New or smaller companies will notbe able to compete against giant utilities receiving billions ofdollars in taxpayer and consumer subsidies. The utility bailout also endangers the environment. Utilities receiving a bailout will fight against energyefficiency and renewable energy, which directly compete with theexisting fleet of polluting fossil fuel and nuclear power plants. A grassroots backlash against the bailout is already startingto build in California, Massachusetts and other states. In Massachusetts, Public Citizen andallied organizations are working with sympathetic lawmakers toheed the concerns of consumers to drastically limit the utilitybailout.
Similar efforts are underway in Pennsylvania, Texas, andother states.
The Critical MassEnergy Project is Public Citizen's energy policy arm,working to decrease reliance on nuclear and fossil fuels and topromote safe, affordable and environmentally-sound energyalternatives.