[Sustain] Pelosi goes nuclear
Just in case you were wavering in your views of Nancy Pelosi: Now nuclear power is "on the table." Of course, impeaching our war crimal president is "off the table." (From the CommonDreams.org website) Published on Monday, April 9, 2007 by Los Angeles Times Pelosi, Clinton, Obama Favor More Nuclear Plants by Richard Simon WASHINGTON - The renewed push for legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions could falter over an old debate: whether nuclear power should play a role in any federal attack on climate change.Congress, with added impetus from a Supreme Court ruling last week, appears more likely to pass comprehensive energy legislation. But nuclear power sharply divides lawmakers who agree on mandatory caps on carbon dioxide emissions. And it has pitted some on Capitol Hill against their usual allies, environmentalists, who largely oppose any expansion of nuclear power. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Barbara Boxer - Bay Area Democrats with similar political views - are on opposite sides. Pelosi used to be an ardent foe of nuclear power but now holds a different view. ?I think it has to be on the table,? she said. Boxer, head of the Senate committee that will take the lead in writing global warming legislation, said that turning from fossil fuels to nuclear power was ?trading one problem for another.? Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) - all presidential candidates - support legislation that would cap greenhouse gas emissions and provide incentives to power companies to build more nuclear plants. Opponents of nuclear power say that because a terrorist attack on a plant could be catastrophic, it makes no sense to build more potential targets. And radioactive waste still has no permanent burial site, they say, despite officials? three decades of trying to find one. But attitudes toward nuclear power may be shifting as a consensus emerges that greenhouse gases are causing the world to heat up. The Supreme Court added its voice, criticizing the Bush administration for not acting to control greenhouse gases. Max Schulz, a former Energy Department staff member who is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, said the ruling could help ?spur the revival of nuclear power.? And congressional Democratic leaders have made passage of global warming legislation a priority. ?I?ve never been a fan of nuclear energy,? said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has called it expensive and risky. ?But reducing emissions from the electricity sector presents a major challenge. And if we can be assured that new technologies help to produce nuclear energy safely and cleanly, then I think we have to take a look at it.? The public?s attitude toward nuclear power is more favorable when such energy is seen as part of an effort to fight climate change. Polls over the years have shown that a slim majority backs nuclear power, but a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg survey last summer found that a larger majority, 61%, supported the increased use of nuclear energy ?to prevent global warming.? Legislation introduced recently in California seeks to repeal a 1976 ban on new nuclear plants in the state. ?There?s no question that the attention to climate change over the last several years has materially changed the public discussion of nuclear power,? said Jason Grumet, executive director of the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan group of energy experts. Given the threat of global warming, he said, ?it?s hard to ignore the principal source of noncarbon power generation in the country today.? One environmental group has tried to keep an open mind. ?We don?t think any options should be taken off the table when dealing with global warming,? said Environmental Defense spokesman Charlie Miller. The nuclear power industry in the U.S. has been at a virtual standstill because of high construction costs, regulatory uncertainties and public apprehension after a 1979 accident at Pennsylvania?s Three Mile Island. A number of plants ordered before the accident went into operation. But many more were canceled after one of the Three Mile Island reactors suffered a partial meltdown and small amounts of radiation were released into the atmosphere. Reviving the industry has been a priority for President Bush, who sees nuclear power as crucial to meeting a growing demand for electricity. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects to receive applications for about two dozen new plants in the next few years - in part because of provisions in a 2005 energy bill designed to promote nuclear power. Currently, 103 nuclear plants - including Diablo Canyon near San Luis Obispo and San Onofre in northern San Diego County - generate about 20% of the nation?s electricity. The amount of congressional support for nuclear power is unclear. When McCain and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) added subsidies for nuclear power to their 2005 bill to cut greenhouse gas emissions, they lost support from environmentalists and votes in Congress, including Boxer?s. McCain said he had no idea whether he would be more successful this time. But he said there was ?no way that you could ever seriously attack the issue of greenhouse gas emissions without nuclear power, and anybody who tells you differently is not telling the truth.? On Capitol Hill last month, former Vice President Al Gore, who has become a leading advocate for swift action on climate change, said he saw nuclear plants as a ?small part? of the strategy. ?They?re so expensive, and they take so long to build, and at present they only come in one size: extra large,? he said. ?And people don?t want to make that kind of investment in an uncertain market for energy demand.? The McCain-Lieberman bill, which seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to a third of 2000 levels, would provide federal loans or guarantees to subsidize as many as three advanced reactor projects. The U.S. Public Interest Research Group and Public Citizen said the bill would authorize more than $3.7 billion in subsidies for new nuclear plants. Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), a cosponsor of the McCain-Lieberman legislation, thinks support for nuclear power could bring more votes. ?Three or four years ago, if you included nuclear, you lost more than you gained,? he said. ?Today ? you pick up more than you lose.? But nuclear power faces huge political and economic obstacles. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) remains opposed to the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal site in his state. And Philip E. Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, said he did not think subsidies could overcome the concerns of potential investors. ?There isn?t enough money in the federal till to change Wall Street?s calculation of the financial risks,? he said. Even some lawmakers who support nuclear power question whether the industry needs more federal money. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, sees nuclear power as a ?mature industry,? said Bill Wicker, his spokesman. ?Emerging climate-friendly and genuinely renewable technologies like wind and solar and geothermal and biomass could use that [funding] boost,? Wicker said. Some environmentalists remain steadfastly opposed to nuclear power. ?Investments in energy conservation and renewable energy are quicker, more cost-effective and sustainable ways to reduce global warming emissions,? said Erich Pica of Friends of the Earth, which will oppose McCain?s bill as long as it contains subsidies for nuclear power. Such environmentalists also note that carbon emissions from nuclear fuel processing are significant. They say the costs and risks of nuclear power are too high and far greater than alternatives, such as solar and wind power. ?Switching from coal to nukes,? said Dan Becker, director of the Sierra Club?s global warming program, ?is like giving up smoking and taking up crack.? richard.simon@latimes.com Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times
Note also, later in the piece, Al Gore saying that nuclear is a 'small part' of the solution, and that Environmental Defense says that nuclear should not be 'off the table'... Eric B pamndave@speakeasy.net wrote:
Just in case you were wavering in your views of Nancy Pelosi:
Now nuclear power is "on the table." Of course, impeaching our war crimal president is "off the table."
(From the CommonDreams.org website) Published on Monday, April 9, 2007 by Los Angeles Times Pelosi, Clinton, Obama Favor More Nuclear Plants by Richard Simon
WASHINGTON - The renewed push for legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions could falter over an old debate: whether nuclear power should play a role in any federal attack on climate change.Congress, with added impetus from a Supreme Court ruling last week, appears more likely to pass comprehensive energy legislation. But nuclear power sharply divides lawmakers who agree on mandatory caps on carbon dioxide emissions. And it has pitted some on Capitol Hill against their usual allies, environmentalists, who largely oppose any expansion of nuclear power.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Barbara Boxer - Bay Area Democrats with similar political views - are on opposite sides.
Pelosi used to be an ardent foe of nuclear power but now holds a different view. ?I think it has to be on the table,? she said.
Boxer, head of the Senate committee that will take the lead in writing global warming legislation, said that turning from fossil fuels to nuclear power was ?trading one problem for another.?
Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) - all presidential candidates - support legislation that would cap greenhouse gas emissions and provide incentives to power companies to build more nuclear plants.
Opponents of nuclear power say that because a terrorist attack on a plant could be catastrophic, it makes no sense to build more potential targets. And radioactive waste still has no permanent burial site, they say, despite officials? three decades of trying to find one.
But attitudes toward nuclear power may be shifting as a consensus emerges that greenhouse gases are causing the world to heat up.
The Supreme Court added its voice, criticizing the Bush administration for not acting to control greenhouse gases.
Max Schulz, a former Energy Department staff member who is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, said the ruling could help ?spur the revival of nuclear power.?
And congressional Democratic leaders have made passage of global warming legislation a priority.
?I?ve never been a fan of nuclear energy,? said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has called it expensive and risky. ?But reducing emissions from the electricity sector presents a major challenge. And if we can be assured that new technologies help to produce nuclear energy safely and cleanly, then I think we have to take a look at it.?
The public?s attitude toward nuclear power is more favorable when such energy is seen as part of an effort to fight climate change. Polls over the years have shown that a slim majority backs nuclear power, but a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg survey last summer found that a larger majority, 61%, supported the increased use of nuclear energy ?to prevent global warming.?
Legislation introduced recently in California seeks to repeal a 1976 ban on new nuclear plants in the state.
?There?s no question that the attention to climate change over the last several years has materially changed the public discussion of nuclear power,? said Jason Grumet, executive director of the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan group of energy experts. Given the threat of global warming, he said, ?it?s hard to ignore the principal source of noncarbon power generation in the country today.?
