Obama and Clinton Pro Nuclear
20 April 2007 12:48 pm by Taylor Marsh
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This disturbs me. Why are we advocating the subsidizing of nuclear energy? John Edwards and Brian Schweitzer are right on the energy issue, Clinton and Obama are wrong.
The two leading Democratic presidential candidates, Senators Clinton
and Obama, have joined one of the top Republicans in the race, Senator McCain
of Arizona, to sponsor the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007.
The measure includes more than $3.6 billion in funding and loan guarantees
for the planning and construction of nuclear plants using new reactor designs.(snip)
The only major candidate opposed to increased reliance on nuclear
power is a former senator from North Carolina, John Edwards. The Las Vegas
Review Journal reported that during a visit to that city in February, Mr.
Edwards declared that atomic energy had no future in America. A spokeswoman
for the candidate, Kate Bedingfield, said the report slightly overstated his
position, but she added, “He does not advocate building additional nuclear
power plants in the U.S.” … ..
Unless these “new reactor designs” mysteriously vaporize nuclear waste and other material like it this is a non-starter for me.
I’m just passing through Nevada waiting until I find a new home, so it’s not
just about Yucca Mountain for me. But I wonder how Nevadans will feel about
this one. It will be a primary deal breaker for many activists. Will a president
Obama or Clinton also mean a new okay to ship nuclear wastes to Nevada and rev up Yucca
Mountain yet again? Candidates should have to answer that question along with others.
What are we going to do with the nuclear waste from new plants? Until that’s decided you can hardly
call any energy plan “the climate stewardship and innovaction act.”
We still don’t have a plan for what to do with the waste off of nuclear plants
and shipping these toxic materials through cities and across America’s highway
to dump them in Nevada or any other state or facility is an invitation to terrorists
and other nutjobs. Never mind that the last routes released went through the
poorest areas in the country. Bottom line is that this is a national security issue.
The 2007 act has many plusses, but subsidizing nuclear energy plants isn’t one of them. Focus on clean coal like Governor Schweitzer advocates, hell, harness pigeon crap, something besides a 20th century idea that brings with it more questions than answers.
As an aside, I’m still amazed that there aren’t wind farms throughout the western desert
of our country. As for tapping solar power, what’s taking us so long to make it cost effective?
It’s time the Apollo Alliance got more attention and a hell of a lot more funding. But more nuclear subsidies? Any candidate promoting this as “innovative” loses me. Alternative energy methods beyond nuclear has to be the core mission of a progressive energy strategy.
McCain, Lieberman, Clinton and now Obama, among others, are involved in the legislation. Let’s just say that if they’re promoting more nuclear subsidies none of these people are progressive champions. Edwards and Schweitzer have it right.
