Climate Project U.S. law provides for 12 nuclear plants
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A draft bill on U.S. weather, expected to be unveiled on Monday, provides incentives to build 12 nuclear plants but delayed emissions restrictions on plants that emit large amounts of greenhouse emissions.
The project promoted by Sen. John Kerry includes loan guarantees, protections against regulatory delays and incentives to facilitate the financing necessary for nuclear stations, which would cost between 5,000 and 10,000 billion dollars said one industry source said Friday.
“I think it is a start, and together with the price of carbon” could help the industry to develop a new capacity added source, who received the information during a conversation he had Kerry with industry representatives.
Nuclear plants emit virtually no carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. But the Government has approved the construction of new plants in three decades, partly due to its high cost.
The project is also slightly more lenient with the big polluters, a decision that Environmentalists said they help get the support they need from the senators.
initiative includes a limitation on power plant emissions beginning in 2013, a year later than suggested earlier legislation.
In addition, the value of permits in that market will be restricted to an initial maximum of $ 25 per ton, to assist in reducing costs of pollution. Previously, senators had signed up to a maximum price of $ 30.
Eileen Claussen, President Pew Center on Global Climate Change, said the sketch contains items considered necessary to get votes.
Asked if the law is too weak from an environmental point of view in order to be a kind of bait to gain the support of Republicans, Claussen said, “No, people whose main concern is climate change should temper their ambitions. “
” The reality is that we must get 60 votes (in the Senate) to pass something, “he said.
bdcThe project will be supported by the Edison Electric Institute, an industry group, and three oil companies: BP, Shell and ConocoPhillips.
There was no one immediately available enterprises or in the institute to refer to the project.
(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan, Editing by Damian Wroclavsky Spanish)