One environmental group has tried to keep an open mind. ?We don?t think any options should be taken off the table when dealing with global warming,? said Environmental Defense spokesman Charlie Miller.
The nuclear power industry in the U.S. has been at a virtual standstill because of high construction costs, regulatory uncertainties and public apprehension after a 1979 accident at Pennsylvania?s Three Mile Island.
A number of plants ordered before the accident went into operation. But many more were canceled after one of the Three Mile Island reactors suffered a partial meltdown and small amounts of radiation were released into the atmosphere.
Reviving the industry has been a priority for President Bush, who sees nuclear power as crucial to meeting a growing demand for electricity.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects to receive applications for about two dozen new plants in the next few years - in part because of provisions in a 2005 energy bill designed to promote nuclear power.
Currently, 103 nuclear plants - including Diablo Canyon near San Luis Obispo and San Onofre in northern San Diego County - generate about 20% of the nation?s electricity.
The amount of congressional support for nuclear power is unclear.
When McCain and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) added subsidies for nuclear power to their 2005 bill to cut greenhouse gas emissions, they lost support from environmentalists and votes in Congress, including Boxer?s.
McCain said he had no idea whether he would be more successful this time. But he said there was ?no way that you could ever seriously attack the issue of greenhouse gas emissions without nuclear power, and anybody who tells you differently is not telling the truth.?
On Capitol Hill last month, former Vice President Al Gore, who has become a leading advocate for swift action on climate change, said he saw nuclear plants as a ?small part? of the strategy.
?They?re so expensive, and they take so long to build, and at present they only come in one size: extra large,? he said.
?And people don?t want to make that kind of investment in an uncertain market for energy demand.?
The McCain-Lieberman bill, which seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to a third of 2000 levels, would provide federal loans or guarantees to subsidize as many as three advanced reactor projects.
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group and Public Citizen said the bill would authorize more than $3.7 billion in subsidies for new nuclear plants.
Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), a cosponsor of the McCain-Lieberman legislation, thinks support for nuclear power could bring more votes.
?Three or four years ago, if you included nuclear, you lost more than you gained,? he said. ?Today ? you pick up more than you lose.?
But nuclear power faces huge political and economic obstacles.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) remains opposed to the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal site in his state.
And Philip E. Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, said he did not think subsidies could overcome the concerns of potential investors. ?There isn?t enough money in the federal till to change Wall Street?s calculation of the financial risks,? he said.
Even some lawmakers who support nuclear power question whether the industry needs more federal money.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, sees nuclear power as a ?mature industry,? said Bill Wicker, his spokesman. ?Emerging climate-friendly and genuinely renewable technologies like wind and solar and geothermal and biomass could use that [funding] boost,? Wicker said.
Some environmentalists remain steadfastly opposed to nuclear power.
?Investments in energy conservation and renewable energy are quicker, more cost-effective and sustainable ways to reduce global warming emissions,? said Erich Pica of Friends of the Earth, which will oppose McCain?s bill as long as it contains subsidies for nuclear power.
Such environmentalists also note that carbon emissions from nuclear fuel processing are significant. They say the costs and risks of nuclear power are too high and far greater than alternatives, such as solar and wind power.
?Switching from coal to nukes,? said Dan Becker, director of the Sierra Club?s global warming program, ?is like giving up smoking and taking up crack.?
richard.simon@latimes.com
Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times
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Thanks for posting this. The pro-nuclear power people are pushing hard. There is legislation in the CA hopper to eliminate the 30+ year old ban on new nuclear power plants. KGO talk host Dr. Bill Wattenburg was ranting and organizing on behalf of it Sunday night. Too many callers agreed with him. I don't hear the correlative on our progressive airwaves. We need an overarching coalition or network of organizations who can begin responding. Locally here we should form a working group or sub-working group to connect with Sierra Club and other anti-nuclear power forces to coalesce. Part of their strategy should be visible visits to Pelosi's office to let her know how out of step she is with her constitutency on this. I think we need to respond quickly to this. Thoughts? Jim pamndave@speakeasy.net wrote: Just in case you were wavering in your views of Nancy Pelosi: Now nuclear power is "on the table." Of course, impeaching our war crimal president is "off the table." (From the CommonDreams.org website) Published on Monday, April 9, 2007 by Los Angeles Times Pelosi, Clinton, Obama Favor More Nuclear Plants by Richard Simon WASHINGTON - The renewed push for legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions could falter over an old debate: whether nuclear power should play a role in any federal attack on climate change.Congress, with added impetus from a Supreme Court ruling last week, appears more likely to pass comprehensive energy legislation. But nuclear power sharply divides lawmakers who agree on mandatory caps on carbon dioxide emissions. And it has pitted some on Capitol Hill against their usual allies, environmentalists, who largely oppose any expansion of nuclear power. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Barbara Boxer - Bay Area Democrats with similar political views - are on opposite sides. Pelosi used to be an ardent foe of nuclear power but now holds a different view. ?I think it has to be on the table,? she said. Boxer, head of the Senate committee that will take the lead in writing global warming legislation, said that turning from fossil fuels to nuclear power was ?trading one problem for another.? Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) - all presidential candidates - support legislation that would cap greenhouse gas emissions and provide incentives to power companies to build more nuclear plants. Opponents of nuclear power say that because a terrorist attack on a plant could be catastrophic, it makes no sense to build more potential targets. And radioactive waste still has no permanent burial site, they say, despite officials? three decades of trying to find one. But attitudes toward nuclear power may be shifting as a consensus emerges that greenhouse gases are causing the world to heat up. The Supreme Court added its voice, criticizing the Bush administration for not acting to control greenhouse gases. Max Schulz, a former Energy Department staff member who is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, said the ruling could help ?spur the revival of nuclear power.? And congressional Democratic leaders have made passage of global warming legislation a priority. ?I?ve never been a fan of nuclear energy,? said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has called it expensive and risky. ?But reducing emissions from the electricity sector presents a major challenge. And if we can be assured that new technologies help to produce nuclear energy safely and cleanly, then I think we have to take a look at it.? The public?s attitude toward nuclear power is more favorable when such energy is seen as part of an effort to fight climate change. Polls over the years have shown that a slim majority backs nuclear power, but a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg survey last summer found that a larger majority, 61%, supported the increased use of nuclear energy ?to prevent global warming.? Legislation introduced recently in California seeks to repeal a 1976 ban on new nuclear plants in the state. ?There?s no question that the attention to climate change over the last several years has materially changed the public discussion of nuclear power,? said Jason Grumet, executive director of the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan group of energy experts. Given the threat of global warming, he said, ?it?s hard to ignore the principal source of noncarbon power generation in the country today.? One environmental group has tried to keep an open mind. ?We don?t think any options should be taken off the table when dealing with global warming,? said Environmental Defense spokesman Charlie Miller. The nuclear power industry in the U.S. has been at a virtual standstill because of high construction costs, regulatory uncertainties and public apprehension after a 1979 accident at Pennsylvania?s Three Mile Island. A number of plants ordered before the accident went into operation. But many more were canceled after one of the Three Mile Island reactors suffered a partial meltdown and small amounts of radiation were released into the atmosphere. Reviving the industry has been a priority for President Bush, who sees nuclear power as crucial to meeting a growing demand for electricity. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects to receive applications for about two dozen new plants in the next few years - in part because of provisions in a 2005 energy bill designed to promote nuclear power. Currently, 103 nuclear plants - including Diablo Canyon near San Luis Obispo and San Onofre in northern San Diego County - generate about 20% of the nation?s electricity. The amount of congressional support for nuclear power is unclear. When McCain and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) added subsidies for nuclear power to their 2005 bill to cut greenhouse gas emissions, they lost support from environmentalists and votes in Congress, including Boxer?s. McCain said he had no idea whether he would be more successful this time. But he said there was ?no way that you could ever seriously attack the issue of greenhouse gas emissions without nuclear power, and anybody who tells you differently is not telling the truth.? On Capitol Hill last month, former Vice President Al Gore, who has become a leading advocate for swift action on climate change, said he saw nuclear plants as a ?small part? of the strategy. ?They?re so expensive, and they take so long to build, and at present they only come in one size: extra large,? he said. ?And people don?t want to make that kind of investment in an uncertain market for energy demand.? The McCain-Lieberman bill, which seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to a third of 2000 levels, would provide federal loans or guarantees to subsidize as many as three advanced reactor projects. The U.S. Public Interest Research Group and Public Citizen said the bill would authorize more than $3.7 billion in subsidies for new nuclear plants. Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), a cosponsor of the McCain-Lieberman legislation, thinks support for nuclear power could bring more votes. ?Three or four years ago, if you included nuclear, you lost more than you gained,? he said. ?Today ? you pick up more than you lose.? But nuclear power faces huge political and economic obstacles. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) remains opposed to the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal site in his state. And Philip E. Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, said he did not think subsidies could overcome the concerns of potential investors. ?There isn?t enough money in the federal till to change Wall Street?s calculation of the financial risks,? he said. Even some lawmakers who support nuclear power question whether the industry needs more federal money. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, sees nuclear power as a ?mature industry,? said Bill Wicker, his spokesman. ?Emerging climate-friendly and genuinely renewable technologies like wind and solar and geothermal and biomass could use that [funding] boost,? Wicker said. Some environmentalists remain steadfastly opposed to nuclear power. ?Investments in energy conservation and renewable energy are quicker, more cost-effective and sustainable ways to reduce global warming emissions,? said Erich Pica of Friends of the Earth, which will oppose McCain?s bill as long as it contains subsidies for nuclear power. Such environmentalists also note that carbon emissions from nuclear fuel processing are significant. They say the costs and risks of nuclear power are too high and far greater than alternatives, such as solar and wind power. ?Switching from coal to nukes,? said Dan Becker, director of the Sierra Club?s global warming program, ?is like giving up smoking and taking up crack.? richard.simon@latimes.com Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times _______________________________________________ San Francisco Green Party Active Members List To unsubscribe or edit your options, go here: https://list.sfgreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/active --------------------------------- Don't pick lemons. See all the new 2007 cars at Yahoo! Autos.
