Today the Sierra Club sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture 
expressing concern about the USDA's approvals for electric cooperatives to 
pursue private financing for coal plants without any environmental analysis.  
Billions of dollars of outstanding loans - taxpayers money - and our energy 
bills are in the balance.  This could affect the financing arrangements for at 
least ten coal plants around the country.  I've attached the letter that was 
sent to the USDA today and the press release, including Rep. Henry Waxman, is 
below.  

Our first lawsuit on this matter, on the Holcomb plant in Kansas, will go to 
trial next summer.   

Mark

Poor Government Financial Decisions Could Raise Energy Bills

Press Room: For Immediate Release   
Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet
    
August 26, 2008

Contact:
Virginia Cramer, 804-225-9113 ext.102

Consumers Could See Significant Rate Increases
Federal Government Jeopardizes Billions in Loan Repayment by
Authorizing Risky Energy Projects

Washington, DC: The Sierra Club today voiced its concern that consumers could be 
faced with higher electric bills if the federal government continues to approve 
unsound investments in new coal-fired power plants across the nation. Already 
burdened with $36 billion in unpaid loans, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is 
now allowing rural utilities to take on billions of dollars in additional debt 
to build new coal-fired power plants, at enormous financial risk to taxpayers.

"In the past weeks families across the country have already seen their energy 
rates increase dramatically, in some cases almost double," said Bruce Nilles, 
director of the Sierra Club's National Coal Campaign. "Approving these plants 
will push rates even higher as both the cost of energy and the additional debt 
are pushed off on ratepayers."

The federal government, through the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities 
Service, is approving rural utilities' ownership in at least ten new coal-fired 
power plants across the country. In every instance, the government has failed to 
fully vet the plants' potential impacts before authorizing their construction, 
ignoring key concerns like the financial risk associated with the coal plants' 
contribution to global warming, adverse impacts on the environment and the 
availability of cleaner, cheaper alternatives. The government's failure to fully 
evaluate the environmental risks of and alternatives to these new coal-fired 
power plants violates the National Environmental Policy Act.

"The Rural Utilities Service is rubber stamping new coal-fired power plants," 
continued Nilles. "And in the process is unfairly saddling the American public 
with huge amounts of debt. We need to be making smarter decisions with our 
money, especially in today's economic climate."

Environmental impacts play an integral role in a utility's ability to repay its 
loans, a fact recognized by the nation's largest banks, which already consider 
the cost of carbon dioxide pollution before granting loans. Other parts of the 
federal government, including the House Oversight and Government Reform 
Committee have also recognized the financial risks associated with failing to 
account for the cost of global warming pollution from new coal plants. The 
Committee has warned the Rural Utilities Service that future carbon regulations 
will make coal increasingly costly and that failing to consider those costs will 
place taxpayer dollars and ratepayers at risk.

"It is irresponsible to approve investments in new coal-fired power plants 
without considering the environmental and financial risks.  The Rural Utilities 
Service is placing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in serious 
jeopardy," said Rep. Henry A. Waxman, Chairman of the House Oversight and 
Government Reform Committee.

In the past rural utility cooperatives have gone bankrupt rather than pass on 
cost increases to customers. If that were to happen in this situation, the 
American taxpayers will be left with billions of dollars in debt which is unable 
to be repaid.

"Coal is a fuel of the past. Instead of looking for ways to use more of it, like 
fueling our cars, we should be working to move beyond it to a cleaner energy 
future. There are real, affordable energy solutions, like efficiency and 
renewable energy that are ready today to meet our energy needs, without the 
financial, health and environmental risks associated with coal," said Nilles.

Mark Kresowik
Corporate Accountability Representative
Sierra Club's National Coal Campaign
mark.kresowik@sierraclub.org
319-621-7393 (cell)
608-257-4994, x112 (work)
608-257-3513 (fax)
122 W. Washington Ave. Suite 830
Madison, WI 53703

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