Friday, March 4, 2011

Tell Congress: No new nuke subsidies--and cut out the existing ones!

Comment:  We do not want the nukes to get any monies from anywhere, not the federal govt., not the state of Virginia and The Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission (TIC) who are giving the French nukes monies which will not employ any tobacco farmer!  No to nukes!

March 3, 2011

In this era of Congressional budget-slashing, with programs that actually benefit real people on the chopping block, we think it's time to step up our demands:

Tell Congress not only must it oppose new taxpayer subsidies for new reactor construction, but Congress must cut the existing program to zero! Send your letter below.

The good news is that the American people agree! According to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News public opinion poll, cutting subsidies for new reactors is the single most popular possible budget cut, with 57% finding such cuts either completely or mostly acceptable.

The existing Department of Energy loan "guarantee" program has $10.2 Billion in unspent money for new reactor construction and another $2 Billion for uranium enrichment plants. Why should Congress be cutting programs like Planned Parenthood, legal services for the poor, public broadcasting, college loans, and dozens of other programs when that money is sitting there and should never be used anyway?

Congress this week reached agreement on a Continuing Budget Resolution to keep the government open until March 18 while it continues to work on a budget for the rest of the year. The budget approved by the House of Representatives, while slashing many worthwhile programs, at least does not include new loan money for nuclear reactor construction. But there is a chance that the Senate will try to add, with Department of Energy support, Billions to the program. And, if this attempt is made, it will likely be in the next two weeks.

That's why we're asking you--and everyone you know--to act now. The American people are with us, so we need the biggest possible outpouring and outreach right now. Please use the handy icons above to post this page on Facebook, Twitter and other networking sites and e-mail it to your lists, your friends, your colleagues.

Let's tell Congress now: no new taxpayer subsidies for nuclear reactors and cut all of the existing subsidies once and for all. We won't accept massive budget cuts in programs that matter in order to give our money to wealthy nuclear utilities and foreign reactor manufacturers.

Thank you for taking action, and helping spread the word. If you value the information we provide you and the actions we enable you to take, we hope you'll support us after you take action. We're on a shoestring budget during the best times, but we're getting dangerously low right now; your support really matters. And, really, if we weren't there to give you the information, where would you get it? Fox News?

Research shows that personalized e-mails are the most effective means of communicating with Congress (other than personally handing a large check to your Congressmember, of course). We encourage you to add your own thoughts to the sample letter. For example, bring up a specific program slated for cuts that you want to keep funded, or talk about a specific reactor project or nuclear problem in your region.

Note to our friends outside the U.S.: like all actions aimed at the U.S. Congress, you must have a U.S. address to participate.

Click here for the survey:
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5502/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5848