will involve studying similar nuclear plant decommissionings, like the one in Zion, Illinois.
Brown says Dominion's decision to close the Kewaunee facility means the loss of 650 full-time, highly-skilled jobs, which doesn't include the 150 to 200 workers that Dominion contracts with during refueling outages. She says a UW-Extension preliminary economic impact study shows the station is responsible for nearly $2 billion in annual economic activity.
Brown says if residents have strong feelings about the plant closing they should contact their state or federal legislators.
Brown says the Community Response Team will include representatives from KCEDC, Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, Bay Area Workforce Development Board, UW-Extension, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College and local and state elected officials.
