Don't saddle taxpayers with (GOP) nuclear bailouts

[jpak]

http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_7598141?nclick_check=1

Next week, Congress will vote on an energy bill that could finally dampen oil addiction and increase reliance on clean, renewable energy sources. However, provisions tucked into both the Senate and House versions of the bill could shortchange renewable energy projects and saddle taxpayers with nuclear plant loan default bailouts.

The provision Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., inserted in the Senate bill would permit nuclear projects to use most of the guaranteed loans Congress authorized to stimulate innovative energy technologies. If the nuclear industry has its way, borrowing could rapidly exceed $50 billion. That's more than 12 times the amount authorized in the 2005 energy bill. Worse, the Senate bill would expand loan coverage to 100 percent of project costs and remove congressional program oversight. The House version is no better and goes further

Even if cooler heads in Congress remove Domenici's gift to the nuclear industry from the energy bill, eliminating this taxpayer boondoggle will not be easy. The senator, ranking member on the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, will take another approach. Last month he tried attaching it to the farm bill, hidden in a renewable fuel standard amendment. With that bill shelved, he could try for a water bill, or eliminate the loan guarantee budget cap in the 2008 fiscal appropriations bill.

Jeopardizing taxpayer dollars to underwrite the nuclear industry will not put us on a smart energy path.

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