2013 ACTION REPORT
Dec. 2012 Through Oct. 2013
WHAT YOUR ACTIONS HELPED TO ACHIEVE
- In June 2013, President Obama announced a bold Climate Action Plan that will, if implemented, deeply cut carbon pollution, develop clean energy sources, promote energy efficiency, and assert American leadership on climate issues.
- The President kept his commitment on tough standards for new power plants. Under his direction, the EPA proposed the first ever carbon limits for new power plants. This proposal is now in its public comment period with an EPA decision to follow.
- The President also kept his commitment to direct the EPA to propose the first-ever carbon limits for existing power plants. Their proposal is expected in June 2014. Existing plants produce 40% of our nation’s CO2 emissions—the largest single source.
- In his Climate Action Plan the President also announced an expansion of the Better Buildings Challenge—an incentive for corporations, local governments, and schools to participate in a ‘race to the top’ for super energy efficient buildings.
- As a result of Sequestration, deep cuts were made to our nation’s military budget.Sadly, however, deep cuts were also made to social programs.
- President Obama has clearly chosen the path of diplomacy—not bombs—in dealing with Iran. The U.S. and Iranian governments are now participating in their first negotiations in 35 years. Any agreements reached will still need the approval of Congress.
- In June 2013, the President released his Administration’s Implementation Plan for the Nuclear Posture Review. In it, he states that he will seek an additional 1/3 cut to both U.S. and Russian deployed nuclear weapons. This would leave both countries with roughly 1,000 deployed weapons. Also in the Plan, the Administration announced it would study ways to reduce the high-alert status of our nuclear arsenal, but they did not take any weapons off their current high-alert status. The Plan did not include any commitment to a no-first use policy for nuclear weapons.
- Both the House and the Senate Appropriations Committees, as we had requested, passed bills that restored some funding for nuclear non-proliferation programs that the President’s budget had cut. In particular, we asked Congress to restore funds for the Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) that we considered especially important to advance nuclear non-proliferation. The Senate Appropriations Committee restored most of the money cut from GTRI, but the House made even deeper cuts to its funding. Since Congress did not pass a budget for FY 2014 and the U.S. Government is still operating under a Continuing Resolution based on the FY2012 budget, this funding issue remains undecided.
- The FY2014 budget bills that passed both the Senate Appropriations and Authorization Committees, included, as we had asked, funds for START mandated reductions in deployed nuclear weapons. However, since no FY2014 budget was adopted by Congress, this funding never materialized. The Senate is currently working on another Continuing Resolution that is expected to include these funds and to pass.
- Congress extended clean energy tax credits for one year, but they did not extend them long-term so another extension is now needed.
THINGS WE'RE STILL WAITING FOR
- The State Department’s Report and the President’s decision on the Keystone XL pipeline
- A decision from the Administration on whether a high-level US representative will attend the Conference on the Humanitarian Effects of Nuclear War to be held in Mexico in February 2014
WHAT DID NOT WORK OUT
- President Obama did not attend the High-Level Conference on Nuclear Weapons that was held at the United Nations on September 26, 2013. He did send a representative from the State Department.
- In 2013, the administration sought to increase funding for new nuclear weapons programs. To make matters worse, Republican opponents are criticizing the administration because, due to budget cuts and sequestration, the increased funding for new nuclear weapons is not as much as the administration initially requested.
- A large number of House members actively opposed a proposal to put radiation filters on all nuclear power containment vessels. As a result, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) decided to delay a decision about this for a year or more. In addition, the NRC made no decision that would require spent fuel rods to be moved to dry-cask storage after they have been in water pool storage for five years. The NRC is still arguing that dry casks are no safer than storage in spent fuel pools.
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