SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page.
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
The nuclear industry could end up facing no risk under massive tax break subsidies in the Kerry-Lieberman climate bill, according
to an important new analysis conducted for Friends of the Earth by the
research organization Earth Track. These tax breaks totaling $9.7
billion to $57.3 billion (depending on the type and number of reactors)
would come on top of the Kerry-Lieberman measure's lucrative $35.5
billion addition to the more than $22.5 billion in loan guarantees
already slated for nuclear power.
Friends of the Earth President Erich Pica said: "Doling
out an additional $1.3-$3 billion in tax breaks per new reactor means
the industry would be at the table playing almost entirely with
taxpayer money. Industry will have little to lose when a reactor goes
belly up. While taxpayers
are bankrolling the industry's nuclear gamble they would share in none
of the reactor's financial returns. In fact, all taxpayers will
receive if the reactors are built is responsibility for disposing of
the waste. By contrast, investors stand to make billions with no risk
should their reactor gambit goes belly up and enter bankruptcy."
Earth Track Founder Doug Koplow said: "These
substantial tax breaks for new reactors greatly impede market access
for competing energy sources and worsen the already substantial risks
to taxpayers from a nuclear build-out. As has clearly been shown in
U.S. mortgage markets, the likelihood of bad financial decisions rises
sharply if only other people's capital is at risk. Kerry-Lieberman's
nuclear tax breaks do just this by replacing investor equity with
taxpayer money, and allowing investment tax credits to be claimed even
before the reactor is operating. The provision to recover credits in
the event a reactor is cancelled or suspended is unlikely to be
effective in the most likely cause of termination - a bankruptcy due to
poor economics."
The memo
evaluates three tax break subsidies, describing how they work and
estimating their subsidy value to recipients in the nuclear power
sector:
According to the Earth Track analysis:
The full Earth Track analysis is available online at https://www.foe.org/more-kerry-lieberman-nuclear-subsidies/.
Political revenge. Mass deportations. Project 2025. Unfathomable corruption. Attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Pardons for insurrectionists. An all-out assault on democracy. Republicans in Congress are scrambling to give Trump broad new powers to strip the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit he doesn’t like by declaring it a “terrorist-supporting organization.” Trump has already begun filing lawsuits against news outlets that criticize him. At Common Dreams, we won’t back down, but we must get ready for whatever Trump and his thugs throw at us. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. By donating today, please help us fight the dangers of a second Trump presidency. |
The nuclear industry could end up facing no risk under massive tax break subsidies in the Kerry-Lieberman climate bill, according
to an important new analysis conducted for Friends of the Earth by the
research organization Earth Track. These tax breaks totaling $9.7
billion to $57.3 billion (depending on the type and number of reactors)
would come on top of the Kerry-Lieberman measure's lucrative $35.5
billion addition to the more than $22.5 billion in loan guarantees
already slated for nuclear power.
Friends of the Earth President Erich Pica said: "Doling
out an additional $1.3-$3 billion in tax breaks per new reactor means
the industry would be at the table playing almost entirely with
taxpayer money. Industry will have little to lose when a reactor goes
belly up. While taxpayers
are bankrolling the industry's nuclear gamble they would share in none
of the reactor's financial returns. In fact, all taxpayers will
receive if the reactors are built is responsibility for disposing of
the waste. By contrast, investors stand to make billions with no risk
should their reactor gambit goes belly up and enter bankruptcy."
Earth Track Founder Doug Koplow said: "These
substantial tax breaks for new reactors greatly impede market access
for competing energy sources and worsen the already substantial risks
to taxpayers from a nuclear build-out. As has clearly been shown in
U.S. mortgage markets, the likelihood of bad financial decisions rises
sharply if only other people's capital is at risk. Kerry-Lieberman's
nuclear tax breaks do just this by replacing investor equity with
taxpayer money, and allowing investment tax credits to be claimed even
before the reactor is operating. The provision to recover credits in
the event a reactor is cancelled or suspended is unlikely to be
effective in the most likely cause of termination - a bankruptcy due to
poor economics."
The memo
evaluates three tax break subsidies, describing how they work and
estimating their subsidy value to recipients in the nuclear power
sector:
According to the Earth Track analysis:
The full Earth Track analysis is available online at https://www.foe.org/more-kerry-lieberman-nuclear-subsidies/.
The nuclear industry could end up facing no risk under massive tax break subsidies in the Kerry-Lieberman climate bill, according
to an important new analysis conducted for Friends of the Earth by the
research organization Earth Track. These tax breaks totaling $9.7
billion to $57.3 billion (depending on the type and number of reactors)
would come on top of the Kerry-Lieberman measure's lucrative $35.5
billion addition to the more than $22.5 billion in loan guarantees
already slated for nuclear power.
Friends of the Earth President Erich Pica said: "Doling
out an additional $1.3-$3 billion in tax breaks per new reactor means
the industry would be at the table playing almost entirely with
taxpayer money. Industry will have little to lose when a reactor goes
belly up. While taxpayers
are bankrolling the industry's nuclear gamble they would share in none
of the reactor's financial returns. In fact, all taxpayers will
receive if the reactors are built is responsibility for disposing of
the waste. By contrast, investors stand to make billions with no risk
should their reactor gambit goes belly up and enter bankruptcy."
Earth Track Founder Doug Koplow said: "These
substantial tax breaks for new reactors greatly impede market access
for competing energy sources and worsen the already substantial risks
to taxpayers from a nuclear build-out. As has clearly been shown in
U.S. mortgage markets, the likelihood of bad financial decisions rises
sharply if only other people's capital is at risk. Kerry-Lieberman's
nuclear tax breaks do just this by replacing investor equity with
taxpayer money, and allowing investment tax credits to be claimed even
before the reactor is operating. The provision to recover credits in
the event a reactor is cancelled or suspended is unlikely to be
effective in the most likely cause of termination - a bankruptcy due to
poor economics."
The memo
evaluates three tax break subsidies, describing how they work and
estimating their subsidy value to recipients in the nuclear power
sector:
According to the Earth Track analysis:
The full Earth Track analysis is available online at https://www.foe.org/more-kerry-lieberman-nuclear-subsidies/.