[NukeNet] Sign-on letter: no nuclear subsidies in climate bill

Mon May 19 17:55:20 EDT 2008

SIGN-ON LETTER TO SENATE:

STOP NUCLEAR SUBSIDIES IN CLIMATE LEGISLATION

CLIMATE FOCUS SHOULD BE ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RENEWABLES

May 19, 2008

Dear Friends:

Below is a letter written by our friends at the Sustainable Energy
Network, addressing the principles the Senate should be considering as
it takes up the Lieberman-Warner climate crisis legislation (S. 2191)
the week of June 2. 

Both organizations and individuals may sign this letter. See
instructions below. But please sign by 5 pm Eastern time, Tuesday May
27.

And please, do not sign this in lieu of calling your Senators and
demanding no nuclear subsidies in climate legislation! Your calls-and
those of your friends and colleagues-are absolutely vital to winning
this effort. But we do encourage you to sign in addition to making your
calls to your Senators (Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121).

 If you wish to sign on as an ORGANIZATION, please provide:

Your Name + Title

Organization/Business Name

City, State

If you wish to sign on as an INDIVIDUAL: Please clearly state that you
are signing on ONLY as an individual and provide:

Your name

City, State

If you wish to also provide your organizational affiliation "for
identification purposes only", it will be listed with this
clarification.

Please send your sign-on information to
sustainable-energy-network at hotmail.com

P.S. We apologize if you receive this mailing more than once - we are
using several overlapping mailing lists.

Thanks for all you do!

Michael Mariotte

Executive Director

Nuclear Information and Resource Service

nirsnet at nirs.org

AS  YOU  CONSIDER  CLIMATE  LEGISLATION, FOCUS  ON  ENERGY  EFFICIENCY
AND  RENEWABLE  ENERGY  STRATEGIES, OPPOSE  NUCLEAR  POWER  AND  FOSSIL
FUEL INCENTIVES; APPROACH CAP-AND-TRADE CAREFULLY

May 28, 2008

Members

U.S. Senate

Washington, D.C. 20510

Attn:  Environmental/Climate/Energy Legislative Assistants

Dear Senator:

We, the xx undersigned business, environmental, consumer, energy-policy,
faith-based, and other organizations and xx individuals are writing to
urge you to give great care and thought to pending climate change
legislation which may come to the Senate floor next week.

We believe that the grave threats posed by global climate change must be
addressed now and action taken to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.

Moreover, the pending vote on the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act
(S. 2191), and any amendments that are offered, has the potential for
setting the principles and parameters for any federal legislation that
is ultimately enacted into law.  Consequently, we believe it essential
that any bill that emerges from the Senate meet several criteria.

First, federal legislation must - at the very least - set the United
States on course to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by no less
than 80 percent by 2050 - a target higher than the 70 percent goal
proposed by S.2191.  However, even a reduction of 80 percent may fall
short of what is actually necessary to avoid the worst consequences of
climate change.  A growing number of analyses now suggest that far
greater reductions, accomplished within a much tighter time frame, may
actually be needed.  Therefore, we urge you to reject legislative
proposals that would set merely symbolic or insufficiently aggressive
goals.

Second, if a cap-and-trade system is to be part of the nation's climate
change policy, it should be designed thoughtfully and should be viewed
as only one in an arsenal of strategies to shift the nation's economy on
to a path of sustainable energy development.

Carefully structured, a cap-and-trade system can play an important role
in reducing GHG emissions.  However, a poorly designed system could
prove to be economically costly and administratively
difficult-to-administer, do little to promote renewable energy
technologies, and result in the transfer of pollution to low-income
communities without actually achieving any significant reductions in
GHGs.  

If cap-and-trade is to be a part of the United States' climate change
strategy, it should provide for enforceable and rapidly declining
ceilings on GHGs, a simple and transparent administrative structure,
protections for low-income and other vulnerable communities, and full
auction of all carbon credits with the funds targeted at sustainable
energy investments.

Third, national climate change legislation must give emphasis to making
a rapid transition from fossil fuel energy sources to renewable energy
sources coupled with deep cuts in energy waste through energy efficiency
improvements and other measures.  A number of recent analyses have
suggested that U.S. energy use can be reduced by 30 percent or more
while renewable energy technologies - some of which have been
experiencing 30-45% annual growth rates in recent years - could be
brought on line far more quickly than other options to meet most of the
country's supply needs.

Tapping this potential, however, would necessitate substantially more
aggressive energy efficiency standards for homes and other buildings,
lighting and appliances, electrical generation and transmission,
industrial machinery and processes, and agriculture.  It would also
require much more stringent fuel-efficiency and emission-reduction
targets for cars, trucks, and other vehicles coupled with fundamental
changes in national transportation policies.

To realize the full potential of the cross-section of renewable energy
technologies, long-term (e.g., ten years) tax incentives, significantly
increased federal RD&D funding, expanded procurement policies, national
interconnection and net metering legislation, a national (banded)
portfolio standard, and other steps must be acted upon.

In addition, changes in the federal tax code to encourage investments in
energy efficient and renewable energy and to discourage continued use of
carbon-based technologies, including phasing-out subsidies to fossil
fuels and coal-fired electrical plants (unless they incorporate 100%
carbon capture), need to be part of the mix.  

Similarly, national climate change legislation should not divert federal
resources into long-term, unproven, expensive, and potentially
environmentally risky fossil fuel technologies such as so-called "clean
coal" and carbon capture and sequestration.  The financial burden for
demonstrating the viability of these technologies should fall primarily
on the shoulders of the fossil fuel industry and not federal taxpayers. 

Finally, climate legislation should not include direct or indirect
subsidies or mandates for nuclear power; in fact, such subsidies should
be phased out.  An expansion of nuclear power would merely exacerbate
the still-unsolved problem of radioactive waste disposal while adding to
concerns about plant safety, terrorism, and nuclear proliferation.  In
just three years, cost estimates for new nuclear power plants have
already tripled or quadrupled and continue to rise.  And when a full
accounting of the full nuclear fuel cycle is considered, nuclear power
is not the carbon-free technology its proponents suggest. 

Consequently, investments in nuclear power would prove to be a costly
mistake that would divert very limited public and private funds from
sustainable energy solutions that can be brought on line far more
quickly, at much lower cost, and with fewer safety and environmental
risks. 

In conclusion, we stress that we believe that early and aggressive
action to address the threat of climate change is absolutely necessary.
But we also believe that great care and attention be given to designing
legislative strategies that emphasize rapid deployment of sustainable
energy strategies and not divert resources to nuclear power or
speculative fossil fuel technologies.

We appreciate your consideration of these views.

Sincerely, 

Thanks for all you do!

Michael Mariotte

Executive Director

Nuclear Information and Resource Service

nirsnet at nirs.org

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<https://secure.campagne-online.com/registrant/donate.aspx?EventID=2927&
LangPref=en-CA>  Just like political campaigns, issue campaigns like
this one cost money. Help kick off our next 30 years, and our work to
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contribution possible.

And if you haven't done so yet, don't forget to sign the statement on
nuclear power and climate at www.nirs.org <http://www.nirs.org/>  (but
please don't sign more than once!). If you've already signed, please ask
your friends and colleagues to sign! We've passed 7,600 signatures,
let's get to 10,000 this Spring!

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