New nuclear power ‘wave’ — or just a ripple?

Billions pour into ‘renaissance’
Nuclear industry perks in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 were spotlighted when President Bush  signed the bill at Sandia National Lab in Domenci's home state of New Mexico. With his signature, billions in federal assistance flowed from Bush’s pen into the nuclear “renaissance,” including:

• $3 billion in research subsidies.
• More than $3 billion in construction subsidies for new nuclear power plants.
• Nearly $6 billion in operating tax credits.
• More than $1 billion in subsidies to decommission old plants.
• A 20-year extension of liability caps for accidents at nuclear plants.
• Federal loan guarantees for the construction of new power plants.

Critics say the energy bill amply rewarded the industry for years of investment in campaign contributions and lobbying.

“There no question that the utility industry lobbying and campaign contributions has had a huge influence,” said Tyson Slocum of the anti-nuclear group Public Citizen. “... These are business people and business people do not part with money easily unless they are making investments. Politics is not a charity, it’s not tax deductible. The return on that investment dwarfs anything that they could get on Wall Street.”

But NEI's Kerekes said the legislation reflects the energy realities of the new century.

“That would be a wonderful myth to peddle,” he said, arguing that nuclear power found new favor on Wall Street and in Congress on its own merits. “Unless they’re going to accuse us of stoking concerns about global climate change over the past 15 or 20 years, I think that argument becomes pretty hollow pretty quickly.”

Patrick Moore, a co-founder of the vehemently anti-nuclear group Greenpeace and one of a number of well-known environmentalists who now back nuclear power, agrees that nuclear energy earned a second look.

Greenpeace founder embraces nuclear energy
“I honestly believe that the concern for emissions is why people are saying, ‘Hey we should be building more nuclear,’” said Moore, whose Vancouver, B.C.-based, consulting firm is now retained by the nuclear industry to improve its image.

While the effect of the industry's campaign contributions and lobbying efforts in the years before the energy bill's passage are debatable, the amount of money invested is remarkable by any measure.

Numerous reports from watchdog groups provide some details, but the fragmented nature of campaign finance disclosure and lobbying reports makes it difficult to determine cumulative figures. Many contributors, such as General Electric (owner of NBC Universal, which in turn is a partner with Microsoft in MSNBC.com), have numerous business concerns beyond nuclear energy. Others, like the U.S. Enrichment Corporation and NEI, are exclusively focused on nuclear energy.

But even a partial accounting is eye opening. MSNBC.com culled these statistics from campaign finance data provided by the Center for Responsive Politics via federal reports:

• Companies in the energy and natural resources sectors, which includes nuclear power, and their employees, have donated $212.2 million to the campaigns of federal candidates since 2000 alone, three-fourths of it to Republicans.
• Employees and political action committees of 23 large companies involved in efforts to build new U.S. nuclear reactors gave nearly $41 million to federal candidates from 1998 through this year. The donations accelerated as nuclear power regained favor, totaling  $3.5 million in the 1998 election cycle, $4.6 million for 2000, $9.5 million for 2002, $11.3 million for 2004 and more than $12 million in 2006.
• Lobbying expenses reported by the same 23 firms from 1998 through 2005 exceeded $292.5 million.
• Four members of Congress singled out by Bush at the signing ceremony as instrumental in the energy bill's passage have been major recipients of nuclear industry largesse. Since 1989, Domenici has received $384,923 from electric utilities with big stakes in nuclear power, and his list of donors includes at least three dozen firms on the membership roster of the NEI. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., who succeeded Domenici as chairman of the Senate Energy Committee in January, got $406,576 from electric utilities in the same period and five of his top seven donors are tied to the nuclear industry. Former House Energy Committee Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, received $1 million from electric utilities and his Lone Star colleague on the panel, Republican Ralph Hall, got $536,670.

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