Dirty energy pork in stimulus bill sparks protest

U.S. Senators received a hand-delivered letter this morning signed by representatives of more than 240 environmental, consumer and faith groups and small businesses expressing their "dismay and anger" over the inclusion of a provision in the economic stimulus bill to provide up to $50 billion in additional taxpayer loan guarantees that could be used to build new nuclear plants, so-called "clean coal" plants, and plants that turn coal into liquid fuel for military planes.

The provision was added to the Senate's $884 billion version of the stimulus package by Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah) at the urging of industry lobbyists and approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee. Bennett's amendment took $500 million from the $10 billion allocated to a new loan guarantee program for renewable energy and electric transmission projects and moved it to an existing loan guarantee program created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The letter states:

Adding more money to this program would have absolutely no stimulative effect on our economy, since no nuclear reactors or "clean coal" plants can be built over the two year period supposed to be covered by this bill.

The letter also notes that the nuclear loan guarantees carry considerable economic risk, as the Congressional Budget Office has already predicted a 50% default rate for utilities using the program to build new nuclear reactors.

This is an issue of particular concern for the South, which the nuclear industry has targeted for new reactor construction. Of the seven new proposed nuclear projects nationwide, six of them are in Southern states, and all are below the Mason-Dixon line.

For a PDF of the letter, click here.