Search
Watchdog Group Charges Buffett with Swindling Iowans over New Nuclear Reactor
OMAHA, NEB.—As shareholders began arriving for Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting, Friends of the Earth placed an advertisement in the Omaha World-Herald challenging Warren Buffett to halt an attempt by one of his companies to force Iowa ratepayers to invest in a new nuclear reactor. Read More
Environmental Watchdog Criticizes Iowa Legislature for Passing Sweetheart Nuclear Deal
DES MOINES, IOWA?Today the Iowa House voted to approve controversial legislation that would pave the way for MidAmerican to raise consumers' electricity rates to pay for the construction of a new nuclear reactor regardless of whether or not the reactor is ever built. Read More
New Poll Shows Iowans Oppose Paying for New Nuclear Reactor
DES MOINES, IOWA—A new statewide poll released today shows that 75 percent of Iowans oppose pending legislation that would permit the electricity rates of MidAmerican Energy customers to be increased now to pay for future construction of a nuclear reactor. Read More
Environmental Group Criticizes Continued Failure of TEPCO to Control Radioactive Releases
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) revealed today that it allowed the release of some 520 tons of highly radioactive waste water into the open ocean in early April. Read More
As Iowa Legislature Considers Radioactive Rate Hike, Public and Investors Turn Against New Reactors in other States
While MidAmerican Energy continues to push the Iowa legislature to pass legislation that would allow the company to increase electricity costs to pay for the construction of a new reactor—before the reactor is built and whether or not the reactor is eventually built—three related developments across the country have further undermined the viability of building new nuclear reactors in the U.S. Read More
State Department Releases Supplemental Environmental Analysis on Keystone XL Tar Sands Oil Pipeline
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. State Department today released a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry highly polluting tar sands oil from Canada across six U.S. states to refineries in Texas. Read More
US Ex-Im Bank Finances Largest Carbon Emitting Project in its History
Washington D.C. -- Today the Board of Directors of the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) voted to approve $805 million dollars in subsidized financing for one of the world’s largest coal fired power plants, the 4,800 Megawatt Kusile project, in South Africa. South African and international civil society organizations and U.S. medical experts strongly oppose Ex-Im Bank financing of Kusile as a heavily polluting project that will harm the health and well-being of South Africans. The project reflects an increasing trend at the agency to focus U.S. exports on fossil fuels at the expense of renewable energy alternatives. Read More
TV Ad Challenges Iowa’s Radioactive Rate Hike Bill
Des Moines, Iowa—The watchdog group Friends of the Earth today released a TV ad opposing legislation that would allow MidAmerican Energy to raise electric rates in order to pay for new nuclear reactors—and allow MidAmerican to keep the money regardless of whether the new reactors are actually constructed. Read More
Report details World Bank’s fossil fuel binge
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The World Bank continues its fossil fuel financing binge, evading environmental standards and worsening poverty and pollution -- that’s the conclusion of a new report released today, just before the start of the World Bank’s spring meetings in Washington, D.C. Read More
New Reactor Model Faces Legal Challenge
DURHAM, NC – The Fukushima nuclear disaster has amplified a host of concerns about the reactor model chosen to lead a so-called U.S. nuclear renaissance, and industry pressure rushed the long-delayed, preliminary approval announced in February by federal regulators. That’s according to an alliance of public interest groups, which today began a legal challenge against the Westinghouse AP1000 by calling for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to suspend its fast-track approval process until design problems are resolved and the lessons from Japan are fully and openly analyzed. Read More