"The Energy Department's loan guarantee program is the real Solyndra scandal"

Today's Washington Post editorial headline above got it spot on! A high-profile hearing before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce government oversight subcommittee has shined a bright spotlight on the "Solyndra solar scandal," but nary a word about much more risky nuclear loan guarantees was uttered. The Washington Post has run three articles and an editorial in the past two days in its print edition: yesterday's "Solyndra made demands of Energy Department" and "Upton sought loan for now-ailing solar company in Michigan"; today's front page above the fold "Energy chief defends agency"; and today's lead editorial "No fun in the sun." Hopefully, the magnifying lens being taken to the Solyndra solar loan guarantee default will also be applied to already approved, and future proposed, nuclear loan guarantees! See Beyond Nuclear's nuclear loan guarantee website section for more information, as well as our summary backgrounder on U.S. Representative Fred Upton's (R-MI) nuclear power industry cheerleading (see the section entitled "Handing over the keys of the U.S. Treasury to the nuclear power industry").

"White House orders audit of Energy Dept. loans"

The Washington Post reported an article by that title on its front page on October 29th. Although focused on the fallout from the Solyndra solar loan guarantee scandal -- the taxpayer loss of $535 million due to the bankruptcy of the California-based solar panel manufacturer -- and mentioning another federal energy loan guarantee at risk of default in a separate article on the same day entitled "Obama adviser tied to firm that won loan: Political ties played no role in DOE's decision, car company says" (to the Vehicle Production Group for a compressed natural gas vehicle designed to accomodate wheel chairs), the Washington Post does not mention federal loan guarantees for new nuclear facilities. Nor do Republican U.S. House Members mention nuclear loan guarantees, as they are poised to subpoena the Obama administration for documents related to the Solyndra scandal. The right wing Americans for Prosperity has even launched a campaign against all of Obama's solar loan guarantees, not just Solyndra's, including high-priced t.v. ads -- but again, doesn't mention nuclear loan guarantees, or those for other dirty energy projects, including coal based ones.

President Obama himself announced the award of an $8.3 billion nuclear loan guarantee for two new atomic reactors at the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia. That amounts to more than 15 times more taxpayer money at risk than was lost in the Solyndra solar default.

Boehner blasted for billion dollar nuclear hypocrisy

Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear appeared on the Thom Hartmann Show, blasting U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (Republican-Ohio) for advocating for a $2 billion nuclear loan guarantee in Ohio, while supposedly being against the energy loan guarantee program in the first place, based on fiscal conservative and free market principles. Boehner supports federal taxpayer backed nuclear loan guarantees for a uranium enrichment facility proposed by U.S. Enrichment Corporation at Portsmouth, Ohio. Kevin also gave updates on the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe, and shield building cracks and the history of near-disasters at Davis-Besse atomic reactor near Toledo.

Markey's "Nuclear Power Plant Safety Act of 2011" would require nuclear loan guarantees to consider Fukushima catastrophe risks

U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA)On March 29, 2011 -- just 18 days after the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe began -- U.S. Representative Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced the "Nuclear Power Plant Safety Act of 2011." Its Section 3 on Loan Guarantees would amend Section 1702(b) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16512(b)) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following: "In the case of a guarantee for advanced nuclear energy facilities, the Secretary [of Energy] shall ensure that the cost of the obligation is calculated using a consideration of the Tohoku earthquake of 2011 to estimate the risk characteristics of the project."

Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, and Graham Nash call on citizens to take action against new nuclear loan guarantees

Nash, Raitt, and Browne, flanked by environmental and congressional allies, at a Nukefree.org press conference against nuclear loan guarantees on Capitol Hill, 2007"We may be on the brink...of stopping the US nuclear industry from building new reactors," write musicians Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, and Graham Nash in a new posting on the Nukefree.org website. Join their call by phoning your two U.S. Senators and your U.S. Representative via the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and urging them to block the $36 billion in new nuclear loan guarantees proposed by the Obama administration in the Fiscal Year 2012 federal budget, with the first congressional subcommittee votes expected to happen in the next few weeks