Energy Secretary Rick Perry on March 22 said his department will guarantee up to $ 3.7 billion in additional loans to finance continued construction of two new nuclear reactors at the Vogtle plant in Georgia. While Perry and other government officials stressed the importance of the project to the U.S. nuclear industry, critics called it a case of “throwing good money after bad.”

“The Vogtle project is critically important to supporting the [Trump] administration’s direction to revitalize and expand the U.S. nuclear industry,” said Perry on Friday in a ceremony at the Vogtle site near Waynesboro, Georgia. “A strong nuclear industry supports a reliable and resilient grid, and strengthens our energy and national security. As I’ve witnessed firsthand today, Vogtle is also an energy infrastructure project with a massive scope employing thousands of workers. This project is rebuilding a highly skilled U.S. nuclear workforce and supply chain for the future.”

Perry called the project “the real New Green Deal,” a mocking reference to a Democratic legislative effort on Capitol Hill designed to combat climate change.…

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