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$8.3 billion loan guarantees, Anti-Nuclear, bridges, Chicago Machine, collapsing bridges, crumbling infrastructure, David Axelrod Exelon lobbyist, destroying the environment, environment, Exelon, Exelon nuclear, Exelon utility, failed technology, Federal gov insures nuclear accident, Fukushima, Georgia, Georgia Power, Illinois, infrastructure, Japan, John Rowe Exelon and Obama, KEPCO, loan guarantee, loan guarantees, New Nuclear, nuclear, nuclear energy, nuclear industry, nuclear power, nuclear power plant, nuclear reactors, nuclear safety, nuclear subsidies, nuclear waste problem, Obama, Obama ties to Exelon nuclear, Obama ties to nuclear, Plant Vogtle, President Obama, Rahm Emanuel Exelon, Southern Co, Southern Company, taxes, Taxpayer, theft of taxpayer monies, Toshiba, UK, US DOE, US nuclear loan guarantee, Westinghouse, Westinghouse bankruptcy
Even with gross subsidies, the nuclear industry is not viable. “Westinghouse Electric Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday, saying it needed to restructure because of “certain financial and construction challenges” from its nuclear power plant projects.” http://www.voanews.com/a/westinghouse-chapter-11-bankurptcy/3786377.html
With Toshiba’s Westinghouse subsidiary filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the US taxpayer could end up losing billions due to the Federal loan guarantees facilitated by a Republican Congress in 2005, and handed over by Obama, and the head of the US Dept of Energy, Ernst Moniz. Obama was apparently owned by the nuclear industry, especially Exelon, and the wife of Moniz has Japanese roots. Ratepayers have been, and will be, scammed, as well. The chance of losing the taxpayer money was known to be in the range of 40 to 50% based on history, but it’s not their money so they didn’t care.
The Federal loan guarantee was given well after the Fukushima disaster and well after it was known that a nuclear project in Taiwan, involving Toshiba, was years behind and billions over cost. The only bigger scam was Obama spending approximately $2 billion per year of taxpayer money to import foreign nuclear waste to be dumped in the US, while pretending it was about nuclear nonproliferation. That cost will be never-ending due to the nature of nuclear waste.
Meanwhile, Trump’s 2018 budget earmarks millions for interim storage, which will benefit one of his fundraisers and large donors, if he stops the US DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit and allows Energy Solutions to get a virtual monopoly by taking over its competitor WCS. Doug Kimmelman of Energy Solutions only gave around $300,000 meaning that it would be a sweetheart of a deal in return.
The point of these nuclear power stations was clearly to keep the steel industry, concrete, and the construction industries in business. Why not invest in infrastructure? Probably because people know how much it costs, whereas nuclear power stations have rarely been built and have always been characterized by huge cost overruns, construction delays, and excuses. The same sort of contractor feast applies for nuclear waste. Plus it constituted a sort of bail-out of Westinghouse-Toshiba.
Glenn Carroll of Nuclear Watch South worked very hard to warn people and to stop this folly before it was too late, but was ignored: “Nuclear Watch South Coordinator Glenn Carroll articulated the group’s position in a brief statement: “Georgia’s legislators and Public Service Commissioners enabled Georgia Power to obtain $2 billion in up-front charges from its customers which has increased Georgia Power’s profit margin by over 20% in the Vogtle construction years.
“Vogtle owners have borrowed another $8.3 billion of U.S. taxpayer money from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). It is unclear how the money can be paid back since it is increasingly likely that Vogtle will not ever be built, but, at a minimum, Georgia Power should not be allowed to keep its windfall profits at the public’s expense.
“A full investigation and accounting needs to be done as to where this mind-boggling amount of public money has been spent with so little to show for it as Vogtle is still only 36% finished after six years under construction.
“As the revelations unfold of how breathtakingly out-of-touch several large multinational companies are with their own operations, purchases, and accounting, we are very lucky that these inept actors were unsuccessful in placing their product, two colossally dangerous radioactive waste factories, in the Georgia landscape.
“It is time to stop wasting time, energy and money on Vogtle 3 & 4 which aren’t needed anyway. Our renewables future is close at hand. It is time to get on with it.” Read the timeline and more here: http://www.nonukesyall.org/Vogtle.html
The US government CBO (Congressional Budget Office) warned of the problem in 2011 well before the $8.3 billion loan guarantee: “…historical experience suggests that investing in nuclear generating capacity engenders considerable risk. One study found that of the 117 privately owned plants in the United States that were started in the 1960s and 1970s and for which data were available, 48 were canceled, and almost all of them experienced significant cost overruns.4 / As a consequence, most of the utilities that undertook nuclear projects suffered ratings downgrades—sometimes several downgrades—during the construction phase.5 However, bondholders experienced losses from defaults in only a few instances. Losses for the most part were borne by the projects’ equity holders, the regions’ electricity ratepayers, and the government. Supporters of nuclear power argue that newer plant designs and changes in the regulatory environment make nuclear investments less risky now, but recent experience abroad suggests that cost overruns and delays are still common phenomena,…”
Click to access 08-03-nuclearloans.pdf
Already in 2011, “General Electric and its Japanese partners, Toshiba and Hitachi, are about five years behind schedule on two reactors being built in Taiwan, costing an extra $4 billion to $5.5 billion.“ http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/ftpdocs/122xx/doc12238/08-03-nuclearloans.pdf
“Under title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Secretary of Energy, in conjunction with the Secretary of the Treasury, is authorized to provide loan guarantees for qualifying energy projects… Among the types of projects meeting those criteria are advanced, or third-generation, nuclear reactors.”
