plants. O still hasn't rescinded his call for $36 billion in taxpayer-backed loans for nuke industry giants.
Letter from NIRS.org
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Dear Friends,
A reminder that today is National Nuclear-Free Call-In Day. Please call your Congressmembers today and urge them to reject President Obama's request for $36 Billion more in taxpayer loans for new nuclear reactors and instead to end the Title 17 nuclear loan program and rescind the funds currently in this program for new reactors and uranium enrichment plants--including money already conditionally offered for two new reactors in Georgia.
Your voices matter! The House and Senate Appropriations Committees have begun work on their FY 2012 energy appropriations bills. This is the time they are most focused on these issues. This is the time to act.
It's especially important that you call if one of your Senators, or your Representative, is on one of the Appropriations Committees (full list below).
Congressional Switchboard for every member of Congress: 202-224-3121.
Or, you can find your Members' direct phone numbers when you send them an e-mail here (and we encourage you to both call and e-mail).
Please send us a quick note letting us know of your call, and any comments made by your Members. This will be critical for our community's ongoing efforts in Washington. Send your note to us at
[email protected].
Calling your Congressmembers
*When you call, introduce yourself with your name and where you live--so they know you are in their district.
*Ask that your Member oppose any increase to the Title 17 nuclear loan program, and that instead the program be ended and all unspent money (which is all of it--currently $18.5 billion for reactors and $4 billion for uranium enrichment plants) be rescinded.
*Ask if your Member has a position on your request
*Politics makes strange bedfellows: Please don't assume in advance your Member has a position one way or another. Some normally pro-nuclear members may well oppose nuclear loans on budgetary grounds; some nuclear skeptics may not yet fully understand this program. No matter what position your Member may have taken in the past, concerns over the federal budget and the impact of Fukushima may have changed things. Again: your voice and outreach matter.
Talking Points
Here are some additional talking points you may want to bring up if you can involve your Members' staff in a conversation:
*The Fukushima accident has demolished the entire public policy premise of the nuclear loan program. That premise was that, because private investors—Wall Street--have been leery of investing billions of dollars in expensive and financially risky new reactors, taxpayer support could jumpstart a new nuclear construction program. Congress and the Bush and Obama administrations believed that if utilities could show that they can build a few new reactors onbudget and on-time (neither of which occurred during the first generation of reactors), private money would follow.
The reality in the post-Fukushima world is that private money will not follow. Not only are investors concerned about construction cost overruns, delays, and ability of utilities in deregulated states to find customers for high-priced nuclear electricity, now Wall Street has received another reminder that multi-billion dollar investments can turn into mega-billion dollar liabilities within hours. Even if a reactor is built on-time and on-budget, an accident that destroys it also destroys the ability of a utility to generate profit to repay loans.
Here is a link to some quotes from financial analysts made after Fukushima which support this point.
*The risk to taxpayers from nuclear loans is simply too great. The Congressional Budget Office and Government Accounting Office both have placed the risk of default at about 50%. Moreover, because these are actual loans from the Federal Financing Bank rather than just loan "guarantees," money could leave the federal treasury and never be paid back.
*The lessons learned from Fukushima are likely to result in new safety requirements and changes to reactor designs. It is impossible at this time to accurately project reactor construction costs--except that they will continue going up.
*Congressional attention recently has been on reducing federal spending and the budget deficit. Increasing the nuclear loan program--especially when the Department of Energy has not been able to spend the money it already has--makes no budgetary sense.
*The American people are solidly against the nuclear loan program. Fully 73%, according to a March 2011 public opinion poll done for the Civil Society Institute, oppose taxpayer loans for new reactors.
*The American people are also solidly against new reactor construction at all! According to an April ABC News/Washington Post poll, 64% oppose new reactors.
*The world's third and fourth largest economies--Japan and Germany--are moving away from nuclear power and toward safe, clean, sustainable energy sources. The U.S. should be leading this transition, not falling further behind.
We're sure you can think of more issues to raise! And you especially should raise issues that are of local and regional concern in your area.
Again: Congressional Switchboard: 202-224-3121 or get the direct phone numbers when you e-mail your members here.
Organizations and Businesses: Don't forget to sign the organizational letter (text here) that will be delivered to Appropriations Committee members next week. Send your name, title, organization name, city and state to
[email protected].
Let's keep those phones ringing in Congress all day long!
Michael Mariotte
Executive Director
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
[email protected]www.nirs.org
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
- 
