( By Mark Stewart )
Rep. Henry Waxman (L) and Rep. Ed Markey (R)
As you’ve probably heard by now, The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), also known as the Waxman-Markey Bill, was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday by a relatively thin margin. While the bill throws the nuclear industry a bone with an exclusion of new nuclear from base generation targets, the bill as a whole misses the mark when it comes to real solutions.
While there’s nothing wrong with pursuing renewables like wind and solar energy, these technologies have yet to prove that they can be reliable, competitive in the energy market, and adequate to meet the ever increasing energy demand. If the U.S. is serious about cutting CO2 emissions, New Nuclear Power is the only feasible CO2 free power solution that is ready TODAY.
Leave it to Congress to overcomplicate what could be a simple issue. By drafting legislation that funds and promotes only “renewable” energy instead of all “clean” energy, the House missed a chance to solidify emission-free electricity supply in the U.S. as well as set the framework for thousands of high-paying skilled construction and engineering jobs.
This marks the second such missed opportunity this year as President Obama’s stimulus package failed to include any nuclear provisions. The ACES bill still has to go through the Senate and I am hopeful that Senators Bennett, Alexander, Bunning, Voinovich, and others can stand up for clean, CO2 free, nuclear energy while debating this bill.
I agree with nuclear being the best current technolgy to reducing CO2 emissions. Wind and solar have to solve the big problem of being intermittent sources in a 24/7 world. Let’s not leave clean coal out of the picture though. We have a huge resource in coal supplies with an infrastructure in place for exploiting it. Technology exists for making it “clean” and shouldn’t be ignored. We have to remember this is a technical problem; not to rely on politicians to solve.
Another fact we should not forget about solar and wind generation is that both of these technologies rely heavily on government subsidies. According to the Energy Information Agency, solar is subsidized 23.35 $/MWh while wind is subsidized 14 $/MWh. When compared to coal (0.44 $/MWh), natural gas (0.25 $/MWh) and nuclear (1.60 $/MWh) it is easy to see why the free market dictates coal and natural gas should be our fuels of choice as we begin our move to the ultimate solution of nuclear generation.
The bill described below represents an alternative plan now under consideration:
American Energy Act H.R. 2828 [111th]
From the June 11, 2009 edition of the Wall Street Journal. Edited for space:
“…The American Energy Act establishes a national goal of licensing 100 new nuclear reactors over the next 20 years. With 31 announced reactor applications already in the pipeline, this goal can be achieved — and it will revitalize an entire manufacturing sector, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. The bill also streamlines a cumbersome regulatory process by offering a two-year, fast-track approval program for power-plant applications that employ safe reactor designs already approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission…”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124467604217304035.html
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The simple “Contact Congress” page below enables readers to quickly find and open a window directly to their US Representative, and then cut and paste a simple letter of support.
Please visit and pass it on as you see appropriate.
http://www.suretyinsider.com/american-energy-act-hr2828.html
or, Twitter-sized:
http://tinyurl.com/ljesvp