Foreign Policy Blogs

Nuclear Boondoggle

Just a quick note:  A former student of mine jumped in the other day with some comment about the recent nuclear power announcement from the White House.  Here is her take and my response.

For a stunningly strong and incisive analysis, go to Kate Sheppard’s article yesterday at “Mother Jones.”  One of the several eye-opening insights is this one:  “The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated in 2003 that the risk of default on loan guarantees is ‘very high-well above 50 percent.’ Yet in a call with reporters on Tuesday, [US Energy Secretary Steven] Chu said he had not heard of that CBO study.”

Steven Chu is a very smart guy, but he’s too tunnel-visioned on nuclear power.  Barack Obama is an even smarter guy, but he needs to start thinking outside the political box more and realizing that renewables and other clean tech are the way forward.

 

Author

Bill Hewitt

Bill Hewitt has been an environmental activist and professional for nearly 25 years. He was deeply involved in the battle to curtail acid rain, and was also a Sierra Club leader in New York City. He spent 11 years in public affairs for the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation, and worked on environmental issues for two NYC mayoral campaigns and a presidential campaign. He is a writer and editor and is the principal of Hewitt Communications. He has an M.S. in international affairs, has taught political science at Pace University, and has graduate and continuing education classes on climate change, sustainability, and energy and the environment at The Center for Global Affairs at NYU. His book, "A Newer World - Politics, Money, Technology, and What’s Really Being Done to Solve the Climate Crisis," will be out from the University Press of New England in December.



Areas of Focus:
the policy, politics, science and economics of environmental protection, sustainability, energy and climate change

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