New Report Raises Troubling Questions for Vogtle
ATLANTA, GA.///NEWS ADVISORY///Just months after the dust has settled from the Solyndra federal loan guarantee flap, a new analysis by Earth Track and Synapse Energy Economics of hundreds of federal documents will highlight major new concerns about the handling of the massive and controversial $8.33 billion federal loan guarantee conditionally committed for the construction of two nuclear reactors (Vogtle 3 and 4) in Georgia. The findings will be released during a live, phone-based news event Wednesday (January 30, 2013) at 1:30 p.m. EST. Conducted for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and Friends of the Earth, the new analysis is based on hundreds of Department of Energy (DOE) documents dated between June 2008 and July 2012 that became available as a result of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and subsequent litigation with DOE. The report covers problems with the loan guarantee process, questions about the financial terms for the federal loan guarantees, important risks in DOE’s credit subsidy analysis, and indications of political interference with financial decisions related to the conditional loan guarantees. News event speakers will be:
- Sara Barczak, program director, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy;
- Mindy Goldstein, director, Turner Environmental Law Clinic;
- Doug Koplow, report author and founder, Earth Track; and
- Max Chang, report author and associate, Synapse Energy Economics.
TO PARTICIPATE: You can join this live, phone-based news conference (with full, two-way Q&A) at 1:30 p.m. EST on January 30, 2013 by dialing 1 (888) 437-2685. Ask for the “Vogtle FOIA Report” telenews event. CAN’T PARTICIPATE?: A streaming audio replay of the news event will be available on the Web at http://www.cleanenergy.org as of 5 p.m. EST on January 30, 2013. # # # Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) promotes responsible energy choices that create global warming solutions and ensure clean, safe and healthy communities throughout the Southeast. Founded in 1985, SACE is the only regional organization primarily focused on developing clean energy solutions throughout the Southeast. For more information, see http://www.cleanenergy.org. Friends of the Earth strives for a more healthy and just world. Friends of the Earth understands that the challenges facing our planet call for more than half measures, so we push for the reforms that are needed, not merely the ones that are politically easy. Sometimes, this involves speaking uncomfortable truths to power and demanding more than people think is possible. It’s hard work. But the pressures facing our planet and its people are too important for us to compromise.