ENERGY BILL AIDS EXPANSION OF ATOMIC POWER
How do builders of new nuclear plants become eligible for tens of billions of dollars in government loan guarantees? Simple. Get your local offical to bury a SINGLE SENTENCE requesting that buried in the middle of a huge energy bill and convince others not to question it. It works!
A one-sentence provision buried in the Senate’s recently passed energy bill, inserted without debate at the urging of the nuclear power industry, could make builders of new nuclear plants eligible for tens of billions of dollars in government loan guarantees.
Lobbyists have told lawmakers and administration officials in recent weeks that the nuclear industry needs as much as $50 billion in loan guarantees over the next two years to finance a major expansion.
The biggest champion of the loan guarantees is Senator Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico, the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy Committee and one of the nuclear industry’s strongest supporters in Congress.
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