Dear Jim, I too read the article that all of the front runners, Give them Hell Hilary, Senator Obama and John Edwards and Speaker Pelosi, supports Nuclear Power plants as a way forward here, to help solve our energy crisis. This is the height of hypocrisy for these individuals who will not take any options of the table with regard to Iran and its generation of power from nuclear power plants to then turn around and want more nuclear power plants here. Nuclear power isn't "Green" technology. The Sierra club locally and our local peace groups need to get involved and visit Speaker Pelosi on this latest issue. B. Boxer isn't endorsing this and I'm not sure what A. Gore is saying. One of the many reasons I remain a Green is this issue. Nuclear power isn't a solution to the energy crisis anymore than continuing the occupation of Iraq will provide security to the Middle east by the US. Greens need to be educating the public locally about this extremely deadly, dangerous idea. Nancy Lewis lcuretiam2000@yahoo.com --- Jim Dorenkott <jimdorenkott2@yahoo.com> wrote:
Thanks for posting this. The pro-nuclear power people are pushing hard. There is legislation in the CA hopper to eliminate the 30+ year old ban on new nuclear power plants. KGO talk host Dr. Bill Wattenburg was ranting and organizing on behalf of it Sunday night. Too many callers agreed with him. I don't hear the correlative on our progressive airwaves.
We need an overarching coalition or network of organizations who can begin responding. Locally here we should form a working group or sub-working group to connect with Sierra Club and other anti-nuclear power forces to coalesce. Part of their strategy should be visible visits to Pelosi's office to let her know how out of step she is with her constitutency on this.
I think we need to respond quickly to this. Thoughts?
Jim
pamndave@speakeasy.net wrote: Just in case you were wavering in your views of Nancy Pelosi:
Now nuclear power is "on the table." Of course, impeaching our war crimal president is "off the table."
(From the CommonDreams.org website) Published on Monday, April 9, 2007 by Los Angeles Times Pelosi, Clinton, Obama Favor More Nuclear Plants by Richard Simon
WASHINGTON - The renewed push for legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions could falter over an old debate: whether nuclear power should play a role in any federal attack on climate change.Congress, with added impetus from a Supreme Court ruling last week, appears more likely to pass comprehensive energy legislation. But nuclear power sharply divides lawmakers who agree on mandatory caps on carbon dioxide emissions. And it has pitted some on Capitol Hill against their usual allies, environmentalists, who largely oppose any expansion of nuclear power.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Barbara Boxer - Bay Area Democrats with similar political views - are on opposite sides.
Pelosi used to be an ardent foe of nuclear power but now holds a different view. ?I think it has to be on the table,? she said.
Boxer, head of the Senate committee that will take the lead in writing global warming legislation, said that turning from fossil fuels to nuclear power was ?trading one problem for another.?
Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) - all presidential candidates - support legislation that would cap greenhouse gas emissions and provide incentives to power companies to build more nuclear plants.
Opponents of nuclear power say that because a terrorist attack on a plant could be catastrophic, it makes no sense to build more potential targets. And radioactive waste still has no permanent burial site, they say, despite officials? three decades of trying to find one.
But attitudes toward nuclear power may be shifting as a consensus emerges that greenhouse gases are causing the world to heat up.
The Supreme Court added its voice, criticizing the Bush administration for not acting to control greenhouse gases.
Max Schulz, a former Energy Department staff member who is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, said the ruling could help ?spur the revival of nuclear power.?
And congressional Democratic leaders have made passage of global warming legislation a priority.
?I?ve never been a fan of nuclear energy,? said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has called it expensive and risky. ?But reducing emissions from the electricity sector presents a major challenge. And if we can be assured that new technologies help to produce nuclear energy safely and cleanly, then I think we have to take a look at it.?
The public?s attitude toward nuclear power is more favorable when such energy is seen as part of an effort to fight climate change. Polls over the years have shown that a slim majority backs nuclear power, but a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg survey last summer found that a larger majority, 61%, supported the increased use of nuclear energy ?to prevent global warming.?
Legislation introduced recently in California seeks to repeal a 1976 ban on new nuclear plants in the state.
?There?s no question that the attention to climate change over the last several years has materially changed the public discussion of nuclear power,? said Jason Grumet, executive director of the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan group of energy experts. Given the threat of global warming, he said, ?it?s hard to ignore the principal source of noncarbon power generation in the country today.?
One environmental group has tried to keep an open mind. ?We don?t think any options should be taken off the table when dealing with global warming,? said Environmental Defense spokesman Charlie Miller.
The nuclear power industry in the U.S. has been at a virtual standstill because of high construction costs, regulatory uncertainties and public apprehension after a 1979 accident at Pennsylvania?s Three Mile Island.
A number of plants ordered before the accident went into operation. But many more were canceled after one of the Three Mile Island reactors suffered a partial meltdown and small amounts of radiation were released into the atmosphere.
Reviving the industry has been a priority for President Bush, who sees nuclear power as crucial to meeting a growing demand for electricity.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects to receive applications for about two dozen new plants in the next few years - in part because of provisions in a 2005 energy bill designed to promote nuclear power.
Currently, 103 nuclear plants - including Diablo Canyon near San Luis Obispo and San Onofre in northern San Diego County - generate about 20% of the nation?s electricity.
The amount of congressional support for nuclear power is unclear.
When McCain and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) added subsidies for nuclear power to their 2005 bill to cut greenhouse gas emissions, they lost support from environmentalists and votes in Congress, including Boxer?s.
McCain said he had no idea whether he would be more successful this time. But he said there was ?no way that you could ever seriously attack the issue of greenhouse gas emissions without nuclear power, and anybody who tells you differently is not telling the truth.?
On Capitol Hill last month, former Vice President Al Gore, who has become a leading advocate for swift action on climate change, said he saw nuclear plants as a ?small part? of the strategy.
?They?re so expensive, and they take so long to build, and at present they only come in one size: extra large,? he said.
?And people don?t want to make that kind of investment in an uncertain market for energy demand.?
The McCain-Lieberman bill, which seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to a third of 2000 levels, would provide federal loans or guarantees to subsidize as many as three advanced reactor projects.
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group and Public Citizen said the bill would authorize more than $3.7 billion in subsidies for new nuclear plants.
Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), a cosponsor of the McCain-Lieberman legislation, thinks support for nuclear power could bring more votes.
?Three or four years ago, if you included nuclear, you lost more than you gained,? he said. ?Today ? you pick up more than you lose.?
But nuclear power faces huge political and economic obstacles.
=== message truncated ===> _______________________________________________
San Francisco Green Party Active Members List To unsubscribe or edit your options, go here:
Re Al Gore, and the revival of the nuclear power industry, which I personally believe to be the main thing the Kyoto Protocol has accomplished, besides the rise of mighty Nuclear Japan, which nobody talks about, see Counterpunch: "How Global Warming And Al Gore May Rescue the Nuclear Power Industry": http://www.counterpunch.org/nukes.html On Apr 10, 2007, at 12:15 PM, nancy lewis wrote:
Dear Jim,
I too read the article that all of the front runners, Give them Hell Hilary, Senator Obama and John Edwards and Speaker Pelosi, supports Nuclear Power plants as a way forward here, to help solve our energy crisis. This is the height of hypocrisy for these individuals who will not take any options of the table with regard to Iran and its generation of power from nuclear power plants to then turn around and want more nuclear power plants here. Nuclear power isn't "Green" technology. The Sierra club locally and our local peace groups need to get involved and visit Speaker Pelosi on this latest issue. B. Boxer isn't endorsing this and I'm not sure what A. Gore is saying.
