Stop Nuclear Power Subsidies-Call Congress Tuesday October 23,2007

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NUCLEAR INFORMATION AND RESOURCE SERVICE

6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 340, Takoma Park, MD 20912

301-270-NIRS (301-270-6477); Fax: 301-270-4291

_nirsnet_ (nirsnet) ; _www.nirs.org_

(http://www.nirs.org/)

October 17, 2007

 

HELP STOP $50 BILLION FOR NEW NUCLEAR REACTORS!

 

SUPPORT MUSICIANS AND OTHERS WORKING TO STOP AN ATOMIC BAILOUT!

 

NATIONAL CALL-CONGRESS DAY: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2007

 

Plus: Sign-On Letter, New Factsheets, Read on…..

 

Dear Friends:

It’s time to make our most visible statement yet to stop some $50 Billion in

taxpayer loan guarantees for construction of new atomic reactors—loans that

even the Congressional Budget Office says will have a 50% failure rate.

Support the Musicians! National Call-Congress Day: On Tuesday, October 23,

Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Graham Nash and others are coming to Washington,

DC to bring added attention to this issue and to talk to Congressional

leaders. Their message will be: no taxpayer bailouts for the nuclear power

industry.

We hope you’ll support their efforts by calling your own Congressmembers on

Tuesday, October 23, and asking your friends and colleagues to call as well.

Let’s keep the halls of Capitol Hill buzzing next Tuesday—with personal

visits and thousands of ringing phones!

Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121.

People sometimes ask why we don’t just set up simple ways for you to send an

e-mail to your legislators. There are two answers: 1) such systems are

actually pretty expensive; 2) more importantly, phone calls are far more

effective

than e-mails, which mostly go unread in Congressional offices because of the

huge volume they receive.

NEW FACT SHEETS: The broad coalition working to stop the loan guarantees has

prepared five new fact sheets on various aspects of this issue. They are

available on the front page of NIRS’ website, _www.nirs.org_

(http://www.nirs.org/) . Educate yourself, educate your media, educate your

Congressmembers.

SIGN-ON LETTER: Below is a sign-on letter prepared by the Sustainable Energy

Network. This letter is for ORGANIZATIONS ONLY. If your organization can

sign, please send your name, organization, city and state to

_sustainable-energy-network_

(sustainable-energy-network) by

close-of-business October 23. Please do not send to NIRS. Individuals: if you

haven’t already, please sign the petition on loan guarantees at

_www.nukefree.org_ (http://www.nukefree.org/) .

October 24, 2007

PLEASE OPPOSE LOAN GUARANTEES TO THE NUCLEAR POWER INDUSTRY

Members, U.S. Senate

Members, U.S. House of Representatives

United States Congress

Washington, D.C.

Dear Senator/Representative:

We, the undersigned organizations, businesses, and individual activists, are

writing to urge that any energy legislation considered by the 110th Congress

not include provisions authorizing or otherwise facilitating loan guarantees

for the commercial nuclear power industry.

The Senate-passed energy bill (H.R.6) and the House-passed energy bill

(H.R.3221) both contain sweeping provisions that would dramatically alter

the U.S. Department of Energy's Loan Guarantee Program and potentially provide

a virtual blank check from taxpayers for the building of many more nuclear

power plants. Indeed, the nuclear industry has already indicated that it wants

$25 billion in guarantees for 2008, and another $25 billion for 2009, with

untold billions more to come after that.

The industry wants these subsidies because after fifty years, atomic power

has been rejected by the marketplace. In fact, Wall Street will not

independently invest in more of them, and still no private insurance company

will

underwrite the possibility of a major reactor disaster. This is not surprising

given the industry's dubious safety record, high economic costs and overruns,

and inability to solve the problem of radioactive waste disposal.

Consequently, additional federal funding directed towards the mature nuclear

power

industry would be both extremely risky and wasteful.

More importantly, nuclear power has been left behind by a revolution in

safer, cleaner, and more cost-effective renewable energy and energy efficient

technologies. Biofuels, geothermal, solar, water power, and wind have become

the world's fastest-growing energy technologies and have positioned themselves

as the best solutions to global warming, rising energy costs, and energy

imports.

Nuclear reactor loan guarantees therefore would siphon away limited federal

dollars better spent on truly competitive sources of power.

Consequently, we ask that any nuclear loan guarantee provisions be removed

from any energy bill considered by Congress and that any type of federal

energy loan guarantee programs be designed solely to support promising

sustainable

energy technologies.

Sincerely,

 

-Thank you to everyone who already has

donated toward greater outreach for the statement on nuclear power and climate.

We

appreciate your help! It’s not too late, however: please consider donating

now to help us spread the word and obtain thousands more signatures! You can

contribute online at our secure site:

_https://secure.campagne-online.com/registrant/donate.aspx?EventID=2927 & LangPr

ef=en-CA_

(https://secure.campagne-online.com/registrant/donate.aspx?EventID=2927 & LangPref\

=en-CA)

Contributors of $60 or more will receive a free copy of Bonnie Raitt’s CD,

Souls Alike, as our, and her, way of saying THANK YOU!

 

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