Tell President Obama and Secretary Chu: Stop taxpayer loans for Georgia reactors!

July 19, 2012

Today, Southern Co. CEO Tom Fanning said the Southern Co. doesn't really even need the $8.3 Billion loan it asked for from U.S. taxpayers to build two new nuclear reactors in Georgia. Well, if Southern Co. doesn't need this bailout, it should withdraw its application. Of course, it won't. But it shouldn't get this loan in any case. Please tell Energy Secretary Chu and President Obama to stop this loan. Act below: it's the single most important step you can take to stop new nuclear power in the United States.

June 11, 2012

This is big. The $8.3 Billion taxpayer loan for construction of two new reactors at the Vogtle site in Georgia, the centerpiece of the Obama Administration's support for the "nuclear renaissance," may be blocked--by the Obama Administration. You can help make this happen.

The Department of Energy last week extended the deadline for completion of the loan package until the end of 2012--an indication this loan is in serious trouble. WE CAN STOP THIS LOAN AND END THE ENTIRE NUCLEAR LOAN PROGRAM! ACT BELOW!

More background:

According to an article from the industry publication Platt's, the nuclear industry is growing increasingly worried that the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which also must approve the loan, will not give its final approval. That's because the nuclear industry wants a sweetheart deal--one where Southern Company has to put up virtually none of its own money and where all financial risk is laid squarely on the shoulder of taxpayers.

But both OMB and DOE have come under scathing criticism, especially from Congressional Republicans, over the failure of the Solyndra solar company loan granted by the Administration. And the proposed Vogtle loan would be 15 times larger (and far riskier) than the one given to Solyndra.

Thus, the Administration is being much more cautious over the Vogtle loan than it would have been when first agreed to more than two years ago. And the more public scrutiny the Administration receives--and the more letters we send--the more likely that caution will lead to a cancellation of this loan. Our actions now matter--a lot. It may not be too much to say that the strength of our actions now could determine the fate of new nuclear power in the U.S.

Tell President Obama and Secretary Chu below to stop these loans now.

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