keep a sharp eye on Lieb, he is up to no good

[ensho]

http://www.counterpunch.org/grossman05312008.html


"Why Are They Hiding It?"
A Half-Trillion for Nukes


With Wall Street unwilling to finance new nuclear plants, U.S. Senators Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and John Warner of Virginia have cooked up a scheme to provide $544 billion -­ yes, with a “b” -- in subsidies for new nuclear power plant development.

Their move will be debated on the floor of the Senate Tuesday, June 3.

A Lieberman aide describes the plan as "the most historic incentive for nuclear in the history of the United States."

The Lieberman-Warner scheme is cloaked in a climate change bill -- the claim being that nuclear power plants don’t emit greenhouse gases and thus don’t contribute to global warming. However, the overall “nuclear cycle” ­- which includes mining, milling, fuel enrichment and fabrication, and reprocessing -- has significant greenhouse gas emissions that do contribute to global warming.

Moreover, nuclear power is enormously dangerous. Accidents like the Chernobyl explosion of 1986 stand to kill and leave many people with cancer. Nuclear plants routinely emit life-threatening radioactivity. Safeguarding nuclear waste for millions of years is an insoluble problem.

-snip-

(SNEAKILY)

Sneakily, the $544 billion for nuclear power is not specifically listed in the Lieberman-Warner measure. It is “covert” legislative sleight-of-hand, says Blackwelder, with the nuclear subsidy contained in a “vaguely-entitled category for zero and low carbon energy technologies.”

-snip-

But the move has major support in the Senate -­ especially from John McCain, the presumptive Republican candidate for president.

-snip-

Turning to nuclear power to deal with climate change is like trying to treat heroin addiction with crack. Lieberman and Warner would have us pay for hundreds of billions of dollars for atomic crack.
-----------------------


Lieberman is a neo con with bloody hands

no to nuclear

[midnight]

1. More shock and awe.

[kentuck]

2. He is the master opportunist.

No doubt about it.

[eShirl]

3. imagine investing that amount in solar, wind, tidal, geothermal

etc

[wvbygod]

10. Yes and counterpunch would be wise to counter with such

The world is ready for a dialog and practial solutions and there is no better time
than now to start putting some real ideas on the table.

[cephalexin]

4. We will eventually have to use nuclear power....or do without energy.

It -is- possible to insist on reasonable safety measures without being a Luddite.

[Vincardog]

14. If it is so inevitable let wall street pay for it. An let them pay for the storage of

their waste fro the next few million years.

[Rosemary2205]

5. If Joey is breathing he's up to no good.

I couldn't believe the D's picked that ass for Veep. Completely stunned.

[Dr.Phool]

6. Look at all the money we'll save on light bulbs.

Since we'll glow in the dark.

[DFW]

7. Lieberman has been up to no good ever since he lost the CT 2006 primary

He harbors a bitter grudge, and will be showing payback until the Jan. 2,
when his diminishing relevance has dwindled to a speck of bad memory.

[aquart]

8. He's about to be obsolete.

Needs to do as much as he can, while he can. Hopefully, he'll switch parties in November, but I doubt it.

[wvbygod]

9. Hyperbole is fine but where are the alternatives?

With a name like counterpunch it would lead one to believe they just might suggest
some practical alternatives to keeping the power on. There needs to be some serious
thought and acceptance of reality that we will need solutions more than hand wringing
and the same old saw that nuclear is just simply "dangerous."

Safety has come a long way since the reactors of old and disposal of waste is just
begging for a creative solution. After all...the sun has been doing just fine with
nuclear power for billions of years and we need to stop whining and get on with a cure.

[Nevernose]

11. Safe waste sites exist

Unfortunately, the three best ones are in Vermont (granite mountains), West Texas, and California. New England, Texas, and California have a lot of political pull, so those sites are out, and Yucca Mountain -- a disaster waiting to happen -- is in.

Speaking of the sun... Orbital solar panels capable of generating virtually all of man's energy needs is projected to cost one trillion. That's a lot of money, but so's 545 billion.

Another problem with nuclear (which I'm not totally opposed to, btw, just mostly) is that there's a finite supply of uranium. Minable uranium's actually pretty rare in the crust. Most of it's in the core. Some estimates claim that while we have maybe a 30 year supply of oil, we only have a 60 year supply of uranium.

The first step in our quest for an energy solution, however, should be efficiency. That will require government mandates, though, and therefore taking on the almost-unimaginably greedy plutacracy that tries so hard to maintain their own wealth and damn the consequences. Skylights, "smart" thermostats, and trees should be the norm.

We should be requiring all new construction to have extra-thick walls, extra-insulation, triple-paned windows, energy efficient doors. Energy efficient appliances should not be optional.

All new buildings should be required to have solar panels. All new telephone poles should be required to have solar panels on them (they're already on the grid!).

All government buildings -- and any building owned or operated by an entity that receives government funds -- should be retrofitted for solar panels. Government offices and schools should have their parking lots retrofitted for covered parking, which should then be covered in solar panels.

Excess energy generated should be pumped back into the ground as steam, and released at night to generate more electricity.

Large-scale loar plants should be constructed in New Mexico, Old Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California, and Eastern Oregon, and the energy transmitted via DC lines to most of North America.

Every billboard on every Intersate should have a windmill or two on it.

Nuclear might still be necessary, but certainly not very much.

Anyway, sorry to rant, Haven't been out of the house all weekend. :)

[wvbygod]

13. Some good ideas you have there

I have not done the math but it is becoming clear that an aggressive change to widespread
smaller sources of electricity generation would provide many jobs and redundant points
of success. Counterpunch would do well to spread words like yours around far and wide.

[no_hypocrisy]

12. And keeping it in the family, Jenna's new husband, Henry, is involved in projects

to build nuclear reactors.

[pleah]

15. We have to stay vigilant.

I really hate these people.