February 4, 2010
Dear Friends,
First of all: Congratulations! Just since last Thursday, you have bombarded President Obama and Energy Secretary Chu with well over 4,000 letters opposing a tripling of the loan guarantee program for new reactor construction, which would put $54 Billion of your dollars at risk from large, greedy nuclear corporations.
And that’s on top of more than 3,200 letters you sent to the Senate against the Clean Energy Development Administration–a greenwashed name for an entity that could hand out unlimited taxpayer loan guarantees for new reactors and coal plants.
Great Job! BUT…..
We need to build on this momentum! We have a real fight on our hands, and if we’re going to stop this nonsense, we’re going to have to do more. We know we have the facts and arguments on our side: what we need is more outreach and more mobilization. We’re ramping up our outreach efforts. Will you help?
Here are a few things you can do to help:
Support Michael Mariotte’s 25th anniversary outreach extravaganza! That’s right, Friday will mark my 25th anniversary at NIRS. 25 years of working for you, supporting your tireless efforts to achieve a safe, clean, nuclear-free, carbon-free energy future. We’re not spending money on a big party or anything (in fact, so much snow is apparently headed our way tomorrow we may not even be able to get out of the office). Instead we’re asking you to make a special contribution of $2.50, $25.00, $250, or even $2500 (or, to be honest, any amount you’d like) that we’ll use for more outreach and more mobilization. After all, we know there are millions of Americans who agree with us that nuclear power is dirty, dangerous and extraordinarily expensive. We just need to be able to reach them. We hope you’ll support this effort here.
Please fill out a brief questionnaire about our Alerts here. We want to know how useful they are to you and what we can do to make them better. As an added incentive, we’ll give free copies of our full-color booklet Nuclear Power: The Critical Question to 10 respondents selected at random.
We have two sites on Facebook. If you use Facebook, join the NIRS cause here. And you can become a fan of NIRS here. And then ask your Facebook friends to join up as well. They’ll get our Alerts, be able to join in conversations and more.
If you use Twitter, follow us here. We send out links to articles and reports you probably won’t see anywhere else, and provide updates on issues we can’t provide any other way.
Think about who you know who should receive our next Alert, which will come next week, and will urge U.S. House members to oppose a tripling of the loan guarantee program. This is not a done deal–it needs Congressional approval and with your help, we can stop it! Think of your parents, or your children, the neighbor down the street, friends in the next dorm, people in a peace and justice group, or food co-op members, or the PTA, or anyone just generally interested in issues. Get their e-mail addresses together and make sure to forward our next Alert to everyone you can think of.
Like to write about nuclear issues? Then publish your work on blogs like Huffington Post, DailyKos, Firedoglake, etc. You don’t need to be representing an organization, or even be a member of an organization, you just need to write well and submit your views. Include links to important websites and our Alerts. Spreading the word is essential. If you need help doing that, just contact us.
I’ve been reading recently about how effectively the Republicans used Facebook, e-mail lists and the like to win the recent Massachusetts election, and to build the Tea party movement. President Obama did the same last election. They’ve been achieving both astonishing growth in outreach, and raising millions of dollars with those tactics, and while we’re not trying to win an election, we need to be just as good at these kinds of tactics. But we can’t do it without your active participation–the grassroots are the key to this kind of success.
Speaking of millions of dollars, the nuclear industry is now outspending us more than 100 to 1. Check this recent investigative article published by McClatchy News Service. In the first nine months of 2009 alone, the nuclear industry spent $84 million on lobbying and campaign contributions! During the decade 1999-2008, they spent $650 million!
They know how high the stakes are. We’ll never be able to raise that kind of money, but with your help, we don’t need to. But it’s never been more critical to ensure that we do have the funds needed to make your voices heard above the nuclear industry’s din. And it’s never been more critical for all of us to expand our outreach and mobilization efforts.
So please take the easy steps above. Please watch for next week’s Alert and get ready to help us spread it everywhere. Please donate to my 25th anniversary outreach extravaganza.
On a personal note, it’s been an honor serving the grassroots movement for a safe, clean, sustainable energy future, and many, many of you individually, for the past 25 years. Your efforts truly make a difference. Sometimes it seems like the odds are just stacked against us, that the nuclear industry can spread its lies with impunity and buy whatever laws and regulations it wants. But remember, it’s been nearly 35 years since a reactor was ordered in the U.S. and was actually put into operation. As many reactors were cancelled after being ordered as ever were put into service. Just last year, we beat back two efforts to increase taxpayer loan guarantees by $50 Billion. That’s a pretty good record, and one we’re going to continue to build upon in the coming months and years.
As always, thanks for all you do. Neither NIRS, nor I, could do any of this without you.
No Nukes!
Michael Mariotte
Executive Director
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
Tags: 25th anniversary, loan guarantee program, outreach efforts <BR/>