One of the many reasons I remain a Green is this issue. Nuclear power isn't a solution to the energy crisis anymore than continuing the occupation of Iraq will provide security to the Middle east by the US. Greens need to be educating the public locally about this extremely deadly, dangerous idea. Nancy Lewis lcuretiam2000@yahoo.com
--- Jim Dorenkott <jimdorenkott2@yahoo.com> wrote:
Thanks for posting this. The pro-nuclear power people are pushing hard. There is legislation in the CA hopper to eliminate the 30+ year old ban on new nuclear power plants. KGO talk host Dr. Bill Wattenburg was ranting and organizing on behalf of it Sunday night. Too many callers agreed with him. I don't hear the correlative on our progressive airwaves.
We need an overarching coalition or network of organizations who can begin responding. Locally here we should form a working group or sub-working group to connect with Sierra Club and other anti-nuclear power forces to coalesce. Part of their strategy should be visible visits to Pelosi's office to let her know how out of step she is with her constitutency on this.
I think we need to respond quickly to this. Thoughts?
Jim
pamndave@speakeasy.net wrote: Just in case you were wavering in your views of Nancy Pelosi:
Now nuclear power is "on the table." Of course, impeaching our war crimal president is "off the table."
(From the CommonDreams.org website) Published on Monday, April 9, 2007 by Los Angeles Times Pelosi, Clinton, Obama Favor More Nuclear Plants by Richard Simon
WASHINGTON - The renewed push for legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions could falter over an old debate: whether nuclear power should play a role in any federal attack on climate change.Congress, with added impetus from a Supreme Court ruling last week, appears more likely to pass comprehensive energy legislation. But nuclear power sharply divides lawmakers who agree on mandatory caps on carbon dioxide emissions. And it has pitted some on Capitol Hill against their usual allies, environmentalists, who largely oppose any expansion of nuclear power.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Barbara Boxer - Bay Area Democrats with similar political views - are on opposite sides.
Pelosi used to be an ardent foe of nuclear power but now holds a different view. ?I think it has to be on the table,? she said.
Boxer, head of the Senate committee that will take the lead in writing global warming legislation, said that turning from fossil fuels to nuclear power was ?trading one problem for another.?
Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) - all presidential candidates - support legislation that would cap greenhouse gas emissions and provide incentives to power companies to build more nuclear plants.
Opponents of nuclear power say that because a terrorist attack on a plant could be catastrophic, it makes no sense to build more potential targets. And radioactive waste still has no permanent burial site, they say, despite officials? three decades of trying to find one.
But attitudes toward nuclear power may be shifting as a consensus emerges that greenhouse gases are causing the world to heat up.
The Supreme Court added its voice, criticizing the Bush administration for not acting to control greenhouse gases.
Max Schulz, a former Energy Department staff member who is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, said the ruling could help ?spur the revival of nuclear power.?
And congressional Democratic leaders have made passage of global warming legislation a priority.
?I?ve never been a fan of nuclear energy,? said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has called it expensive and risky. ?But reducing emissions from the electricity sector presents a major challenge. And if we can be assured that new technologies help to produce nuclear energy safely and cleanly, then I think we have to take a look at it.?
The public?s attitude toward nuclear power is more favorable when such energy is seen as part of an effort to fight climate change. Polls over the years have shown that a slim majority backs nuclear power, but a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg survey last summer found that a larger majority, 61%, supported the increased use of nuclear energy ?to prevent global warming.?
Legislation introduced recently in California seeks to repeal a 1976 ban on new nuclear plants in the state.
?There?s no question that the attention to climate change over the last several years has materially changed the public discussion of nuclear power,? said Jason Grumet, executive director of the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan group of energy experts. Given the threat of global warming, he said, ?it?s hard to ignore the principal source of noncarbon power generation in the country today.?
One environmental group has tried to keep an open mind. ?We don?t think any options should be taken off the table when dealing with global warming,? said Environmental Defense spokesman Charlie Miller.
The nuclear power industry in the U.S. has been at a virtual standstill because of high construction costs, regulatory uncertainties and public apprehension after a 1979 accident at Pennsylvania?s Three Mile Island.
A number of plants ordered before the accident went into operation. But many more were canceled after one of the Three Mile Island reactors suffered a partial meltdown and small amounts of radiation were released into the atmosphere.
Reviving the industry has been a priority for President Bush, who sees nuclear power as crucial to meeting a growing demand for electricity.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects to receive applications for about two dozen new plants in the next few years - in part because of provisions in a 2005 energy bill designed to promote nuclear power.
Currently, 103 nuclear plants - including Diablo Canyon near San Luis Obispo and San Onofre in northern San Diego County - generate about 20% of the nation?s electricity.
The amount of congressional support for nuclear power is unclear.
When McCain and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) added subsidies for nuclear power to their 2005 bill to cut greenhouse gas emissions, they lost support from environmentalists and votes in Congress, including Boxer?s.
McCain said he had no idea whether he would be more successful this time. But he said there was ?no way that you could ever seriously attack the issue of greenhouse gas emissions without nuclear power, and anybody who tells you differently is not telling the truth.?
On Capitol Hill last month, former Vice President Al Gore, who has become a leading advocate for swift action on climate change, said he saw nuclear plants as a ?small part? of the strategy.
?They?re so expensive, and they take so long to build, and at present they only come in one size: extra large,? he said.
?And people don?t want to make that kind of investment in an uncertain market for energy demand.?
The McCain-Lieberman bill, which seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to a third of 2000 levels, would provide federal loans or guarantees to subsidize as many as three advanced reactor projects.
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group and Public Citizen said the bill would authorize more than $3.7 billion in subsidies for new nuclear plants.
Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), a cosponsor of the McCain-Lieberman legislation, thinks support for nuclear power could bring more votes.
?Three or four years ago, if you included nuclear, you lost more than you gained,? he said. ?Today ? you pick up more than you lose.?
But nuclear power faces huge political and economic obstacles.
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Pelosi will be w Gavin Newsom April 14th: Invited special guest, T-Third line grand opening celebration, Bayview Hunter's Point, San Francisco, California http://www.pelosiwatch.org/article.php?id=2930 This might be a place to launch a presence with a few signs; it is after all "Step It Up" Day http://stepitup2007.org/ and http://www.nowarnowarming.org/ They could say: Nancy Nuclear Power is not Clean Energy Solar, Wind & Tidal Power Not Nuclear Nancy Take Nuclear Power off the Table etc. Jim Ann Garrison <anniegarrison@mac.com> wrote: Re Al Gore, and the revival of the nuclear power industry, which I personally believe to be the main thing the Kyoto Protocol has accomplished, besides the rise of mighty Nuclear Japan, which nobody talks about, see Counterpunch: "How Global Warming And Al Gore May Rescue the Nuclear Power Industry": http://www.counterpunch.org/nukes.html On Apr 10, 2007, at 12:15 PM, nancy lewis wrote:
Dear Jim,
I too read the article that all of the front runners, Give them Hell Hilary, Senator Obama and John Edwards and Speaker Pelosi, supports Nuclear Power plants as a way forward here, to help solve our energy crisis. This is the height of hypocrisy for these individuals who will not take any options of the table with regard to Iran and its generation of power from nuclear power plants to then turn around and want more nuclear power plants here. Nuclear power isn't "Green" technology. The Sierra club locally and our local peace groups need to get involved and visit Speaker Pelosi on this latest issue. B. Boxer isn't endorsing this and I'm not sure what A. Gore is saying.
One of the many reasons I remain a Green is this issue. Nuclear power isn't a solution to the energy crisis anymore than continuing the occupation of Iraq will provide security to the Middle east by the US. Greens need to be educating the public locally about this extremely deadly, dangerous idea. Nancy Lewis lcuretiam2000@yahoo.com
--- Jim Dorenkott wrote:
Thanks for posting this. The pro-nuclear power people are pushing hard. There is legislation in the CA hopper to eliminate the 30+ year old ban on new nuclear power plants. KGO talk host Dr. Bill Wattenburg was ranting and organizing on behalf of it Sunday night. Too many callers agreed with him. I don't hear the correlative on our progressive airwaves.
We need an overarching coalition or network of organizations who can begin responding. Locally here we should form a working group or sub-working group to connect with Sierra Club and other anti-nuclear power forces to coalesce. Part of their strategy should be visible visits to Pelosi's office to let her know how out of step she is with her constitutency on this.
