NEIS Action Alerts

Lieberman-Warner Climate Action Bill has $550 Billion in hidden nuclear power subsidies; contact your senators now!

The Lieberman-Warner climate change bill, S.2191, is slated to come to the Senate floor the week of June 2-6.  Without even explicitly mentioning the term “nuclear power,” the bill is the largest giveaway to the nuclear power industry ever—worth as much as $550 billion.  Additional floor amendments are expected to give billions more of taxpayer dollars to the nuclear industry, to prevent public participation in nuclear issues and to force development of new radioactive waste dumps despite public opposition.

We need to stop this nuclear nonsense NOW, and your voice needs to be heard!

Your calls, faxes and letters are especially urgent because:
· Some environmental groups will support this bill for its ill-advised cap and trade system, making it look like these enviros support nuclear power
· The well-financed nuclear industry is actively lobbying to obtain more taxpayer dollars, and they can always outspend us.

Please call your Senators today: Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121.

To get additional contact information for your Senators go to: http://thomas.loc.gov
or directly to http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Get the word out!

Activate any e-mail lists, phone trees, myspace and facebook sites, church groups or other networks you have. We need to get as many of your voices to the Senate as possible.

Background information on Lieberman-Warner Bill (S. 2191)

According to an aide to Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT), the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill “would be the most historic incentive for nuclear in the history of the United States."

The cap-and-trade carbon emissions system that the bill would establish would both make utility investments in carbon-emitting technologies like coal and gas less economically competitive by putting a price on carbon, and would also create a fund—totaling as much as $550 Billion over the next four decades—that could be used for nuclear power investment.

There are many problems with the proposed legislation, not the least of which are that:
Carbon trading is a failure and does not work, and
The bill's emission reduction targets fall far short of what is necessary to avoid a climate catastrophe. In fact, the global carbon emissions reduction of 80% by 2050 called for by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Global Climate Change translates into a 95% reduction in U.S. emissions—or essentially a carbon-free energy economy. But at best, the Lieberman-Warner bill would reduce emissions about 60-70% by 2050, and perhaps not even that much.

Nuclear amendments that have been discussed on Capitol Hill may include some, or even all, of the following:

• more money for taxpayer loan guarantees for new reactors
• more money for “risk” insurance if reactors are delayed because of interventions or other licensing problems
• establishment of “interim” storage sites for high-level radioactive waste
• speed-up of Yucca Mountain licensing
• further restrictions on public participation in reactor licensing
• money for training nuclear engineers
• money for training skilled workers (like welders)
• money for security guards and improvements
• money for Hardened On-Site Storage
• money to build new factories to manufacture large reactor components
• money for new transmission lines and transformers 

The Message:

Introduce explicit language stating that no provision of the legislation will be used to fund any program relating to nuclear power, or else vote against the bill.

We need safe, clean, fast and affordable solutions to the climate crisis. Nuclear power meets none of those criteria. Your actions now can make a real difference!
Call both of your senators today at 202-224-3121, no matter where you think they may stand on the issue.
We need to unequivocally impress on the Senate that people mean business on this issue.

Oppose Illinois House Bill 2971 AMENDMENT 1

Unwise legislation that repeals the Illinois nuclear construction moratorium, without having a solution for the Nuclear waste new plants would create

Summary

HB2917 Amendment 1 was introduced on April 1, 2008 by Rep. JoAnn Osmond (61st Dist., Antioch).  This Amendment would repeal a 1987 moratorium (hereafter referred to as the Moratorium) on the construction of new nuclear reactors in the State of Illinois.  For the reasons stated below this ill-conceived effort adds nothing of benefit to Illinois, its citizens, environment or economy, while contributing greatly to potential public harm.  The measure should be rejected.

The Original need for a Moratorium still exists, and is even greater now than when it was created in 1987:

• There is STILL no environmentally acceptable way to dispose of high-level radioactive wastes (the original reason for the moratorium);
• The Department of Energy abandoned its "best achievable" goal of opening a waste storage repository by 2017, and hasn't set a new target date;
  any waste we made or will make will stay in Illinois the indefinite future;
• New construction would add to the High Level Radioactive Waste already accumulating onsite next to Illinois rivers;
• 20-year extensions of the original 40-year operating licenses of current reactors – a new policy since 1987 planned for all operating Illinois reactors – will increase the nuclear waste (and the risks that brings) piling up in Illinois; this situation was not foreseen in 1987, but exists today
• There is now increased threat from terrorism and sabotage
• There is greater air traffic and larger aircraft to and from O’Hare Field, increasing the risk from accidental or terrorist crashes of airliners into reactor sites and waste fuel pools and storage canisters
• The onset of global warming conditions in the Midwest, causing lower volumes and flow-rates for the Illinois rivers used by the nuclear power plants, results in more thermal discharge damage than originally planned.

HR2971 Attempts to solve a problem that does not exist:

There is no need for more electricity in Illinois; the 2007 Renewables Portfolio Standard will add 25% more power from renewable sources by 2020, which not only provides a guaranteed source for energy, but the “certainty” of where that power will come from, something that corporations claim they prefer when doing long-range planning

Power from new nuclear units would be sold on the market, benefiting Exelon Corporation while potentially inflicting all the negative aspects of nuclear power on the residents and ratepayers of Illinois (e.g. more wastes generated and stored onsite; threat of accident and sabotage; damage to water sources and eco-system);

According to Exelon Corp., it currently has no plans to build a new reactor in Illinois, so there should be no need to rush this through.

3.)  HR2971 subverts the 2007 Renewables Portfolio Standard legislation:

Any new nuclear construction totally and deliberately undercuts and sabotages the recently passed Renewable Energy Portfolio standards legislation of 25% renewable energy by 2020, denying the vitally needed market share that would help reduce costs of renewables via economies of scale.

Conclusions and Recommendations

NEIS concludes:

• HB 2971 Amendment 1 is purposeless legislation, meaningfully or rationally addressing no present or future urgent problems, while exacerbating the historic problems regarding nuclear power and HLRW disposal.
• HB 2971 would negatively impact the economy, environment and the public health and safety of the people of Illinois.
• HB 2971 Amendment 1 directly – perhaps intentionally -- subverts the intent of the Renewable Energy Portfolio standard, passed by the Illinois Legislature in 2007.

NEIS recommends:

• Leave the Moratorium on new reactor construction in place until such time as we have a place for the permanent disposal of high-level radioactive waste successfully in operation. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
• Given the numerous drawbacks associated with the historic and future construction of new nuclear reactors in Illinois, the Legislature should consider strengthening the Illinois Moratorium by adding additional performance clauses regarding cost, water use and restrictions, and post 9-11 security assessment
• Obey and enforce the laws we have, and aggressively implement the already-passed 2007 Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard.  Make it mandatory as a condition to do energy business in Illinois; and enact stiff penalties to utilities not in compliance towards achieving the final goal, and intermediate targets assessed in 3-year increments.

Contact your STATE legislators and ask them to vote against this legislation. 

To find out who your state legislators are, you can go to the Keep Us Connected website:
http://ga6.org/action/leg-lookup/search.html?mode=state