Friends of the Earth Launches TV Ads Opposing Obama Administration's Nuclear Bailout

Friends of the Earth launched two television ads today against the $55 billion in loan guarantees the Obama Administration has proposed to hand out for the construction of the first new nuclear reactors in the United States in thirty years.

The progressive environmental group's 30-second television ads will run in South Carolina, where the state Supreme Court is set to hear a Friends of the Earth appeal next week related to two proposed nuclear reactors in the state, and in Georgia, where the first of the Obama Administration's loan guarantees are slated to go to the construction of two nuclear reactors. The ads, "Family" and "Risk," can be viewed at https://foe.org/new-ads-opposition-obama-administrations-nuclear-bailout.

Friends of the Earth president Erich Pica had the following statement:

"Construction of nuclear reactors in the United States stopped three decades ago because events like the near-meltdown at Three Mile Island raised fears about the safety of nuclear technology. It has been fifty years since the beginning the United States' experiment with nuclear reactors, but we still do not have a way to make reactors safer or properly dispose of radioactive waste. We should not move forward with a nuclear bailout.

"Yesterday's vote by the Vermont Senate to close a radiation-leading reactor shows what deep trouble the nuclear industry is in. Nuclear reactors and their radioactive waste are inherently dangerous. They also pose a huge bailout risk for taxpayers. The ads we're launching today make this case. Most Americans don't want these reactors in their back yards. The future lies in clean energy sources like wind and solar - not nuclear reactors."

Tom Clements, Friends of the Earth's nuclear organizer in South Carolina, had the following statement:

"Taxpayers can ill afford to foot the bill for a bailout of the nuclear industry, but the risks go far beyond just the financial. Friends of the Earth is fighting for a clean energy future for the people of South Carolina and Georgia by backing up these ads with action, including a challenge to a nuclear reactor project before the South Carolina Supreme Court."

Sara Barczak, Program Director for High Risk at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy in Georgia, had this to say:

"These ads reflect people's anxiety about the safety of nuclear reactors and the disapproval they feel about having their hard-earned money spent on something they clearly think is a bad idea, especially when safer, more affordable, less risky energy choices exist such as efficiency, wind, solar, and bioenergy."