I think we need to respond quickly to this. Thoughts?
Jim
pamndave@speakeasy.net wrote: Just in case you were wavering in your views of Nancy Pelosi:
Now nuclear power is "on the table." Of course, impeaching our war crimal president is "off the table."
(From the CommonDreams.org website) Published on Monday, April 9, 2007 by Los Angeles Times Pelosi, Clinton, Obama Favor More Nuclear Plants by Richard Simon
WASHINGTON - The renewed push for legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions could falter over an old debate: whether nuclear power should play a role in any federal attack on climate change.Congress, with added impetus from a Supreme Court ruling last week, appears more likely to pass comprehensive energy legislation. But nuclear power sharply divides lawmakers who agree on mandatory caps on carbon dioxide emissions. And it has pitted some on Capitol Hill against their usual allies, environmentalists, who largely oppose any expansion of nuclear power.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Barbara Boxer - Bay Area Democrats with similar political views - are on opposite sides.
Pelosi used to be an ardent foe of nuclear power but now holds a different view. ?I think it has to be on the table,? she said.
Boxer, head of the Senate committee that will take the lead in writing global warming legislation, said that turning from fossil fuels to nuclear power was ?trading one problem for another.?
Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) - all presidential candidates - support legislation that would cap greenhouse gas emissions and provide incentives to power companies to build more nuclear plants.
Opponents of nuclear power say that because a terrorist attack on a plant could be catastrophic, it makes no sense to build more potential targets. And radioactive waste still has no permanent burial site, they say, despite officials? three decades of trying to find one.
But attitudes toward nuclear power may be shifting as a consensus emerges that greenhouse gases are causing the world to heat up.
The Supreme Court added its voice, criticizing the Bush administration for not acting to control greenhouse gases.
Max Schulz, a former Energy Department staff member who is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, said the ruling could help ?spur the revival of nuclear power.?
And congressional Democratic leaders have made passage of global warming legislation a priority.
?I?ve never been a fan of nuclear energy,? said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has called it expensive and risky. ?But reducing emissions from the electricity sector presents a major challenge. And if we can be assured that new technologies help to produce nuclear energy safely and cleanly, then I think we have to take a look at it.?
The public?s attitude toward nuclear power is more favorable when such energy is seen as part of an effort to fight climate change. Polls over the years have shown that a slim majority backs nuclear power, but a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg survey last summer found that a larger majority, 61%, supported the increased use of nuclear energy ?to prevent global warming.?
Legislation introduced recently in California seeks to repeal a 1976 ban on new nuclear plants in the state.
?There?s no question that the attention to climate change over the last several years has materially changed the public discussion of nuclear power,? said Jason Grumet, executive director of the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan group of energy experts. Given the threat of global warming, he said, ?it?s hard to ignore the principal source of noncarbon power generation in the country today.?
One environmental group has tried to keep an open mind. ?We don?t think any options should be taken off the table when dealing with global warming,? said Environmental Defense spokesman Charlie Miller.
The nuclear power industry in the U.S. has been at a virtual standstill because of high construction costs, regulatory uncertainties and public apprehension after a 1979 accident at Pennsylvania?s Three Mile Island.
A number of plants ordered before the accident went into operation. But many more were canceled after one of the Three Mile Island reactors suffered a partial meltdown and small amounts of radiation were released into the atmosphere.
Reviving the industry has been a priority for President Bush, who sees nuclear power as crucial to meeting a growing demand for electricity.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects to receive applications for about two dozen new plants in the next few years - in part because of provisions in a 2005 energy bill designed to promote nuclear power.
Currently, 103 nuclear plants - including Diablo Canyon near San Luis Obispo and San Onofre in northern San Diego County - generate about 20% of the nation?s electricity.
The amount of congressional support for nuclear power is unclear.
When McCain and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) added subsidies for nuclear power to their 2005 bill to cut greenhouse gas emissions, they lost support from environmentalists and votes in Congress, including Boxer?s.
McCain said he had no idea whether he would be more successful this time. But he said there was ?no way that you could ever seriously attack the issue of greenhouse gas emissions without nuclear power, and anybody who tells you differently is not telling the truth.?
On Capitol Hill last month, former Vice President Al Gore, who has become a leading advocate for swift action on climate change, said he saw nuclear plants as a ?small part? of the strategy.
?They?re so expensive, and they take so long to build, and at present they only come in one size: extra large,? he said.
?And people don?t want to make that kind of investment in an uncertain market for energy demand.?
The McCain-Lieberman bill, which seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to a third of 2000 levels, would provide federal loans or guarantees to subsidize as many as three advanced reactor projects.
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group and Public Citizen said the bill would authorize more than $3.7 billion in subsidies for new nuclear plants.
Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), a cosponsor of the McCain-Lieberman legislation, thinks support for nuclear power could bring more votes.
?Three or four years ago, if you included nuclear, you lost more than you gained,? he said. ?Today ? you pick up more than you lose.?
But nuclear power faces huge political and economic obstacles.
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We can definitely make this an agenda item at the next Sustainability WG meeting. We should definitely discuss what concrete action to take to oppose nuclear and biofuels, and perhaps also the looming bio-plastics ramp up, and neo-coal technologies. I propose we draft a platform and then ask the GM to incorporate it and act upon it (for example, with candidate questionairs, perhaps city energy and container purchasing legislation). cheers, Eric jimdorenkott2@yahoo.com wrote:
Thanks for posting this. The pro-nuclear power people are pushing hard. There is legislation in the CA hopper to eliminate the 30+ year old ban on new nuclear power plants. KGO talk host Dr. Bill Wattenburg was ranting and organizing on behalf of it Sunday night. Too many callers agreed with him. I don't hear the correlative on our progressive airwaves.
We need an overarching coalition or network of organizations who can begin responding. Locally here we should form a working group or sub-working group to connect with Sierra Club and other anti-nuclear power forces to coalesce. Part of their strategy should be visible visits to Pelosi's office to let her know how out of step she is with her constitutency on this.
I think we need to respond quickly to this. Thoughts?
Jim
*/pamndave@speakeasy.net/* wrote:
Just in case you were wavering in your views of Nancy Pelosi:
Now nuclear power is "on the table." Of course, impeaching our war crimal president is "off the table."
(From the CommonDreams.org website) Published on Monday, April 9, 2007 by Los Angeles Times Pelosi, Clinton, Obama Favor More Nuclear Plants by Richard Simon
WASHINGTON - The renewed push for legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions could falter over an old debate: whether nuclear power should play a role in any federal attack on climate change.Congress, with added impetus from a Supreme Court ruling last week, appears more likely to pass comprehensive energy legislation. But nuclear power sharply divides lawmakers who agree on mandatory caps on carbon dioxide emissions. And it has pitted some on Capitol Hill against their usual allies, environmentalists, who largely oppose any expansion of nuclear power.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Barbara Boxer - Bay Area Democrats with similar political views - are on opposite sides.
Pelosi used to be an ardent foe of nuclear power but now holds a different view. ?I think it has to be on the table,? she said.
Boxer, head of the Senate committee that will take the lead in writing global warming legislation, said that turning from fossil fuels to nuclear power was ?trading one problem for another.?
Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) - all presidential candidates - support legislation that would cap greenhouse gas emissions and provide incentives to power companies to build more nuclear plants.
Opponents of nuclear power say that because a terrorist attack on a plant could be catastrophic, it makes no sense to build more potential targets. And radioactive waste still has no permanent burial site, they say, despite officials? three decades of trying to find one.
But attitudes toward nuclear power may be shifting as a consensus emerges that greenhouse gases are causing the world to heat up.
The Supreme Court added its voice, criticizing the Bush administration for not acting to control greenhouse gases.
Max Schulz, a former Energy Department staff member who is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, said the ruling could help ?spur the revival of nuclear power.?
And congressional Democratic leaders have made passage of global warming legislation a priority.
?I?ve never been a fan of nuclear energy,? said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has called it expensive and risky. ?But reducing emissions from the electricity sector presents a major challenge. And if we can be assured that new technologies help to produce nuclear energy safely and cleanly, then I think we have to take a look at it.?
The public?s attitude toward nuclear power is more favorable when such energy is seen as part of an effort to fight climate change. Polls over the years have shown that a slim majority backs nuclear power, but a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg survey last summer found that a larger majority, 61%, supported the increased use of nuclear energy ?to prevent global warming.?
Legislation introduced recently in California seeks to repeal a 1976 ban on new nuclear plants in the state.
?There?s no question that the attention to climate change over the last several years has materially changed the public discussion of nuclear power,? said Jason Grumet, executive director of the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan group of energy experts. Given the threat of global warming, he said, ?it?s hard to ignore the principal source of noncarbon power generation in the country today.?
