No Nukes Is Good Nukes

For some reason, the zeitgeist is channeling this post. Or synchronicity or whim or time or tide. In the interim,

U.S. Grants 1st License for Major Nuclear Plant in 30 Years
Associated Press
Sunday, June 25, 2006; Page A10

ALBUQUERQUE — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued its first license for a major commercial nuclear facility in 30 years, allowing an international consortium to build what will be the nation’s first private fuel source for commercial nuclear power plants.

Construction of the $1.5 billion National Enrichment Facility, under review for the past 2 1/2 years, could begin in August, and the plant could be ready to sell enriched uranium by early 2009, said James Ferland, president of the consortium of nuclear companies, Louisiana Energy Services.

The plant, licensed on Friday, will be built near the small southeastern New Mexico community of Eunice, where support for the project is strong. Critics say it will pollute the environment, guzzle scarce water and leave the town with tons of radioactive waste and nowhere to put it….

And then, this …

BEGIN 2007 piece

31 July 2007…5:33 am

Christine Todd Whitman Shills for Nuclear Power

CONTEXT UPDATE: I wrote the article below without asking WHY she was on the radio this morning. A news item clarified why (Google: ‘posted 6 hours ago’):

International Herald Tribune (New York TIMES):

U.S energy bill aids the expansion plans of atomic power plants
By Edmund L. Andrews and Matthew L. Wald
Published: July 31, 2007

WASHINGTON: A one-sentence provision buried in the Senate’s recently passed energy bill, inserted without debate at the urging of the nuclear power industry, could make builders of new nuclear plants eligible for tens of billions of dollars in government loan guarantees. … The nuclear industry is enjoying growing political support after decades of opposition from environmental groups and others concerned about the risks. An increasing number of lawmakers in both parties, worried about global warming and dependence on foreign oil, support some expansion of nuclear power….

So, they’re back at the public trough. Now, the original post:

How sick is that?

If there were ever any doubt that Republican Barbie-Doll-from-Hell ex-NJ Gov. Christine Todd Whitman was the right person for the “Clean Skies” initiative and the “Clean Water” initiative for Bushco before she jumped ship, well, she’s confirmed it with her slimy “buddies” interview on the “liberal” Bill Press Show.*

(*Syndicated by Jones Radio– Ed Schultz, Stephanie Miller, etc. Rightie hosts, too, like The Neal Boortz Show. Press, the former Chair of the California Democratic Party, and co-host of CNN’s late, unlamented “Crossfire,” seemingly swings both ways,: Left and Right.)

What’s astonishing is how sweetly and uncritically Press does this. His “incisive” question about the nightmare of nukes: “Why do we have to subsidize them?”

Whitman’s slimy answer: Environmentalist lawsuits. Oh. This from the former head of EPA under Bush. She supposedly “distanced” herself from the current Administration’s environmentally rapine policies, and now is shilling for Nuclear? The rankest of the rank hypocrites, a more palatable version of Ann Coulter, but just as sleazy with the facts. Some highlights:

Yucca Mtn. in Nevada “As we all know it’s being held up.” (By Harry Reid). She “understands.”

She holds up France and Japan as examples. (Right. Suddenly crapping on France is forgotten.)

We need to start doing these things now. (Getting Kyoto permits: “time consuming” and “we’ve got to get in line now.”)

Whitman pretends that her assessment of Ground Zero after 9-11 (asbestos and toxins in the air are allegedly responsible for debilitating effects, respiratory diseases, long-term health disasters in 9-11 responders, volunteers, rescue workers … and are being ignored by the Federal Government) was “correct.” (With nuances, which is the Democratic term for “not just black and white,” but which is the GOP term for “I’m a lying sack of crap.”)

“No higher risk of long-term health problems … in general.” and “We were always concerned [about asbestos, but] … not in a position legally to be able to enforce it.”

Which is a lie. She told the people of Manhattan that the air at Ground Zero was safe. They believed her. Now, they’re dying.

So we’re supposed to believe her about nuclear power?

You gotta give her style points for sheer brazen gall. Having aided and abetted in covering up deadly aftereffects of 9-11, and having been the Administration’s “point man” on wrecking new arsenic standards in drinking water, wrecking air and water regulation, and assisting in the Bush/Cheney attack on the environment (or, turning the EPA into an oxymoron again, as the Reagan Administration did), she NOW both acts like she’s NOT an environmental thug, a murderess and someone who “cares” about the environment, AND pushes the most toxic substances known to man as the “solution” for getting us energy independent.

