Washington » An environmental group is planning television ads in Utah to skewer Sen. Bob Bennett for inserting into the massive stimulus package what they say are $50 billion in loans to the nuclear industry.
Bennett pushed a provision into the stimulus bill to grant the money to low-carbon energy producers, which environmental groups says likely will fund the nuclear industry. Friends of the Earth plans to run spots on cable news stations in Salt Lake City starting Monday, slamming Bennett for using a rescue package to prop up nuclear plants.
"It is nothing short of outrageous that in the middle of an economic crisis, with families suffering, senators are trying to curry lobbyists' favor with yet another multibillion dollar bailout," Friends of the Earth President Brent Blackwelder said in a statement. "Taxpayers should not be forced to foot the bill for the nuclear industry's failures."
But Bennett says the squawking from San Francisco-based Friends of the Earth and Maryland-based Beyond Nuclear rings hollow because the funding can go to any renewable project, including wind, solar, clean coal or batteries.
"It is not a bailout for the nuclear industry in any sense of the word," Bennett said. "It is a method of attracting private capital into renewable energy. It is a more efficient way of attracting private capital" than what's currently out there.
Bennett offered a list of several groups - from the National Mining Association to Dow Chemical Co. to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association - supporting his provision, and noted that no one, from the left or right, has tried to remove the language from the stimulus package. The senator says those opposed to his measure just don't want nuclear energy to compete on the same level as other renewable resources.
"This is geared to whomever can demonstrate they can produce the best source of renewable energy that produces the lowest carbon output," Bennett said.
But Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear, which advocates against nuclear power and nuclear weapons, says Bennett is being disingenuous because he opposes the overall bill but is pushing language to remain in there.
Kamps says Bennett wants the country to assume the financial risks for new nuclear reactors, which "could leave taxpayers holding the bag for tens of billions of dollars."
