Mobilize To Stop Loan Guarantees Next Week

Next week the House and Senate will try to reconsile their two versions of the Energy Bill, and neither version is very friendly towards truly sustainable energy sources. More importantly, the nuclear industry will have all Lobbyist on Deck to try to push through ONE HUNDRED PERCENT loan quarantees for new reactor builds. It is imperiative that the entire GREEN community be on the phones next week doing everything possible to have the loan quarantees and the $50 Billion nuclear gift GUTTED from any bill sent to the White House.

Already, Constellation Energy is trying to use fear, threats and intimadation to force through the 100 percent loan guarantees, announcing this past week that they will not break ground on a new reactor build next year without said loan quarantees in place...so, stop the loan guarantees, and we stop the new builds in their tracks, slow down the Nuclear Renaissance train.

So, this weekend send emails to every one of your elected officials in Washington DC, and starting Monday lets be prepared to SWAMP the House and Senate switchboards with calls demanding that the $50 billion in loan guarantees be stripped from the Energy Bill.

AP
Industry Pushes Nuclear Loan Guarantees
Wednesday November 28, 1:25 pm ET
By Dan Caterinicchia, AP Business Writer

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071128/constellation_nuke_loans.html?.v=1

Constellation Energy Executive Says Nuclear Plans Will Be Delayed Without Loan Guarantees

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Constellation Energy Group Inc. will not break ground on a new nuclear plant in Maryland next year unless a federal loan-guarantee program is in place, an executive from the power company said Wednesday.

"If the loan-guarantee program is able to materialize in early 2008 so we are able to secure loan guarantees for construction of a new plant at the end of 2008," the company's board could move forward, said Michael Wallace, president of Constellation Energy Generation Group. "If it doesn't, we won't."

The Energy Department last month said it will guarantee loans for up to 80 percent of the construction cost of new nuclear reactors, but that budget constraints mean the earliest any company proposing a new reactor could benefit is 2009.

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said then that he would seek "substantial" budget increases for loan guarantees to support seven to eight nuclear plants.

"The trend line is positive and encouraging, but today we're not there," Wallace said at a conference in Washington, referring to the industry's ongoing dialogue with the Energy Department, Congress and the White House. But he said it's not a question of whether it will happen, but when.

Three companies already have submitted complete construction and operating license applications for new reactors to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Constellation filed a partial application earlier this year for a proposed new reactor in Lusby, Md.

What We Could Do With The $50 Billion The Nuclear Industry Wants

Greetings Readers:

Yesterday, I put out the hypothetical question, how many homes could we equip with solar for the $50 Billion that the Nuclear Industry wants us to give them for New Build reactors...I had done some very conservative estimates, and wanted to paint a more accurate picture in building a case for true renewables, instead of throwing our tax dollars down a nuclear rat hole. Well, ask and you shall receive, and Green Nuclear Butterfly thanks Sally Shaw, one of the noble people trying to help close down Entergy's Vermont Yankee Yankee of collapsing water tower fame for getting us some REAL TIME FIGURES on this important question.

She reached out to an expert in the field (a senior engineer with a very reputable firm) who gave us some time costs, with no incentives...we all know there would be incentives and deals to be had. Anyway, here are some staggering statistics.

For a 2000 square foot Home with 700 square foot of south-facing roof area using an annual load of 3000 KWH/yr load can be offset by a 2.5 KWdc solar array costing $21, 250 (real cost not w/ incentives) per house. Did I just hear a HOLLY MOLLY! When we take this information, we can quickly calculate that 2,352,941 would be solar powered for that same fifty billion dollars that the Nuclear Industry wants us to give them...and keep in mind, that $50 Billion IS ONLY A DOWN PAYMENT, just a start of the public money that the nuclear industry is expecting us to pay out.

For example, some experts are predicting, that GNEP will cost tax payers at least 500BILLION with no guarantee the technology will even work! It is clear, the pathway to a greener tomorrow is renewables, not nuclear.

Nuclear Muscle Gutting Renewable's Out of Energy Bill?

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Nuclear Uses Brute Lobbying Force of NEI to GUT Energy Bill

Free FALLOUT Room With Every Reactor License Renewal

The emails are literally flying around the Cosmos of the Internet as activists attempt to stop the Congress and Senate from forcing us down the road to a Nuclear Renaissance by gutting out key provisions in the law for a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) and all tax provisions benefiting renewables so that they could pass an energy bill through Congress before the Thanksgiving break on Friday, November 16. Pardon the french, but WTF?

A far better idea would be to leave the RPS in, and gut out the $50 BILLION in loan guarantees for the nuclear industry's new reactor builds in the form of loan guarantees. Seriously, even for those on the Pro-Nuclear side of the equation, why should citizens pay to build nuclear reactors that WE DO NOT OWN? How many American homes could be taken off the grid for that same $50 Billion dollars? There is a question I would love to see someone in the renewal/sustainable energy camp step forward and answer for the audience.

In light of Global Warming, where is the ethical sense of gutting out all federal funding for renewable forms of electricity such as solar, wind and geothermal. Such a move on the part of both the House and the Senate is not sound policy speaking, but special interest lobbying dollars hard at work in their never ending battle to override the will of the people.

Let's just suppose, that it would cost $50,000 dollars to take the average American household off of the grid through the use of solar, wind and battery storage of energy. That's 20 homes for a million bucks. So, for $50 Billion dollars, we could take conservatively 100,000 homes off the grid. If we figure the average family of four, conservatively, we greatly reduce the carbon foot print of 400,000 Americans...my guess here, is that my numbers are very conservative. For instance, what kind of price breaks could be negotiated if someone went to the combined solar, wind industry and said we'd like to hook up 100,000 homes in the next 18 months.

Some might disagree with my belief that this gutting of the RPS from the energy bill is being spear headed by the Nuclear Industry...consider these facts. First, the nuclear industry is lying, cheating and breaking the law in their efforts to relicense 104 dangerous aging reactors so that they can maintain MARKET SHARE as they attempt to license and build new replacement reactors. Even if they are successful in this, for decades they are going to basically be at a hold steady point when it comes to their share of the market. It is simply not in their best interests to see the renewal energy sector reach a market share of parity, or even superiority over nuclear power.

Simply stated, the worse case scenario for the Nuclear Industry is to see the renewal energy sector reach that proverbial TIPPING POINT where they can make renewables available to the average America home owner at an affordable price...that would break the utility industry's monopoly, and BIG MONEY does not want that to occur, even if that is in the best interest of solving Global Warming.

The Renewable Portfolio Standard's goal would be to attain a national target of getting 20-25% of the nation's electricity from renewable resources by 2025. Accomplishing such a goal would place renewables on a par, or ahead of every electric source except for coal. Those pushing the Nuclear Renaissance Agenda are not going to let that happen.

Sadly, many of the wind industry companies have been bought out, or are controlled by companies deeply invested in Nuclear Energy, so their lobbyists to a great degree are fighting in the halls of Congress with one arm tied behind their back. Perhaps if their hands were untied, if they could or would come out to the public with the full truth, this important Renewable Portfolio Standard can be put back into the bill, but then that means people like Randall Swisher, Executive Director of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) need to stop tiptoeing around the nuclear issue, and face it head on...if you sleep with the devil, you are ruled by the devil and unfortunately, in the name of Green Washing, far to many wind companies and their projects are owned and controlled by companies who are placing their big bets on the nuclear renaissance.