Springfield - The Exelon Generation power plant in Clinton isn't just a place of business; it's the life-blood for the tiny DeWitt County town.
From the local tax dollars for the Clinton school district to the hundreds of jobs, the nuclear power plant is a major part of DeWitt County and surrounding areas according to business leaders.
"You can't go anywhere without knowing a relative or a friend who works at Exelon, or is impacted in someway by Exelon," said Ruth Stauffer, executive director for the DeWitt County Development Council.
The Clinton plant isn't the only facing closure as the Exelon plant in Byron is at risk as well.
On Tuesday, hundreds of Exelon workers, from Clinton and around the state, gathered at the capitol.
With a possible closure of two Exelon plants next year they're hoping the General Assembly will pass legislation to subsidize nuclear power in the state.
That's something similar to what the state already does for wind and solar already.
State senator Chapin Rose (R-Champaign) told workers, "this is not a partisan issue. Clean, efficient, cheap power for the people of Illinois is an Illinois issue and this bill keeps our power rates low!"
For the workers, and community leaders who made the trip to Springfield, it's about keeping a power plant open and keeping hundreds of people working.
"It's not just the primary jobs that are lost, it's the impact to our secondary community. It's those secondary jobs that really rely on the powerhouse," said Keith Kocek, who works at the Clinton location.
Stauffer added, "we're going to lose 205 employees, just in DeWitt County. And those people are 100 to 150 houses. Those houses are going to be empty. How are we going to fill them quickly?"
Not everyone is in favor of the legislation though.
The Alliance for Solar Choice has said that they're opposed because the bill calls for mandatory demand charges for residential customers. That's something that no other state currently does, and several have voted against such measures in other states.
