Make Your Voice Heard!
Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary, Rick Perry, has proposed an unprecedented bailout for nuclear and coal power plants that will raise people’s energy bills and undermine renewable energy.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is fast-tracking the DOE’s radical proposal and plan to adopt it in 60 days. Public comments were due October 23rd, exactly three weeks after the plan was announced, and we delivered over 11, 420 comments to FERC.
The proposal calls for subsidies for old, outdated, and very polluting nuclear and coal plants under the guise that they promote electric grid reliability.
Here are the basics:
• The DOE wants FERC to bailout power plants that have 90 days of fuel onsite (-- a meaningless idea fabricated to justify subsidies for nuclear and coal).
• FERC would guarantee the profitability of those coal and nuclear plants by charging consumers prices for their electricity that cover each plant’s operating costs, plus a "return on investment."
• The bailout would cover 43 reactors in thirteen states—nearly half of the nuclear industry—and over 60 coal plants.
• The purported basis for the proposal is to ensure the reliability of the electrical grid, but the DOE’s own report published in August found that wind and solar energy strengthened the affordability, reliability, and resilience of the grid.
This bailout will raise electricity costs by billions of dollars a year and ratepayers across the country will ultimately foot the bill for supporting these expensive plants. And worst of all – it will block renewable energy and increase greenhouse gas emissions.
FERC is taking a final round of public comments until November 7. And we need to deliver another 11,000 comments to them! Even if you already signed a petition or sent a comment, please do so again for this final round.
It is still important to voice our opposition and the time to act is NOW! And after that, pass it on to your friends and to your contacts on facebook, twitter, Instagram, etc.
Stay tuned for more actions to take as we build this campaign to save our 100% Clean Energy Future!
- NIRS Report: Too Big to Bail Out: The Economic Costs of a National Nuclear Power Subsidy
NIRS analysis shows that the nationwide cost of a proposed nuclear subsidy program could cost over $280 billion by 2030.
- GreenWorld: The Astronomical Cost of New Subsidies for Old Reactors: $280 Billion
A national nuclear bailout would be climate backwards: blocking renewable energy and diverting massive amounts of money to prop up aging, uneconomical reactors.
- New York Just Proved Why Bailing Out Nuclear Power Is a Bad Idea
New York's recently approved 12-year, $7.6 billion nuclear subsidy program will cost 3 times as much as the state's plan to achieve 50% renewable energy by 2030.
- Union of Concerned Scientists: Nuclear Power: Still Not Viable without Subsidies
Government subsidies to the nuclear power industry over the past fifty years have been so large that in some cases it would have cost taxpayers less to simply buy kilowatts on the open market and give them away.
- NIRS: Killing the Competition: The Nuclear Power Agenda to Block Climate Action, Stop Renewable Energy, and Subsidize Old Reactors
100% RENEWABLE ENERGY
- Environment America: We Have the Power: 100% Renewable Energy for a Clean, Thriving America
- Institute for Energy and Environmental Research: Carbon Free and Nuclear Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy
- Greenpeace: Energy (R)Evolution: A Sustainable Energy USA Outlook
Study shows U.S. can get to 98% renewables by 2050
- 100% Renewable Energy for All: A sustainable world energy outlook 2015
Report finds that the world can be powered by 100% renewables by 2050.
- SUN DAY Campaign: Watts Bar 2: Winning the Battle while Losing the War
New Electrical Generation from wind and solar is 21 times greater than that expected from the US's first nuclear reactor in 20 years.
- Pew Research Center: Public opinion on renewables and other energy sources
- Don't Nuke the Climate: lessons from Japan and Germany. Featuring Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute.
- Paris and Onward: the Path Forward to a Nuclear-Free, Carbon-Free energy future
With Dr. Mark Jacobson of Stanford University and The Solutions Project; and Dr. Arjun Makhijani of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF NUCLEAR POWER
- #NuclearIsDirty Presentation Series
- Fact Sheet: Nuclear Power and Climate: Why Nukes Can't Save the Planet
- Briefing Paper: Nuclear Energy is Dirty Energy
- Oil Change International: The Sky’s Limit: Why the Paris Climate Goals Require a Managed Decline of Fossil Fuel Production
- Labor Network for Sustainability: Climate, Jobs, and Justice Project: A plan for a just transition to a climate-safe economy
- Alliance for a Green Economy (AGREE) and NIRS: Replacing FitzPatrick: How the Closure of a Nuclear Reactor Can Reduce Greenhouse Gases and Radioactive Waste, While Creating Jobs and Supporting the Local Community