One environmental group has tried to keep an open mind. ?We don?t think any options should be taken off the table when dealing with global warming,? said Environmental Defense spokesman Charlie Miller.
The nuclear power industry in the U.S. has been at a virtual standstill because of high construction costs, regulatory uncertainties and public apprehension after a 1979 accident at Pennsylvania?s Three Mile Island.
A number of plants ordered before the accident went into operation. But many more were canceled after one of the Three Mile Island reactors suffered a partial meltdown and small amounts of radiation were released into the atmosphere.
Reviving the industry has been a priority for President Bush, who sees nuclear power as crucial to meeting a growing demand for electricity.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects to receive applications for about two dozen new plants in the next few years - in part because of provisions in a 2005 energy bill designed to promote nuclear power.
Currently, 103 nuclear plants - including Diablo Canyon near San Luis Obispo and San Onofre in northern San Diego County - generate about 20% of the nation?s electricity.
The amount of congressional support for nuclear power is unclear.
When McCain and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) added subsidies for nuclear power to their 2005 bill to cut greenhouse gas emissions, they lost support from environmentalists and votes in Congress, including Boxer?s.
McCain said he had no idea whether he would be more successful this time. But he said there was ?no way that you could ever seriously attack the issue of greenhouse gas emissions without nuclear power, and anybody who tells you differently is not telling the truth.?
On Capitol Hill last month, former Vice President Al Gore, who has become a leading advocate for swift action on climate change, said he saw nuclear plants as a ?small part? of the strategy.
?They?re so expensive, and they take so long to build, and at present they only come in one size: extra large,? he said.
?And people don?t want to make that kind of investment in an uncertain market for energy demand.?
The McCain-Lieberman bill, which seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to a third of 2000 levels, would provide federal loans or guarantees to subsidize as many as three advanced reactor projects.
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group and Public Citizen said the bill would authorize more than $3.7 billion in subsidies for new nuclear plants.
Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), a cosponsor of the McCain-Lieberman legislation, thinks support for nuclear power could bring more votes.
?Three or four years ago, if you included nuclear, you lost more than you gained,? he said. ?Today ? you pick up more than you lose.?
But nuclear power faces huge political and economic obstacles.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) remains opposed to the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal site in his state.
And Philip E. Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, said he did not think subsidies could overcome the concerns of potential investors. ?There isn?t enough money in the federal till to change Wall Street?s calculation of the financial risks,? he said.
Even some lawmakers who support nuclear power question whether the industry needs more federal money.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, sees nuclear power as a ?mature industry,? said Bill Wicker, his spokesman. ?Emerging climate-friendly and genuinely renewable technologies like wind and solar and geothermal and biomass could use that [funding] boost,? Wicker said.
Some environmentalists remain steadfastly opposed to nuclear power.
?Investments in energy conservation and renewable energy are quicker, more cost-effective and sustainable ways to reduce global warming emissions,? said Erich Pica of Friends of the Earth, which will oppose McCain?s bill as long as it contains subsidies for nuclear power.
Such environmentalists also note that carbon emissions from nuclear fuel processing are significant. They say the costs and risks of nuclear power are too high and far greater than alternatives, such as solar and wind power.
?Switching from coal to nukes,? said Dan Becker, director of the Sierra Club?s global warming program, ?is like giving up smoking and taking up crack.?
richard.simon@latimes.com
Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times
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I just e-mailed, then faxed, and called all Loni Hancock's #s (El Cerrito and Sacramento) about defeating AB 719, Assemblyman Devore’s bill to lift California’s ban on new nuclear plants in California. Deadline for public comment is today, April 10th. Will forward my letter with all Loni Hancock's phone, fax #s and e- address, if desired. How about adding that Reliable Replacement Nuclear Warhead to the Sustainability Group's agenda? Hope to see all at Peak Oil Education Event tonight, 7:00 P.M. --A.G. On Apr 10, 2007, at 3:12 PM, Eric Brooks wrote:
We can definitely make this an agenda item at the next Sustainability WG meeting.
We should definitely discuss what concrete action to take to oppose nuclear and biofuels, and perhaps also the looming bio-plastics ramp up, and neo-coal technologies.
I propose we draft a platform and then ask the GM to incorporate it and act upon it (for example, with candidate questionairs, perhaps city energy and container purchasing legislation).
cheers,
Eric
jimdorenkott2@yahoo.com wrote:
Thanks for posting this. The pro-nuclear power people are pushing hard. There is legislation in the CA hopper to eliminate the 30+ year old ban on new nuclear power plants. KGO talk host Dr. Bill Wattenburg was ranting and organizing on behalf of it Sunday night. Too many callers agreed with him. I don't hear the correlative on our progressive airwaves.
We need an overarching coalition or network of organizations who can begin responding. Locally here we should form a working group or sub-working group to connect with Sierra Club and other anti- nuclear power forces to coalesce. Part of their strategy should be visible visits to Pelosi's office to let her know how out of step she is with her constitutency on this.
I think we need to respond quickly to this. Thoughts?
Jim
pamndave@speakeasy.net wrote: Just in case you were wavering in your views of Nancy Pelosi:
Now nuclear power is "on the table." Of course, impeaching our war crimal president is "off the table."
(From the CommonDreams.org website) Published on Monday, April 9, 2007 by Los Angeles Times Pelosi, Clinton, Obama Favor More Nuclear Plants by Richard Simon
WASHINGTON - The renewed push for legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions could falter over an old debate: whether nuclear power should play a role in any federal attack on climate change.Congress, with added impetus from a Supreme Court ruling last week, appears more likely to pass comprehensive energy legislation. But nuclear power sharply divides lawmakers who agree on mandatory caps on carbon dioxide emissions. And it has pitted some on Capitol Hill against their usual allies, environmentalists, who largely oppose any expansion of nuclear power.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Barbara Boxer - Bay Area Democrats with similar political views - are on opposite sides.
Pelosi used to be an ardent foe of nuclear power but now holds a different view. ?I think it has to be on the table,? she said.
Boxer, head of the Senate committee that will take the lead in writing global warming legislation, said that turning from fossil fuels to nuclear power was ?trading one problem for another.?
Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) - all presidential candidates - support legislation that would cap greenhouse gas emissions and provide incentives to power companies to build more nuclear plants.
Opponents of nuclear power say that because a terrorist attack on a plant could be catastrophic, it makes no sense to build more potential targets. And radioactive waste still has no permanent burial site, they say, despite officials? three decades of trying to find one.
But attitudes toward nuclear power may be shifting as a consensus emerges that greenhouse gases are causing the world to heat up.
The Supreme Court added its voice, criticizing the Bush administration for not acting to control greenhouse gases.
Max Schulz, a former Energy Department staff member who is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, said the ruling could help ?spur the revival of nuclear power.?
And congressional Democratic leaders have made passage of global warming legislation a priority.
?I?ve never been a fan of nuclear energy,? said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has called it expensive and risky. ?But reducing emissions from the electricity sector presents a major challenge. And if we can be assured that new technologies help to produce nuclear energy safely and cleanly, then I think we have to take a look at it.?
The public?s attitude toward nuclear power is more favorable when such energy is seen as part of an effort to fight climate change. Polls over the years have shown that a slim majority backs nuclear power, but a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg survey last summer found that a larger majority, 61%, supported the increased use of nuclear energy ?to prevent global warming.?
Legislation introduced recently in California seeks to repeal a 1976 ban on new nuclear plants in the state.
?There?s no question that the attention to climate change over the last several years has materially changed the public discussion of nuclear power,? said Jason Grumet, executive director of the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan group of energy experts. Given the threat of global warming, he said, ?it?s hard to ignore the principal source of noncarbon power generation in the country today.?
One environmental group has tried to keep an open mind. ?We don?t think any options should be taken off the table when dealing with global warming,? said Environmental Defense spokesman Charlie Miller.
The nuclear power industry in the U.S. has been at a virtual standstill because of high construction costs, regulatory uncertainties and public apprehension after a 1979 accident at Pennsylvania?s Three Mile Island.
A number of plants ordered before the accident went into operation. But many more were canceled after one of the Three Mile Island reactors suffered a partial meltdown and small amounts of radiation were released into the atmosphere.
Reviving the industry has been a priority for President Bush, who sees nuclear power as crucial to meeting a growing demand for electricity.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects to receive applications for about two dozen new plants in the next few years - in part because of provisions in a 2005 energy bill designed to promote nuclear power.
Currently, 103 nuclear plants - including Diablo Canyon near San Luis Obispo and San Onofre in northern San Diego County - generate about 20% of the nation?s electricity.
The amount of congressional support for nuclear power is unclear.
