The Obama Administration has been knee-deep in scandal after green energy “model” Solyndra went bankrupt less than two years after receiving a $500 million loan guarantee from the federal government. Now, they are up against another controversy. Days before a recent deadline, the Department of Energy brazenly approved two additional loans for more than $1 billion for solar energy projects in the Obama Administration’s green jobs program. The latest ill-fated ventures include a $737 million loan guarantee to Solar Reserve for a 110-megawatt solar tower on federal land in Nevada …
The prospects for new nuclear energy in the U.S. were purportedly set back this weekend when Constellation Energy pulled out of the Calvert Cliffs 3 nuclear energy project in Maryland. They argued that the Department of Energy’s loan guarantee program was too expensive and complicated to be workable. No loan guarantee, no new nuclear project. And this was consistent with what many on the nuclear industry have been saying. To move forward, industry argued, they needed the federal government to back up the multi-billion-dollar investments. This credit subsidy would give …
For a country that is still heavily dependent on coal power, news of a more efficient (read: lower-carbon-emitting) coal plant should be greeted with roaring applause from the environmental community. Unfortunately, under the Obama Administration, the U.S. Export-Import bank can’t see past the black and white idea that coal and other fossil fuels are the enemies of the environment, and only renewables can save it. This mentality creates double standards, as when White House denied a $250 million Ex-Imp Bank loan to a coal power plant in India equipped with …
Every special interest in Washington is looking to hitch on to what was supposed to be an emergency spending bill to provide critical funds for military and emergency response activities. While some may be legitimate programs, most are not an emergency and therefore should not be part of any such bill. Take the renewable and nuclear energy loan guarantee programs for example. The administration is seeking $9 billion in additional loan guarantee authorization for nuclear projects and $1 billion for renewables. The bill would also appropriate $180 million to support …
The way Washington is operating, the fate of nuclear energy may be in trouble in the United States. When something’s unpopular with the American public, the government will find a way to make it move forward. This past weekend’s vote proves to be a pretty good example of that. A recently released Gallup poll shows support for nuclear at an all-time high of 62 percent: “A majority of Americans have typically favored using nuclear power to provide electricity for the United States since Gallup began asking about this topic in …
The Heritage Foundation’s stance against expanding subsidies for nuclear energy has once again been manipulated by the anti-nuclear crowd to infer that we are anti-nuclear. This time, Harvey Wasserman on The Huffington Post wrote that Heritage, along with some other groups, believe that nuclear energy is “too expensive to matter.” To be clear: We are not anti-nuclear. The Heritage Foundation has written in study after study over the past three years that we not only believe that nuclear energy can be a critical part of America’s energy future but that …
Facing the stark reality of double-digit unemployment and the failure of his first $862 billion economic stimulus, President Barack Obama unveiled his second stimulus plan last month including a mix of subsidies and government-subsidized loans targeted solely at small business. Obama’s Second stimulus will be funded in part by roughly $33 billion from the TARP, that will be then redirected to community banks through the Federal Small Business Administration (SBA). While the aim of promoting job growth through the “acceleration” of small business creation and expansion is laudable, businesses do …
President Obama reaffirmed his willingness to expand the commercial nuclear energy in the United States when he said in his State of the Union address that we should be “building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country.” He backed it up by including an additional $36 billion in loan guarantees to nuclear energy projects. On top of the $18.5 billion allotted under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT 2005), the total amount in loan guarantees now stands at $54.5 billion. Is this good or …
Apparently not: Electricite de France SA and Constellation Energy Group say they want Exelon to join their UniStar Nuclear Energy development venture. After being ranked in the lower tier for federal loan guarantees, Exelon said it is seeking a reactor design more proven than the GE Hitachi Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor it initially planned to use in Texas. UniStar plans to use Areva SA’s Evolutionary Power Reactors in Maryland and New York.” The Energy Policy Act of 2005 establishes loan guarantees for handful of reactors built in the United …
As discussed in Senior Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy James L. Gattuso’s recent blog post, the House this week approved a new $25 billion loan program for Detroit automakers, and the Senate is expected to soon follow suit. The loans are to develop alternatives to conventional fossil fuel powered vehicles as well as more fuel-efficient cars. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the loans would cost the federal government $7.5 billion – double what the initial estimates were. CBO’s blog explains the reason: Several recent press reports have incorrectly …