Click to access 08-03-nuclearloans.pdf
Everyone who voted for these loans should have to pay back the billions to taxpayers from their own pockets, along with Obama and Moniz who actually gave the loans guarantees.
“H.R.6 – Energy Policy Act of 2005
109th Congress (2005-2006)
Rep. Barton, Joe [R-TX-6] (Introduced 04/18/2005)
Date Cosponsored
Rep. Pombo, Richard W. [R-CA-11]*
04/18/2005
Rep. Thomas, William M. [R-CA-22]*
04/18/2005” https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/house-bill/6/cosponsors
There is a call to hold local officials responsible, as well:
“It is clear that Fluor and Westinghouse are taking steps to protect their financial interests but it does not appear that anyone in authority is looking out for the electricity customers in South Carolina and Georgia,” said Leslie Minerd, founder and honorary president of South Carolinians Against Monetary Abuse (SCAMA), formed in February 2017 to confront the self-induced crisis facing the nuclear projects.
“Those responsible for the nuclear construction financial meltdown that is hanging over the head of beleaguered ratepayers in South Carolina must resign or be fired – that includes the South Carolina Public Service Commission, managers at the S.C. Office of Regulatory Staff, SCE&G and SCANA officials and legislators who approved the 2007 law under which the project is being pursued,” added Minerd. The project has been pursued under the Baseload Review Act (BLRA), which unjustly shifts costs and risks of nuclear projects to the ratepayer“. http://www.srswatch.org/uploads/2/7/5/8/27584045/scama_news_on_liens_march_29_2017.pdf
Exelon, which apparently owned Obama, has (or had) business interests with Japan’s Toshiba, at least in the construction of a proposed nuclear reactor in Saudi Arabia. Toshiba owns Westinghouse which is building the reactor for Southern Co. in Georgia, USA. So, there you go. There’s at least one connection between Obama and Toshiba: Exelon
The US government-Obama administration was able to find $8.3 billion of “loan guarantees” to subsidize dangerous new nuclear build, but is unable to find needed funds to repair the Nation’s crumbling infrastructure, including 1 in 9 “Structurally Deficient” bridges and even more “Functionally Obsolete” ones. The US never had its promised New WPA (Works Progress Administration) to rebuild its crumbling infrastructure, while creating jobs.
Rebuilding bridges and roads, i.e. basic infrastructure, throughout the US would not only save lives, it would spread new construction jobs throughout the US. There would be “pork barrel” for everyone and not just for the state of Georgia. New Nuclear, if completed, endangers lives in Georgia and elsewhere. A nuclear accident on the east coast of the US would impact Europe more than it would the US west coast.
Nuclear Watch South reported years ago that half of those receiving government loan guarantees default (http://www.nonukesyall.org/Action_Obama.html). The US Congressional Budget Office, CBO, found that historically “many nuclear projects ran into problems with delays, cost overruns, and cancellations” and that frequently the “losses were absorbed by ratepayers or the government rather than the bondholders“. They say “the government” but it’s not the government that pays, it’s the TAXPAYER who PAYS in the US! In countries, like Russia, where the government owns the oil and gas industry, and other profitable assets, the government might pay, though ultimately it impacts the citizens and their environment. But, in the US it’s the taxpayer and ratepayer who will pay.
Read more here: https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2014/02/20/us-taxpayer-nuclear-fleece-8-3-billion-for-new-nuclear-billions-needed-for-bridge-repair-11-us-bridges-structurally-deficient-more-bridges-functionally-obsolete/
“Westinghouse Bankruptcy Underscores Meltdown of the Global Nuclear Industry: The board of Westinghouse’s parent company, Toshiba, today approved the filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy for its drowning U.S. company – a defining moment in the decades-long downward spiral of the global nuclear power industry.” http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/press/releases/2017/Westinghouse-bankruptcy-underscores-meltdown-of-the-global-nuclear-industry—Greenpeace/
Three years and one month ago:
“UPDATE 1-U.S. to finalize loan guarantee for Southern Co nuclear plant
Posted:Wed, 19 Feb 2014 21:05:37 GMT
WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) – The Obama administration will finalize about $6.5 billion in loan guarantees this week for the nation’s first two new nuclear reactors in three decades, ending years of delay.” http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/USenergyNews/~3/g9tAntrq4ks/story01.htm
On Wednesday:
“After crippling cost overruns, Toshiba’s Westinghouse files for bankruptcy Posted:Wed, 29 Mar 2017 07:36:55 -0400
TOKYO (Reuters) – Toshiba Corp’s U.S. nuclear unit Westinghouse filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors on Wednesday, just three months after huge cost overruns were flagged, as the Japanese parent seeks to limit losses that threaten its future.
http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/businessNews/~3/MkthVmqZBI4/us-toshiba-accounting-board-idUSKBN17006K
TOSHIBA-WESTINGHOUSE BANKRUPTCY AND POSSIBLE SALE NEEDS TO BE WATCHED. Up to $8.3 billion US taxpayer money may be lost if they declare bankruptcy. If they sell it, who would buy it? It is bad economics so most likely any purchase will be geostrategic. It could be Russia’s Rosatom, controlled by the Executive (i.e. Putin), or possibly the UAE or perhaps Kazahkstan (Kazatomprom). Maybe a China State owned company or KEPCO. These last have their own reactor designs. Rosatom offered to help bail out French State owned Areva.
