ALERT!
February 8, 2008

For more info, contact:
Michael Mariotte, NIRS 301-270-6477 12

Moving picket/rally, street theater and leafleting against Constellation Energy's proposed new reactor at Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant in Lusby, Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay.

Join us to help raise public awareness and create a photo opportunity for the media to cover this vital issue.

Dress in red or pink. Valentine's Day costumes a plus! Bring your own homemade sign or banner.

Please RSVP that you can come at: http://marylandpirg.org/action/smart-energy-solutions/feb14

Here are some Valentine's Day slogan ideas for your homemade signs:

Constellation's Ratepayer Robbery Breaks My Heart
I'd Love a Nuke Rebate for Valentine's Day
No $weetheart Deals for Constellation's New Nuke
We Love Efficiency
We Love Renewables
We Love Solar Power
We Love Wind Power
Stop NEW NUKES in the Name of Love
Nuclear Power Breaks My Heart
"New Nukes Are Stupid!" Sayeth Cupid
The Heart of the Matter: Radioactive Risks
Have a Heart: Don't Nuke the Chesapeake

Additional Background Information

Now is a critical time to express opposition to the new atomic reactor -- proposed by Constellation, its subsidiary Baltimore Gas & Electric, and its French partners UniStar, Electricite de France and Areva -- to be built at the twin reactor Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant in southern Maryland at Lusby, on the Chesapeake Bay.

This potential "Chernobyl on the Chesapeake" has dominated newspaper headlines in recent days.

Constellation has "threatened" to build its first new reactor in upstate New York instead of at Calvert Cliffs, if the State of Maryland doesn't smooth the way for reactor construction on the Chesapeake. If the State of Maryland's regulatory climate is more accommodating, Constellation has threatened to break ground for the new reactor at Calvert Cliffs yet this year.

Constellation wants to build five giant experimental reactors across the U.S. The last order for a new reactor in the U.S. that actually got built was placed in 1973.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has docketed Constellation's partially completed new reactor license application, and has begun to review it.

The State of Maryland and Constellation are engaged in an intensifying conflict over the 1999 electricity deregulation law, a debacle for Maryland ratepayers that resulted in a 72% increase in electricity bills.

The Maryland Public Utility Commission has reported that Constellation charged not $528 million for "stranded costs" — largely the unpaid construction debt for Calvert Cliff's thirty year old twin reactors — but rather a whopping $975 million. A bill in the state legislature seeks to make Constellation rebate to ratepayers such "stranded cost" charges, now that the company is poised to build yet another white elephant on the shoreline of the Chesapeake.

Now Constellation is threatening to sue the State of Maryland over the only concession secured for ratepayers in the 1999 deregulation fiasco. Constellation seeks to renege on $386 million of ratepayer credits, attempting to place onto ratepayers' backs the entire $5 billion bill for dismantling, and cleaning up the radioactive contamination, at the Calvert Cliffs atomic plant when it permanently shuts down someday. A giant new reactor, doubling Calvert Cliffs' nuclear electricity output, would significantly increase such decommissioning costs, of course. Governor O'Malley, in consultation with the Public Service Commission, Maryland Attorney General, and state legislature leaders, has vowed to vigorously defend Maryland ratepayers against this latest Constellation threat.

Now is the time to turn up the volume, and say "No New Nuke on the Chesapeake!" Please join us on Valentine's Day, and bring your friends and family with you!

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