When McCain and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) added subsidies for nuclear power to their 2005 bill to cut greenhouse gas emissions, they lost support from environmentalists and votes in Congress, including Boxer?s.
McCain said he had no idea whether he would be more successful this time. But he said there was ?no way that you could ever seriously attack the issue of greenhouse gas emissions without nuclear power, and anybody who tells you differently is not telling the truth.?
On Capitol Hill last month, former Vice President Al Gore, who has become a leading advocate for swift action on climate change, said he saw nuclear plants as a ?small part? of the strategy.
?They?re so expensive, and they take so long to build, and at present they only come in one size: extra large,? he said.
?And people don?t want to make that kind of investment in an uncertain market for energy demand.?
The McCain-Lieberman bill, which seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to a third of 2000 levels, would provide federal loans or guarantees to subsidize as many as three advanced reactor projects.
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group and Public Citizen said the bill would authorize more than $3.7 billion in subsidies for new nuclear plants.
Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), a cosponsor of the McCain- Lieberman legislation, thinks support for nuclear power could bring more votes.
?Three or four years ago, if you included nuclear, you lost more than you gained,? he said. ?Today ? you pick up more than you lose.?
But nuclear power faces huge political and economic obstacles.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) remains opposed to the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal site in his state.
And Philip E. Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, said he did not think subsidies could overcome the concerns of potential investors. ?There isn?t enough money in the federal till to change Wall Street?s calculation of the financial risks,? he said.
Even some lawmakers who support nuclear power question whether the industry needs more federal money.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, sees nuclear power as a ?mature industry,? said Bill Wicker, his spokesman. ?Emerging climate- friendly and genuinely renewable technologies like wind and solar and geothermal and biomass could use that [funding] boost,? Wicker said.
Some environmentalists remain steadfastly opposed to nuclear power.
?Investments in energy conservation and renewable energy are quicker, more cost-effective and sustainable ways to reduce global warming emissions,? said Erich Pica of Friends of the Earth, which will oppose McCain?s bill as long as it contains subsidies for nuclear power.
Such environmentalists also note that carbon emissions from nuclear fuel processing are significant. They say the costs and risks of nuclear power are too high and far greater than alternatives, such as solar and wind power.
?Switching from coal to nukes,? said Dan Becker, director of the Sierra Club?s global warming program, ?is like giving up smoking and taking up crack.?
richard.simon@latimes.com
Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times
_______________________________________________ San Francisco Green Party Active Members List To unsubscribe or edit your options, go here: https://list.sfgreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/active
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Jim, et al- It is good to see this discussion going on. I have been watching this pro-nuke crescendo with some alarm since "global warming" began to filter in to the lexicon. Fortunately, there was a regional meeting on April 1 of activists from nuclear power and weapons movement going back more than 25 years to discuss this. A list serve has been set up to discuss what we want to do and how, and I am sure it can be joined. I will be distributing some of the thinking points from that meeting on the Sustainability and Energy lists for further discussion, and I plan to make a report-back on the April 1 meeting at the next Sustainability Working Group meeting and discuss ideas for responding. Don At 11:12 AM 4/10/2007, Jim Dorenkott wrote:
Thanks for posting this. The pro-nuclear power people are pushing hard. There is legislation in the CA hopper to eliminate the 30+ year old ban on new nuclear power plants. KGO talk host Dr. Bill Wattenburg was ranting and organizing on behalf of it Sunday night. Too many callers agreed with him. I don't hear the correlative on our progressive airwaves.
We need an overarching coalition or network of organizations who can begin responding. Locally here we should form a working group or sub-working group to connect with Sierra Club and other anti-nuclear power forces to coalesce. Part of their strategy should be visible visits to Pelosi's office to let her know how out of step she is with her constitutency on this.
I think we need to respond quickly to this. Thoughts?
Jim
pamndave@speakeasy.net wrote: Just in case you were wavering in your views of Nancy Pelosi:
Now nuclear power is "on the table." Of course, impeaching our war crimal president is "off the table."
(From the CommonDreams.org website) Published on Monday, April 9, 2007 by Los Angeles Times Pelosi, Clinton, Obama Favor More Nuclear Plants by Richard Simon
WASHINGTON - The renewed push for legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions could falter over an old debate: whether nuclear power should play a role in any federal attack on climate change.Congress, with added impetus from a Supreme Court ruling last week, appears more likely to pass comprehensive energy legislation. But nuclear power sharply divides lawmakers who agree on mandatory caps on carbon dioxide emissions. And it has pitted some on Capitol Hill against their usual allies, environmentalists, who largely oppose any expansion of nuclear power.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Barbara Boxer - Bay Area Democrats with similar political views - are on opposite sides.
Pelosi used to be an ardent foe of nuclear power but now holds a different view. ?I think it has to be on the table,? she said.
Boxer, head of the Senate committee that will take the lead in writing global warming legislation, said that turning from fossil fuels to nuclear power was ?trading one problem for another.?
Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) - all presidential candidates - support legislation that would cap greenhouse gas emissions and provide incentives to power companies to build more nuclear plants.
Opponents of nuclear power say that because a terrorist attack on a plant could be catastrophic, it makes no sense to build more potential targets. And radioactive waste still has no permanent burial site, they say, despite officials? three decades of trying to find one.
But attitudes toward nuclear power may be shifting as a consensus emerges that greenhouse gases are causing the world to heat up.
The Supreme Court added its voice, criticizing the Bush administration for not acting to control greenhouse gases.
Max Schulz, a former Energy Department staff member who is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, said the ruling could help ?spur the revival of nuclear power.?
And congressional Democratic leaders have made passage of global warming legislation a priority.
?I?ve never been a fan of nuclear energy,? said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has called it expensive and risky. ?But reducing emissions from the electricity sector presents a major challenge. And if we can be assured that new technologies help to produce nuclear energy safely and cleanly, then I think we have to take a look at it.?
The public?s attitude toward nuclear power is more favorable when such energy is seen as part of an effort to fight climate change. Polls over the years have shown that a slim majority backs nuclear power, but a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg survey last summer found that a larger majority, 61%, supported the increased use of nuclear energy ?to prevent global warming.?
Legislation introduced recently in California seeks to repeal a 1976 ban on new nuclear plants in the state.
?There?s no question that the attention to climate change over the last several years has materially changed the public discussion of nuclear power,? said Jason Grumet, executive director of the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan group of energy experts. Given the threat of global warming, he said, ?it?s hard to ignore the principal source of noncarbon power generation in the country today.?
One environmental group has tried to keep an open mind. ?We don?t think any options should be taken off the table when dealing with global warming,? said Environmental Defense spokesman Charlie Miller.
The nuclear power industry in the U.S. has been at a virtual standstill because of high construction costs, regulatory uncertainties and public apprehension after a 1979 accident at Pennsylvania?s Three Mile Island.
A number of plants ordered before the accident went into operation. But many more were canceled after one of the Three Mile Island reactors suffered a partial meltdown and small amounts of radiation were released into the atmosphere.
Reviving the industry has been a priority for President Bush, who sees nuclear power as crucial to meeting a growing demand for electricity.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects to receive applications for about two dozen new plants in the next few years - in part because of provisions in a 2005 energy bill designed to promote nuclear power.
Currently, 103 nuclear plants - including Diablo Canyon near San Luis Obispo and San Onofre in northern San Diego County - generate about 20% of the nation?s electricity.
The amount of congressional support for nuclear power is unclear.
When McCain and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) added subsidies for nuclear power to their 2005 bill to cut greenhouse gas emissions, they lost support from environmentalists and votes in Congress, including Boxer?s.
McCain said he had no idea whether he would be more successful this time. But he said there was ?no way that you could ever seriously attack the issue of greenhouse gas emissions without nuclear power, and anybody who tells you differently is not telling the truth.?
On Capitol Hill last month, former Vice President Al Gore, who has become a leading advocate for swift action on climate change, said he saw nuclear plants as a ?small part? of the strategy.
?They?re so expensive, and they take so long to build, and at present they only come in one size: extra large,? he said.
?And people don?t want to make that kind of investment in an uncertain market for energy demand.?
The McCain-Lieberman bill, which seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to a third of 2000 levels, would provide federal loans or guarantees to subsidize as many as three advanced reactor projects.
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group and Public Citizen said the bill would authorize more than $3.7 billion in subsidies for new nuclear plants.
Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), a cosponsor of the McCain-Lieberman legislation, thinks support for nuclear power could bring more votes.
?Three or four years ago, if you included nuclear, you lost more than you gained,? he said. ?Today ? you pick up more than you lose.?
But nuclear power faces huge political and economic obstacles.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) remains opposed to the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal site in his state.
