SUNUNU ISSUES REMARKS ON WYDEN-SUNUNU AMENDMENT
TO ENERGY BILL
WASHINGTON, DC – United States Senator John Sununu (R-NH)
issued the following statement on the floor of the United States
Senate on June 5, 2003, regarding a proposed amendment to the Energy
Bill he authored with Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR):
“Mr. President, I wish to take a few moments in this debate
on the Energy Bill to talk about an amendment that my colleague
from Oregon, Senator Wyden and I will offer next week. He is the
lead sponsor on the amendment. I certainly hope we can win strong
bipartisan support for what will be an effort to make this Energy
Bill better, to improve it, and improve it in a way that does justice
for the taxpayers by eliminating what I think is an inappropriate
and unnecessary subsidy for the energy industry in general, and
for the nuclear power industry in particular.
“Our amendment will strike one small section of the bill.
It is a section that provides federally backed loan guarantees for
new nuclear powerplant construction.
“I strongly believe we should have a diversified energy supply
in this country. We should have competitive energy markets, and
nuclear power is a very important part of that mix. Nuclear power
has proven itself time and again. It has been cost effective and
environmentally sound. We have worked through tough, but important,
legislation to deal with the nuclear waste issue in the last session
of Congress. In my own State of New Hampshire, we have a powerplant
at Seabrook that has had an outstanding record, an excellent record
for both efficiency and safety, and it continues to generate a very
substantial portion of the electricity used not just in New Hampshire
but throughout New England.
“At the same time, nuclear power, like coal-fired electricity
or gas-fired power, wind, solar, or hydroelectric power ought to
be competing in the marketplace on a level playing field. However,
there is a provision in this Energy Bill that provides Federal loan
guarantees to pay for up to half the cost of as many as six new
nuclear powerplants. That is a pretty significant financial commitment,
and a level of support will have to be made by the taxpayers of
the United States.
“If we look at the estimated cost of six plants – perhaps
$3 billion per plant, maybe a little bit less, maybe a little bit
more – and take a look at half the cost of the plant in the
Federal guarantee, we could conceivably be looking at a long-term
cost of $10 billion or $15 billion. That is a cost that American
taxpayers should not be asked to bear. That is one of the reasons
Senator Wyden and I are offering our amendment.
“A second concern is the simple precedent this would set:
providing Federal loan guarantees for any private powerplant construction.
Again, my concern is not directed at the fact that the loan guarantees
are for nuclear powerplants, or for large powerplants. It is about
private plant production. If it were gas-fired plants, coal-fired
plants, or new hydroelectric plants for which we were giving Federal
guarantees, I would have the same concerns. We are setting a bad
precedent in public policy when we offer this kind of tax subsidy.
“We have to ask time and again, are we being fair to the taxpayers?
Are we being fair to the marketplace? I do not believe we are. I
think this kind of a program, this kind of a tax subsidy would distort
our energy markets and would distort the performance of our capital
markets where private companies go out to borrow week after week,
month after month, and year after year.
“We need an energy policy in this country that promotes a
strong diverse supply of energy and promotes competition. Sometimes
that means making sure the Federal Government treads very lightly
in the marketplace. This provision in the bill does not do that
by any stretch.
“The amendment we will offer is a commonsense amendment, and
in the long run, our energy markets and even our nuclear power industry
will be better served by striking this unnecessary subsidy. If we
are going to have a healthy and strong nuclear power industry, what
that really means is we have to have commonsense regulations. We
need to work hard to streamline and to extend some of the relicensing
capabilities so those plants that have performed well can continue
to operate for an extended period of time. And, of course, we need
to deal with the issue of nuclear waste, which we have begun to
do through our efforts last year, and which I support.
“The amendment that will be offered by Senator Wyden and me
is an amendment that has support from the National Taxpayers Union,
from Citizens Against Government Waste, and a number of groups that
have quite a reputation for looking out for taxpayer interest.
“It also has support from a number of environmental groups,
including the League of Conservation Voters and USPIRG, groups that
have tried to look out for environmental interests that raise concerns
for them as well.
“It is a broad coalition of groups coming at this from different
perspectives, but all recognize this section of the bill is not
good public policy, this is not the right kind of approach if we
want to have competitive energy markets, and it certainly is not
the right kind of approach for taxpayers.
“I thank Senator Wyden for working with me on this amendment.
We are working on an agreement that will allow us to bring this
amendment forward on Tuesday with at least 2 hours of debate and
an up-or-down vote on the amendment.
“I thank Chairman Domenici for working with us on that agreement
and allowing us to get this important amendment to the floor, give
us a vote, and see if we can save the taxpayers a lot of money and
help improve this bill.”
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