[NukeNet] Call to block $50 billion subsidy to nukes

[Mike Ewall]

From: Kevin Kamps <kevin at beyondnuclear.org>

Beyond Nuclear
Urgent Action Alert
October 23, 2007

Block the $50 Billion Taxpayer Giveaway to the Nuclear Industry

Call your U.S. Representative and Senators today:
(202) 224-3121 or (202) 225-3121

Sign the MUSE petition at www.nukefree.org

Tell your elected officials that you don't want $50 billion for new
reactors in the federal Energy Bill.

We stand at a critical crossroads regarding the future of nuclear
power. Our action at this decisive moment can nip a $50 billion
atomic boondoggle in the bud.

The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) ­ the nuclear industry trade group
­ has requested $25 billion in Fiscal Year 2008, and an additional
$25 billion at least in Fiscal Year 2009, from the U.S. Treasury for
taxpayer-backed federal loan guarantees for the construction of new
atomic reactors in the U.S.

If successful, NEI would be back for mammoth subsidies in the years
to follow as well. The nuclear industry is desperate because Wall
Street banks and investment firms are still too burned by the huge
cost overruns and construction delays of the 1970s and 1980s to risk
investing another penny in nuclear power.

However, if these federal loan guarantees are enacted into law, and
the nuclear utilities default on their loan repayments, then
taxpayers would be left with the bill ­ likely running into billions
of dollars.

Private investors would then have nothing to lose, because taxpayers
would be forced to repay the loans.

The Congressional Budget Office has predicted that a whopping 50% or
more of new nuclear construction projects will likely default on
their loans, and that the U.S. Department of Energy will likely
underestimate up-front fees charged to borrowing nuclear utilities
intended to protect taxpayers against such loan defaults.

But this unthinkable, gargantuan atomic handout at taxpayer expense
can and must be stopped dead in its tracks.

What You Can Do:

Sign the MUSE petition at www.nukefree.org.

Sign on to a group letter created by the Sustainable Energy Network
by emailing your name, group name, city and state to
sustainable-energy-network at hotmail.com by close of business today.

Use the sample letters to the editor and op/ed piece posted on the
Beyond Nuclear Web site to write your own, and submit them to your
local newspapers.

Send this action alert to your friends and family. Urge members of
organizations to which you belong to take action too.

And don't forget to call your elected officials. Please call your two
U.S. Senators and your U.S. Representative via the Capitol
Switchboard, (202) 224-3121 or (202) 225-3121. Your three calls will
make a big difference!


Beyond Nuclear at NPRI
6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 400
Takoma Park, MD 20912
Tel: 301.270.2209 Fax: 301.270.4000
Email: info at beyondnuclear.org
Web: www.beyondnuclear.org


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Mike Ewall
215-743-4884
catalyst at actionpa.org
ActionPA http://www.actionpa.org
Energy Justice Network http://www.energyjustice.net