She conveniently forgets that ONE of the 9-11 targets was the Indian Head Nuclear Power Plant on the Hudson River above New York City. HAD they succeeded in slamming one of the jets into that plant, ALL of NYC would now be ground zero.

Thank goodness

[End interview 4:23 AM PDT]

Press invites callers to discuss the question, “Nuclear energy: should it be part of the mix?”

[Press continues to rely heavily on his old CNN connections for 'timely' guests. From his website this morning:

Guests

* Former Governor and EPA Administrator Christine Whitman
* MSNBC Host Tucker Carlson
* CNN Weekend Legal Analyst Avery Friedman
* Politico's DC Gossip Queen Anne Schroeder

Gee, that's "liberal." (NOT!) Oh, and this weirdly pathetic posting on his blog:

July 31, 2007
Bill WINS!!!
Dan wrote this at 7:13 am:

Bill Press is “D.C.’s Hottest Male On-Air Media Type” according to Mediabistro’s FishbowlDC. Thanks to YOUR votes!

Now, I (Associate Producer Dan) humbly ask for forgiveness to allegations of giving instructions on how to cheat the contest. Competition was getting tough, and we know for a fact other campaigns were cheating as well - it just so happens we got caught! I ask for forgiveness. Bill has given me my lashings.

For the record, Bill took the high road and did not accept the win from FishbowlDC, but they rejected his rejection.

Isn’t this what politics is all about? Cheating, then forgiveness?

No: that's just slimy. I know they think it's "funny," but it's basically disgusting.

Just a couple of additional comments, here.

Here's the press release where she goes to work for her NEW satanic masters:

WASHINGTON, DC, April 24, 2006 – Two prominent environmental figures today announced that they will co-chair a new coalition designed to add fresh voices from across America to the resurgent movement advocating increased use of nuclear energy. The creation of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition – also known as the CASEnergy Coalition – was announced by Christine Todd Whitman, former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and former New Jersey Governor, and Patrick Moore, co-founder and former leader of Greenpeace.

Gov. Whitman and Dr. Moore called on Americans to join them in supporting the use of nuclear power as a clean, safe, reliable and cost-effective way to balance America’s energy demands and protect the environment.

“Our country’s significant energy needs keep growing. We must diversify our energy sources to meet these needs,” said Whitman. “Nuclear energy should be an important part of this diversification plan, especially since its production generates no air pollutants or greenhouse gases.”

Oh, disgusting comment (4:36) Bill Press: "I think Christine Todd Whitman can still be counted among the environmentalists."

Really, Bill? And Torquemada can still be counted among the non-violent pacifists of the Fifteenth Century.

Jesus. They lie to us with a straight face, and Press collaborates with this environmental thug to be polite. This is the liberal problem in a nutshell: we are civil to barbarians, when they only USE our civility to accomplish their (barbaric) ends. They DEPEND on it, and we oblige them.

[The Nazis depended on the civility of the Jews to get them to march in orderly fashion into the showers, so beware!]

But Whitman is “still” an “environmentalist”?

Look. I debated nuclear power in college, having to DEFEND it against the many cases that wanted it killed. We never ran an anti-nuke case, so our research specialty was the literature that DEFENDED nuclear energy, of which I read mountains of. At the end of the time — my cousin worked at Los Alamos for many years, and having been brought up among PRO-nuclear engineers and scientists — I was forced to conclude* that nuclear energy has been an unmitigated disaster in virtually EVERY case, from weapons to power plants, and that in any sane cost/benefit analysis, we risked everything to gain virtually nothing. (They never mention that uranium is an even MORE limited resource than oil and coal, or that, if you go to “breeder reactors” to produce more nuclear fuel, they produce plutonium in great abundance.)

[* Intellectual honesty demands that we embrace the truth, as facts emerge, whether we like the conclusions or not. I would be just as willing to convert back, were there any meaningful new arguments. But there aren't.]

Nothing I’ve seen since has altered that conclusion. Intellectual honesty demands that we put aside the lies and half-truths of an astonishingly dangerous and disingenuous industry … that now hires “environmental hero” Whitman and “Greenpeace Founder” Moore?

Well so what? Al Capone was once an altar boy. People change when lots of slimy cash is waved under their noses.

The Nuclear Power industry has huge investments in technology, siting and plant construction that they would rather make back than worry about those laughable nuclear accidents. And they’ve been hiring big-buck shills like Christine Todd Whitman for years and years.

