WASHINGTON - February 5 - Friends of the Earth released a TV ad today slamming Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT) for adding an up-to-$50-billion bailout for the nuclear power industry to the Senate’s stimulus package. The group released similar ads demanding that Senate leaders eliminate this bailout.

(Click to view versions of the ad pertaining to Bennett, Senator Harry Reid [D-NV] and Senator Daniel Inouye [D-HI].)

“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,” said Friends of the Earth President Brent Blackwelder. “Taxpayers should not be forced to foot the bill for the nuclear industry’s failures. This bailout has nothing to do with stimulating the economy. It must be eliminated.” v The bailout was added to the Senate stimulus package when Bennett offered an amendment authorizing $50 billion in loan guarantees for “advanced low-carbon technology” in the Appropriations Committee. If history—and nuclear industry lobbyists’ fervor in defending these loan guarantees—are any guide, much of this money would likely go to the nuclear industry.

Blackwelder said the best opportunity to defeat this bailout may arise when House and Senate leaders meet to work out the differences between their stimulus bills; the House bill did not include the nuclear bailout.

“These ads are intended to send a clear message,” Blackwelder said. “It is unacceptable for senators to display the bald obsequiousness to lobbyists that Bennett has shown here. And it’s unclear why Senate leaders allowed Bennett to sneak this bailout into their bill, since he says the stimulus ‘is not going to work’ and plans to vote against it. Senate leaders should remedy this situation.”

More information about the proposed nuclear industry bailout can be found here: http://action.foe.org/t/6545/pressRelease.jsp?press_release_KEY=480