After receiving a 30 day extension, Georgia Power, a Southern Company subsidiary, accepted an $8.3 billion taxpayer-backed loan guarantee from the Department of Energy (DOE) on June 18th. The conditional loan guarantee was awarded to Southern Co. and its partners for the construction of two new reactors at their Vogtle plant.
With the project marred by technical and legal problems and its license still pending from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the American taxpayer is effectively signing away billions of dollars to a failed project. In case of a delay or the company defaulting, taxpayer money would continue to prop up Southern Co. and its partners, placing the financial liability on taxpayers and protecting Southern Co.'s bottom line. It is fiscally irresponsible to guarantee taxpayer money for a project that does not guarantee taxpayers will gain anything.
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