As the Build Back Better Act moves closer to being passed by Congress, please ensure that the bill is truly the game-changer we need to transition the country to renewable energy and off of fossil fuels by 2035. I am concerned that the Build Back Better Act includes tens of billions of dollars ($35.3 billion over 6 years according to the latest analysis) in infrastructure spending on subsidies for aging, uneconomical nuclear power plants in the form of the Nuclear PTC. This would be a costly, counterproductive, job-killing mistake. Please remove all such measures in the Build Back Better Act.
Please do not allow Sen. Manchin to block our best chance at climate justice and an equitable economy at the same time he is co-sponsoring this Nuclear PTC and is fighting to keep this bailout for corrupt nuclear corporations in the bill. Sen. Manchin has fought to undermine and pare down the BBBA, weakening the provisions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and expand renewable energy. All the while, he has pushed to expand funding for nuclear power and other dirty energy sources while raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions from the very corporations that have the most to lose from phasing out dirty energy. One of those companies is Exelon, the top beneficiary of the Nuclear PTC, which is poised to receive $13.5 billion from the program.
Sen. Manchin can’t be allowed to cut climate and economic justice and then push through tens of billions of dollars to subsidize dirty, old, and increasingly dangerous nuclear power plants. Preserving the bailout for nuclear reactors would steal funding from the social and infrastructure programs the nation needs. Forgoing family-sustaining jobs and investments in racial justice to bail out corrupt corporations would be a tragic waste of resources and political will.
Please do not allow these short-sighted corporate interests to profit from their efforts to strip out so many vital elements of the Build Back Better agenda.
Please ensure that infrastructure and energy legislation include no subsidies for nuclear power, and focus all energy investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and the transition to a 100% renewable, carbon-free, nuclear-free energy system.
