July 2010: End Energy Company Give-Aways

Last year it was the taxpayer-financed bank bailout. Now we’re on to the BP Gulf Oil Disaster bailout. While BP must pay for the cleanup itself, according to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, BP is liable for only the first $75 million in civil monetary damages, e.g. loss of income from fishing and tourism. BP may ‘choose’ to pay more, but they are not legally required to.

A similar situation exists for nuclear energy. In case of an accident, the Price-Anderson Act limits the liability of an individual company to $112 million, and of the industry as a whole to $11.6 billion, the rest again being left to victims and taxpayers. How big can the rest be? Well, the Chernobyl damages are estimated at $358 billion!

New legislation is needed to make the energy corporations liable for the entire cost of any civil damages that they cause. This will make the oil and nuclear companies more careful because their own money will be at stake, instead of cutting corners and bypassing regulations as we saw repeatedly in the Gulf disaster. It puts the incentive for responsible decision making in the right place. Ending this public subsidy of the oil and nuclear industries will also make wind, solar and other renewables more competitive.

This Month's Action: Contact President Obama

Urge him to take strong action on energy, as he did to push the health care bill over the line. Ask him to see that the civil liability limits of the oil and nuclear industries are abolished, so the companies themselves, not the taxpayers, pay for their disasters. Point out that this would be basic fairness, that it will increase safety, and that the resulting level playing field will give a huge boost to clean renewable energy.

Contact Information:

Telephone: 202 456-1111 (9:00 am-5:00 pm EDT)
Online: www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Write: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20500

Comments

[Pru]

i urge you to take strong action to make oil industries pay for their disasters not the taxpayers. abolish the civil liability limits. this will increase safety and make them more accountable.

[air yeezys]

Hard to not look forward to, hard work has something to look forward..