We must act now to stop nuclear power and ensure 100% clean, safe, renewable energy. Last week, a group of senators filed a nuclear bailout amendment to the Clean Energy for America Act, which is currently a good renewable energy bill. Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD), Bob Casey (D-PA), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) submitted the changes one day before the scheduled markup by the Senate Finance Committee.

The amendment would create a refundable tax credit (PTC) for unprofitable reactors. Based on the number of eligible reactors that could be eligible, the estimated cost to taxpayers in lost revenue could be $50-100 billion through 2031. This would give as much money to aging, dangerous nukes as Sen. Wyden’s bill would provide for the new development of clean renewables. We simply can’t solve the climate crisis if we waste half of our money padding the bottom lines of the nuclear industry.

Exelon, the largest owner of merchant reactors in the country, reported lobbying just last quarter on both the Clean Energy for America Act and on “existing nuclear tax incentives.” In the 2020 cycle alone, Senator Cardin received $39,500 from Exelon, while Senator Casey received $138,231.

ACT NOW: Tell the White House and Congress – no nuclear power in of the American Jobs Plan.

We can’t let nuclear power block renewable energy—our only real solution to the climate crisis. We can’t keep making radioactive waste and risking nuclear disasters that are endangering human health, especially in Indigenous, Black, and Latino communities. 

The Senate energy bill could become the blueprint for renewable energy in President Biden’s American Jobs Plan. It is an historic opportunity to build a thriving, just, and equitable clean energy economy—and to finally put the U.S. on the path to fight climate change with the ambition and scale that we need. As the President originally proposed it, the American Jobs Plan would transform our energy system to 100% clean energy by 2035 and create millions of jobs to do it. 

But the nuclear industry sees the writing on the wall—100% clean energy means no more nuclear power. They are furiously lobbying the White House and Congress to prevent that. If they succeed, the American Jobs Plan will fail. We can’t allow that to happen—and that means we have to stop the nuclear bailout in the Senate.

We can’t let nuclear power block renewable energy—our only real solution to the climate crisis. We can’t keep making radioactive waste and risking nuclear disasters that are endangering human health, especially in Indigenous, Black, and Latino communities.