And Philip E. Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, said he did not think subsidies could overcome the concerns of potential investors. ?There isn?t enough money in the federal till to change Wall Street?s calculation of the financial risks,? he said.
Even some lawmakers who support nuclear power question whether the industry needs more federal money.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, sees nuclear power as a ?mature industry,? said Bill Wicker, his spokesman. ?Emerging climate-friendly and genuinely renewable technologies like wind and solar and geothermal and biomass could use that [funding] boost,? Wicker said.
Some environmentalists remain steadfastly opposed to nuclear power.
?Investments in energy conservation and renewable energy are quicker, more cost-effective and sustainable ways to reduce global warming emissions,? said Erich Pica of Friends of the Earth, which will oppose McCain?s bill as long as it contains subsidies for nuclear power.
Such environmentalists also note that carbon emissions from nuclear fuel processing are significant. They say the costs and risks of nuclear power are too high and far greater than alternatives, such as solar and wind power.
?Switching from coal to nukes,? said Dan Becker, director of the Sierra Club?s global warming program, ?is like giving up smoking and taking up crack.?
richard.simon@latimes.com
Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times
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Yes, I met some Green Guerrilla folks the night before; had a conflict couldn't go. What came of it. This legislation is coming fast. Does he have the votes? Jim Don Eichelberger <done7777@sbcglobal.net> wrote: Jim, et al- It is good to see this discussion going on. I have been watching this pro-nuke crescendo with some alarm since "global warming" began to filter in to the lexicon. Fortunately, there was a regional meeting on April 1 of activists from nuclear power and weapons movement going back more than 25 years to discuss this. A list serve has been set up to discuss what we want to do and how, and I am sure it can be joined. I will be distributing some of the thinking points from that meeting on the Sustainability and Energy lists for further discussion, and I plan to make a report-back on the April 1 meeting at the next Sustainability Working Group meeting and discuss ideas for responding. Don At 11:12 AM 4/10/2007, Jim Dorenkott wrote:
Thanks for posting this. The pro-nuclear power people are pushing hard. There is legislation in the CA hopper to eliminate the 30+ year old ban on new nuclear power plants. KGO talk host Dr. Bill Wattenburg was ranting and organizing on behalf of it Sunday night. Too many callers agreed with him. I don't hear the correlative on our progressive airwaves.
We need an overarching coalition or network of organizations who can begin responding. Locally here we should form a working group or sub-working group to connect with Sierra Club and other anti-nuclear power forces to coalesce. Part of their strategy should be visible visits to Pelosi's office to let her know how out of step she is with her constitutency on this.
I think we need to respond quickly to this. Thoughts?
Jim
pamndave@speakeasy.net wrote: Just in case you were wavering in your views of Nancy Pelosi:
Now nuclear power is "on the table." Of course, impeaching our war crimal president is "off the table."
(From the CommonDreams.org website) Published on Monday, April 9, 2007 by Los Angeles Times Pelosi, Clinton, Obama Favor More Nuclear Plants by Richard Simon
WASHINGTON - The renewed push for legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions could falter over an old debate: whether nuclear power should play a role in any federal attack on climate change.Congress, with added impetus from a Supreme Court ruling last week, appears more likely to pass comprehensive energy legislation. But nuclear power sharply divides lawmakers who agree on mandatory caps on carbon dioxide emissions. And it has pitted some on Capitol Hill against their usual allies, environmentalists, who largely oppose any expansion of nuclear power.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Barbara Boxer - Bay Area Democrats with similar political views - are on opposite sides.
Pelosi used to be an ardent foe of nuclear power but now holds a different view. ?I think it has to be on the table,? she said.
Boxer, head of the Senate committee that will take the lead in writing global warming legislation, said that turning from fossil fuels to nuclear power was ?trading one problem for another.?
Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) - all presidential candidates - support legislation that would cap greenhouse gas emissions and provide incentives to power companies to build more nuclear plants.
Opponents of nuclear power say that because a terrorist attack on a plant could be catastrophic, it makes no sense to build more potential targets. And radioactive waste still has no permanent burial site, they say, despite officials? three decades of trying to find one.
But attitudes toward nuclear power may be shifting as a consensus emerges that greenhouse gases are causing the world to heat up.
The Supreme Court added its voice, criticizing the Bush administration for not acting to control greenhouse gases.
Max Schulz, a former Energy Department staff member who is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, said the ruling could help ?spur the revival of nuclear power.?
And congressional Democratic leaders have made passage of global warming legislation a priority.
?I?ve never been a fan of nuclear energy,? said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has called it expensive and risky. ?But reducing emissions from the electricity sector presents a major challenge. And if we can be assured that new technologies help to produce nuclear energy safely and cleanly, then I think we have to take a look at it.?
The public?s attitude toward nuclear power is more favorable when such energy is seen as part of an effort to fight climate change. Polls over the years have shown that a slim majority backs nuclear power, but a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg survey last summer found that a larger majority, 61%, supported the increased use of nuclear energy ?to prevent global warming.?
Legislation introduced recently in California seeks to repeal a 1976 ban on new nuclear plants in the state.
?There?s no question that the attention to climate change over the last several years has materially changed the public discussion of nuclear power,? said Jason Grumet, executive director of the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan group of energy experts. Given the threat of global warming, he said, ?it?s hard to ignore the principal source of noncarbon power generation in the country today.?
One environmental group has tried to keep an open mind. ?We don?t think any options should be taken off the table when dealing with global warming,? said Environmental Defense spokesman Charlie Miller.
The nuclear power industry in the U.S. has been at a virtual standstill because of high construction costs, regulatory uncertainties and public apprehension after a 1979 accident at Pennsylvania?s Three Mile Island.
A number of plants ordered before the accident went into operation. But many more were canceled after one of the Three Mile Island reactors suffered a partial meltdown and small amounts of radiation were released into the atmosphere.
Reviving the industry has been a priority for President Bush, who sees nuclear power as crucial to meeting a growing demand for electricity.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects to receive applications for about two dozen new plants in the next few years - in part because of provisions in a 2005 energy bill designed to promote nuclear power.
Currently, 103 nuclear plants - including Diablo Canyon near San Luis Obispo and San Onofre in northern San Diego County - generate about 20% of the nation?s electricity.
The amount of congressional support for nuclear power is unclear.
When McCain and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) added subsidies for nuclear power to their 2005 bill to cut greenhouse gas emissions, they lost support from environmentalists and votes in Congress, including Boxer?s.
McCain said he had no idea whether he would be more successful this time. But he said there was ?no way that you could ever seriously attack the issue of greenhouse gas emissions without nuclear power, and anybody who tells you differently is not telling the truth.?
On Capitol Hill last month, former Vice President Al Gore, who has become a leading advocate for swift action on climate change, said he saw nuclear plants as a ?small part? of the strategy.
?They?re so expensive, and they take so long to build, and at present they only come in one size: extra large,? he said.
?And people don?t want to make that kind of investment in an uncertain market for energy demand.?
The McCain-Lieberman bill, which seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to a third of 2000 levels, would provide federal loans or guarantees to subsidize as many as three advanced reactor projects.
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group and Public Citizen said the bill would authorize more than $3.7 billion in subsidies for new nuclear plants.
Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), a cosponsor of the McCain-Lieberman legislation, thinks support for nuclear power could bring more votes.
?Three or four years ago, if you included nuclear, you lost more than you gained,? he said. ?Today ? you pick up more than you lose.?
But nuclear power faces huge political and economic obstacles.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) remains opposed to the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal site in his state.
And Philip E. Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, said he did not think subsidies could overcome the concerns of potential investors. ?There isn?t enough money in the federal till to change Wall Street?s calculation of the financial risks,? he said.
Even some lawmakers who support nuclear power question whether the industry needs more federal money.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, sees nuclear power as a ?mature industry,? said Bill Wicker, his spokesman. ?Emerging climate-friendly and genuinely renewable technologies like wind and solar and geothermal and biomass could use that [funding] boost,? Wicker said.
Some environmentalists remain steadfastly opposed to nuclear power.
?Investments in energy conservation and renewable energy are quicker, more cost-effective and sustainable ways to reduce global warming emissions,? said Erich Pica of Friends of the Earth, which will oppose McCain?s bill as long as it contains subsidies for nuclear power.
Such environmentalists also note that carbon emissions from nuclear fuel processing are significant. They say the costs and risks of nuclear power are too high and far greater than alternatives, such as solar and wind power.
?Switching from coal to nukes,? said Dan Becker, director of the Sierra Club?s global warming program, ?is like giving up smoking and taking up crack.?
richard.simon@latimes.com
Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times
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participants (6)
-
Ann Garrison -
Don Eichelberger -
Eric Brooks -
Jim Dorenkott -
nancy lewis -
pamndave＠speakeasy.net