“March 27, 2016
To: Public Service Commission of South Carolina
From: Tom Clements, Concerned Citizen and Resident in SCE&G Service Area
Re: Request for Emergency Hearing Regarding Troubling Situation with SCE&G’s Nuclear Construction Project and Westinghouse Bankruptcy Impacts” Read there rest here: https://dms.psc.sc.gov/Attachments/Matter/0a2061e7-ba7a-46cd-a8bb-2a54fdf6845c
If Trump pulls off the expected con for his donor-fundraiser, Doug Kimmelman, it will cost even more – though maybe not in our lifetimes. If Energy Solutions gets the monopoly then it will be impossible to get a company or nonprofit that handles nuclear waste appropriately, rather than just burying it or, in the case of spent nuclear fuel, leaving it in casks, uncovered, in big parking lots.
Energy Solutions Nuclear Waste burial ground in Utah:
NUCLEAR WASTE ANTI-TRUST CASE NEEDS WATCHING
Energy Solutions, owned by Trump large donor Doug Kimmelman, is trying to take-over competitor WCS in clear violation of anti-trust law:
“The United States of America, acting under the direction of the Attorney General of the United States, brings this civil antitrust action to enjoin EnergySolutions, Inc. (“ES”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Rockwell Holdco, Inc. (“Rockwell”), from acquiring Waste Control Specialists LLC (“WCS”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Andrews County Holdings, Inc.” https://www.justice.gov/atr/case-document/file/911051/download https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-block-energysolutions-acquisition-waste-control-specialists
“Donald Trump hopes to cure cash woes with $449,400-per-ticket fundraiser” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/11/donald-trump-campaign-donations-california-fundraiser-clinton
http://www.texasvox.org/wcs-im-late-im-late-important-date/
Reuters reported on 17 March that “Makan Delrahim, a veteran lobbyist on President Donald Trump’s transition team, is expected to be nominated to head the U.S. Justice Department’s Antitrust Division” http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/Reuters/PoliticsNews/~3/DTQwJPYH-bI/us-usa-trump-antitrust-exclusive-idUSKBN16O2O2
A longer excerpt of Tom Clements’ Request for Emergency Hearing:
“March 27, 2016
To: Public Service Commission of South Carolina
From: Tom Clements, Concerned Citizen and Resident in SCE&G Service Area
Re: Request for Emergency Hearing Regarding Troubling Situation with SCE&G’s Nuclear Construction Project and Westinghouse Bankruptcy Impacts;
Urgent Need for Action in the Public and SCE&G Interest by SC PSC, ORS
Submission for the Record: Memo and Attached Documents on Westinghouse Financial Meltdown and its Impacts to SCANA/SCE&G and the VC Summer Project to be Filed in Docket 2008-196-E (Combined Application of South Carolina Electric & Gas Company for a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Convenience and Necessity and for a Base Load Review Order for the Construction and Operation of a Nuclear Facility in Jenkinsville, South Carolina)
This memo and attached documents are being submitted for the record of Docket 2008-196-E.
I request that the memo and all attachments be scanned and entered into the on-line record of the docket.
I am filing this memo both as a ratepayer of SCE&G and formal intervening party in 2008, via the public interest organization Friends of the Earth, in the initial docket (2008-196-E) seeking Public Service Commission of South Carolina (PSC) approval for the VC Summer nuclear construction project of South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G).
Concerns raised in 2008 during proceeding before the PSC about potential cost overruns, schedule delays, rate impacts and challenges with the touted “modular construction” have only grown over time and been repeatedly expressed in subsequent proceedings. Unfortunately, those concerns are now at an all-time high.
The concern about the SCE&G/Santee Cooper nuclear project is compounded by the fact that the project, being paid for by captive rate payers, is shrouded in unnecessary silence and secrecy regarding recent and on-going developments. The Office of Regulatory Staff (ORS) has unfortunately done nothing public in the last period of time to warn ratepayers as to the troubling financial situation that has developed and that now looms over both the project and those commercial and regulatory entities associated with it.
Since approving the project in February 2009, the Public Service Commission has been a supportive party to the project every step of the way. The PSC has already affirmed 9 (nine) annual Baseload Review Act (BLRA) rate hikes — resulting in about 18% of the current SCE&G bill ….” Read there rest here: https://dms.psc.sc.gov/Attachments/Matter/0a2061e7-ba7a-46cd-a8bb-2a54fdf6845c
Mining Awareness + 
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