[Occupymendocino] [Fwd: New action to stop $8.3 Billion taxpayer loan for new nukes]

Tue Sep 24 17:37:13 PDT 2013

Please add your name to the petition to stop the $8.Billion loan for
another Nuclear Power Plant in GA.
Agnes

Subject: New action to stop $8.3 Billion taxpayer loan for new nukes
From:    "Nuclear Information and Resource Service" <nirsnet at nirs.org>
Date:    Mon, September 23, 2013 1:02 pm
To:      agnes at mcn.org
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*New Action to Stop $8.3 Billion Nuclear Taxpayer Loan

Vogtle loan CAN be stopped; let's pump up the volume!*

September 23, 2013

Dear Friends,

The proposed $8.3 Billion taxpayer loan for construction of Georgia's
Vogtle nuclear reactors is teetering on the edge; so NIRS is teaming up
with CredoAction in a new action to tip it over entirely.

You may remember that the loan was announced, with great fanfare, by
President Obama in February 2010, as part of his stated "all of the above"
energy strategy. It came from the Department of Energy's $18.5 Billion
loan guarantee fund and was supposed to herald the "nuclear renaissance."
Today, fully 3 1/2 years later, the loan has still not been granted, nor
has any other loan for new reactor construction.

Why? Because Southern Company, the lead utility in the Vogtle project,
wants a sweetheart deal that would not only give it well below-market
interest rates, but also put all of the risk on taxpayers rather than
themselves. Indeed, Southern Company officials have said at least five
times that they don't even need the loan--they're already using ratepayers
as their private bank under Georgia's "early cost recovery" law. If that
were true, then why should taxpayers be involved at all? But Southern's
other partners, which own about 40% of the project, do need the federal
loan.

*This is the time to tell President Obama and Energy Secretary Moniz to
finally give up on this fiasco--before taxpayer money is put at risk. No
extension, no loan. **Even if you've sent a letter on this issue before,
this is a new action. Please act now.* [
http://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/stop-taxpayer-loan-for-new-nuclear-reactors
]

The White House's own Office of Management and Budget, which along with
the Department of Energy must approve the loan, has balked at the
riskiness of the proposed loan and the final deadline for loan approval
has been extended several times over the years. The next deadline is
coming up on September 30, 2013.

Vogtle received its construction license in February 2012. It is already
nearly two years behind schedule and somewhere between $700 million and
$1.6 billion over budget, depending on who's counting. Given the history
of large nuclear construction projects in the U.S. and abroad, more delay
and cost overruns can be expected. The first two Vogtle reactors actually
finished at more than 1200% over budget.

Since President Obama's February 2010 loan announcement, the nuclear
"renaissance" has collapsed. During 2013 alone, six proposed new reactors
were dropped for various reasons, five operating reactors announced
permanent shutdowns, and utilities gave up on power uprates for five more
reactors. The nuclear "renaissance" now consists of two reactors at Summer
in South Carolina, a Tennessee Valley Authority reactor that began
construction more than 30 years ago, and Vogtle. The marketplace has
spoken and nuclear power has lost. Not only is natural gas a current (and
dirty) competitor, but costs of clean renewables like solar and wind have
plummeted and are viable alternatives, while energy efficiency programs
are keeping new demand far lower than projected when the Vogtle project
was first announced.

*This is the time to tell President Obama and Energy Secretary Moniz to
finally give up on this fiasco--before taxpayer money is put at risk. No
extension, no loan. Act now. Your voice matters.* [
http://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/stop-taxpayer-loan-for-new-nuclear-reactors
]

Thanks for all you do.

Michael Mariotte
Executive Director
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
www.nirs.org [ http://www.nirs.org ]
nirsnet at nirs.org [ mailto:nirsnet at nirs.org ]

Your support is what makes our work possible. Please make a tax-deductible
contribution here [
https://org2.salsalabs.com/o/5502/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=341 ],
or you can send a check to NIRS, 6930 Carroll Avenue, #340, Takoma Park,
MD 20912. You can also phone in a contribution by contacting Denise
Jakobsberg at NIRS, 301-270-6477.

*Stay Informed:*

NIRS on the web (stay up-to-date with the Nuclear Newsreel section on the
front page, featuring the day's most interesting news on nuclear power and
other energy issues): http://www.nirs.org [ http://www.nirs.org ]

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]

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