What’s HILARIOUS is that she’s working for the nuke people because she’s supposed to be an “environmentalist.’ I guess they didn’t bother reading the newspapers from 2001 through 2005, when she ran (into the ground) the EPA. Or perhaps they were impressed by her rationalizations that it wasn’t her fault. She was just following orders.

Hmm. That sounds familiar. I wonder where I’ve heard it before?

But, of course, if we put nuclear plants everywhere, we wouldn’t be dependent on terrorists.

See: Impacts of a Terrorist Attack at Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant from the Union of Concerned Scientists ( a group, unlike Whitman, that actually has credibility).

But I guess terrorists are only dangerous when Republican thugs say they are, and NOT when they say they aren’t.

Bill Press (4:58 AM): “I’m still not ready to get on board.”

Gee. And I’m still not ready to get on board with legalizing child rape. But the way I just said it implies that it’s a REASONABLE choice. Just like nuclear power.

[Here, from the REAL Greenpeace website: Nuclear Power’s Extreme Makeover]

OK in a nutshell, what’s wrong with nukes? The fact that we’ll have to contain the waste for over 100,000 years for a few years of power. Insane. That plutonium is the MOST TOXIC SUBSTANCE known. Lunacy. That every plant is a target, and that even if ALL accidents could be prevented, they will always be magnets for terrorism, the success of which would functionally make the surrounding area uninhabitable forever.

None of this is remarkable, except that this right wing slime shows up on “liberal” talk radio. It’s not like the barbarians who dominate the field with their astonishing hatespeak don’t have plenty of time to give Whitman’s lies, half-truths and criminal rationalizations. But no.

There is a special spot in hell for you, Christine Todd Whitman.

But take solace in George Bernard Shaw’s observation that the damned feel perfectly comfortable in hell.

After all, it was made for them.

Courage.

[NOTE: 5:15 AM, Tucker Carlson disconnects himself from Bush in classical "rat deserting sinking ship" modality. And "who cares what Dick Cheney thinks?" I shoulda stayed in bed.]

END 2007 piece

And, finally, this, way too slick not to have been written by a copywriter for this stealth campaign:

Nuclear Power Plant Construction License Application Making Progress in Maryland

It has been darned hot on the East Coast, and the electric companies have been asking their customers to conserve power whenever possible, especially in the heat of the day. Each day this week one of the topics of conversation in my carpool has been the oppressive heat and poor air quality.

[...]

The plant is not exactly in my backyard, but it is only about an hour’s drive south of my home. Though watching and waiting for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to issue a new nuclear plant license to allow the beginning of construction can be a bit like watching grass grow, the decision to “docket” the application indicates that real progress continues.

[...]

Disclosure: A small portion of my modest portfolio is in Constellation Energy since it is one of the companies that is actively pursuing new nuclear power plant construction and operation.

Smells either like PR or teen spirit. And why not?

Third nuke unit set for hearing

NRC public hearing Tuesday on environmental aspects of planned third reactor at North Anna Power Station

Date published: 1/31/2009
BY RUSTY DENNEN
The Fredericksburg FreeLance Star

The public will have another chance to weigh in on Dominion power’s plans for a third nuclear reactor at North Anna Power Station.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking comment Tuesday on a draft supplemental environmental impact statement. The session is from 6 to 10 p.m. at Louisa County High School. An informal open house for questions to the NRC staff begins at 5.

The inch-thick supplemental report is part of a review process by the NRC staff and was the result of a public hearing earlier this year at which the agency sought comment on Dominion’s proposal. It expands on an environmental impact statement completed in 2006.

The NRC staff’s preliminary finding is that there are no new environmental considerations that should block Unit 3, and it recommends that Dominion be issued a combined license to build and operate the reactor….

That’s Fredericksburg, Virginia, where other, more famous disputes have taken place.

Or this:

Yucca license application accepted for review

Tuesday September 9, 2008 12:01 AM
By ERICA WERNER
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal regulators took a first step Monday toward allowing a radioactive waste dump in Nevada, agreeing to formally review the government’s license application for the dump….

Or this, from Fox “Business” — even though it’s a nuclear industry press release reprinted verbatim:

Within the past year, nine license applications for as many as 15 possible new reactors have been filed with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and between seven and 11 more license applications are expected to be filed this year.

And Christine Todd Whitman still has a nice spot on the Clean and Safe Energy webpage, CASEnergy Home.

Courage².