November 24, 2009

Environmental groups and local activists are releasing a report on how nuclear power will hurt the country's ability to fight global warming.

To the groups calling for action, global warming is an issue of time and money. They say, nuclear power will fail taxpayers on both accounts. They want the Senate to focus on facilitating energy efficiency.

Environment Virginia released their report Tuesday, saying a recent bill from Virginia Senator Jim Webb (D) prompted the group to take action.

They say Webb's bill increases the investment in nuclear power by billions of dollars, and investing taxpayers dollars in this form of energy is a "waste."

"We could spend $600 billion on nuclear energy and fail to solve global warming, or we could wisely invest the taxpayers' money and spend $600 billion in renewable energy and energy efficiency," says J.R. Tolbert with Environment Virginia.

The group points out that energy efficiency programs are cutting electricity consumption by one or two percent a year.

Environment Virginia says they're calling on Senator Webb and Senator Warner to support energy efficiency above all else and before nuclear power.