Nuclear Information and Resource Service

Don't let the nuclear industry buy the climate bill!

The nuclear industry is spending millions of dollars lobbying Congress to turn the Senate climate bill into a gigantic giveaway of more taxpayer loan guarantees and more subsidies for new reactors and dangerous radioactive waste schemes like reprocessing. Unfortunately, some of the supporters of the climate bill are starting to buy into the notion that some long-time opponents of climate legislation will support the bill if it just contains enough support for dirty energy technologies like nuclear power, "clean" coal, and offshore oil drilling. Here is a recent article on the NY Times website that gives more background.

Of course, a climate bill that supports dirty energy technologies is not a climate bill at all; it would be just another gift to energy interests. And we don't believe climate bill opponents will ever vote for a real climate bill: they're just trying to get as much taxpayer money as they can into the hands of their dirty energy supporters.

Tell your Senators we're wise to the industry's tricks. Don't let the nuclear industry buy the climate bill. Please send a letter to your Senators now. Please feel free to edit your letter to reflect all your own concerns.

May 26, 2013

Subject:

Dear Senator

I have been reading with great concern that the nuclear power industry is seeking more and more taxpayer subsidies in the Senate climate bill.

Please don't fall for the misguided notion that nuclear power can help the climate: we need the fastest, cleanest, safest and cheapest means of reducing carbon emissions--and nuclear power is none of those. And neither are "clean" coal or offshore oil drilling.

And please don't fall for the idea that the nuclear industry's most vocal backers will ever vote for a meaningful climate bill. Their interest is not climate, it's rewarding dirty energy interests with our tax dollars. We're wise to their tricks, and you should be too.

A climate bill with nuclear power subsidies would not be a climate bill at all; it would be just another giveaway to an industry that has already received far too many taxpayer dollars. Such a bill would not merit your support.

In the 1970s and 1980s, U.S. nuclear power brought us Three Mile Island, rate shock, and environmental devastation and public health calamities from uranium mining, especially on Native American lands.

New reactors--at $9 billion and up each (e.g. Turkey Point, $9.4 billion; Calvert Cliffs and Bell Bend, $13-15 billion each) would make the concept of mere rate shock seem quaint. Meanwhile, so-called "inherently safe" reactors still don't exist and lethal radioactive waste continues to threaten communities across the nation, with no long-term storage solution in sight.

The American people voted for change last year. Adding nuclear subsidies to a climate bill would be a continuation of failed Bush Administration policies, not a step forward.

Please take every action necessary to prevent nuclear subsidies in the climate bill. Please inform me about what steps you will take.

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Don't let the nuclear industry buy the climate bill!