[NukeNet] Nat'l Call-Congress Day, Oct 23; Stop the Loan Guarantees for New Nukes

[Michael Mariotte]

NUCLEAR INFORMATION AND RESOURCE SERVICE

6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 340, Takoma Park, MD 20912

301-270-NIRS (301-270-6477); Fax: 301-270-4291

nirsnet at nirs.org; www.nirs.org <http://www.nirs.org/>  

 

October 17, 2007

 

HELP STOP $50 BILLION FOR NEW NUCLEAR REACTORS!

 

SUPPORT MUSICIANS AND OTHERS WORKING TO STOP AN ATOMIC BAILOUT!

 

NATIONAL CALL-CONGRESS DAY: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2007

 

Plus: Sign-On Letter, New Factsheets, Read on.....

 

Dear Friends:

 

It's time to make our most visible statement yet to stop some $50
Billion in taxpayer loan guarantees for construction of new atomic
reactors-loans that even the Congressional Budget Office says will have
a 50% failure rate.

 

Support the Musicians! National Call-Congress Day: On Tuesday, October
23, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Graham Nash and others are coming to
Washington, DC to bring added attention to this issue and to talk to
Congressional leaders. Their message will be: no taxpayer bailouts for
the nuclear power industry.

 

We hope you'll support their efforts by calling your own Congressmembers
on Tuesday, October 23, and asking your friends and colleagues to call
as well. Let's keep the halls of Capitol Hill buzzing next Tuesday-with
personal visits and thousands of ringing phones!

 

Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121.

 

People sometimes ask why we don't just set up simple ways for you to
send an e-mail to your legislators. There are two answers: 1) such
systems are actually pretty expensive; 2) more importantly, phone calls
are far more effective than e-mails, which mostly go unread in
Congressional offices because of the huge volume they receive.

 

NEW FACT SHEETS: The broad coalition working to stop the loan guarantees
has prepared five new fact sheets on various aspects of this issue. They
are available on the front page of NIRS' website, www.nirs.org
<http://www.nirs.org/> . Educate yourself, educate your media, educate
your Congressmembers.

 

SIGN-ON LETTER: Below is a sign-on letter prepared by the Sustainable
Energy Network. This letter is for ORGANIZATIONS ONLY. If your
organization can sign, please send your name, organization, city and
state to sustainable-energy-network at hotmail.com by close-of-business
October 23. Please do not send to NIRS. Individuals: if you haven't
already, please sign the petition on loan guarantees at www.nukefree.org
<http://www.nukefree.org/> .

 

 

October 24, 2007

 

 

PLEASE OPPOSE LOAN GUARANTEES TO THE NUCLEAR POWER INDUSTRY 

 

 

Members, U.S. Senate

Members, U.S. House of Representatives

United States Congress

Washington, D.C.

 

Dear Senator/Representative:

 

We, the undersigned organizations, businesses, and individual activists,
are writing to urge that any energy legislation considered by the 110th
Congress not include provisions authorizing or otherwise facilitating
loan guarantees for the commercial nuclear power industry.

 

The Senate-passed energy bill (H.R.6) and the House-passed energy bill

(H.R.3221) both contain sweeping provisions that would dramatically
alter the U.S. Department of Energy's Loan Guarantee Program and
potentially provide a virtual blank check from taxpayers for the
building of many more nuclear power plants.  Indeed, the nuclear
industry has already indicated that it wants $25 billion in guarantees
for 2008, and another $25 billion for 2009, with untold billions more to
come after that.

 

The industry wants these subsidies because after fifty years, atomic
power has been rejected by the marketplace. In fact, Wall Street will
not independently invest in more of them, and still no private insurance
company will underwrite the possibility of a major reactor disaster.
This is not surprising given the industry's dubious safety record, high
economic costs and overruns, and inability to solve the problem of
radioactive waste disposal.  Consequently, additional federal funding
directed towards the mature nuclear power industry would be both
extremely risky and wasteful.

 

More importantly, nuclear power has been left behind by a revolution in
safer, cleaner, and more cost-effective renewable energy and energy
efficient technologies.  Biofuels, geothermal, solar, water power, and
wind have become the world's fastest-growing energy technologies and
have positioned themselves as the best solutions to global warming,
rising energy costs, and energy imports.

 

Nuclear reactor loan guarantees therefore would siphon away limited
federal dollars better spent on truly competitive sources of power.

 

Consequently, we ask that any nuclear loan guarantee provisions be
removed from any energy bill considered by Congress and that any type of
federal energy loan guarantee programs be designed solely to support
promising sustainable energy technologies.

 

 

Sincerely,

------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------Thank you to everyone who
already has donated toward greater outreach for the statement on nuclear
power and climate. We appreciate your help! It's not too late, however:
please consider donating now to help us spread the word and obtain
thousands more signatures! You can contribute online at our secure site:

https://secure.campagne-online.com/registrant/donate.aspx?EventID=2927&L
angPref=en-CA
<https://secure.campagne-online.com/registrant/donate.aspx?EventID=2927&
LangPref=en-CA> 

 

Contributors of $60 or more will receive a free copy of Bonnie Raitt's
CD, Souls Alike, as our, and her, way of saying THANK YOU!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
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or to unsubscribe, just send an e-mail to nirsnet at nirs.org.  If you have
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a note to nirsnet at nirs.org. 

 

 

 

 

 

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