Press Mention Common Dreams June 29, 2012
SACE Quoted
US Agency Gave Nuclear Industry 'Sweet Deal': Documents
In this mention
According to documents obtained by the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy through a two-year FOIA battle, the US Department of Energy provided Southern Company with a discounted loan guarantee for two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle in Georgia. SACE's Sara Barczak criticized the lack of taxpayer involvement in the negotiations, stating that taxpayers would never have learned of the sweetheart deal.
There's a look (among the documents) that shows the utilities were involved in the negotiations. This is taxpayer dollars, (but) taxpayers were not privy to these negotiations
Sara Barczak
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Published on Saturday, June 30, 2012 by Common Dreams
US Agency Gave Nuclear Industry 'Sweet Deal': Documents
- Common Dreams staff
According to documents revealed by the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), the US Department of Energy (DOE) handed a secret 'sweetheart deal' to Southern Company, a large utility company. The deal includes loan guarantees for two new nuclear reactors proposed for Plant Vogtle in Georgia.
SACE won a two-year legal battle to secure documents from the DOE under the Freedom of Information Act. The documents show the DOE is willing to charge Southern Company a credit subsidy fee at a major discount compared to average rates, at the expense of Georgia taxpayers, according to Inter Press Service.
"There's a look (among the documents) that shows the utilities were involved in the negotiations. This is taxpayer dollars, (but) taxpayers were not privy to these negotiations," stated Sara Barczak, program director for SACE's High Risk Energy Choices program. "Taxpayers would never have learned of this sweetheart deal and how Southern Company seems to have had a hand in the agreement," she said.
"I'm not going to comment specifically on the rate," Steve Higgenbottom, a spokesman for Southern Company, told IPS.
The utility company has not yet officially accepted the loan guarantees.
If the reactors come online in the coming years, they will be the first new reactors in the US in decades.