[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Assemblymember Lloyd Levine, the Sierra Club California, Environment California, Coalition for Clean Air and Clean Power Campaign delivered the following letter to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stating why they oppose giving nuclear power a second chance. The Governor earlier said nuclear power has a great future because it has no greenhouse gas emissions and it’s clean.

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:

We are very concerned you are pushing the idea of giving nuclear power a second look as an answer to global warming when California has made a commitment to supporting other alternative energy solutions like wind, solar and geothermal technologies for the past four years.

Nuclear power comes with a vicious pollution cycle. The production process of mining uranium to fuel nuclear plants requires massive diesel powered machinery that grossly pollutes the air. The mined uranium would then have to be shipped to the United States in large, diesel powered ships and reprocessed into nuclear fuel in pollution producing coke ovens.

Nuclear power is expensive. It costs $10 billion dollars or more to construct a single nuclear power plant.

by Assemblymember_Levine [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

SACRAMENTO - Assemblymember Lloyd Levine (D-Woodland Hills), the Sierra Club California, Environment California, Coalition for Clean Air and Clean Power Campaign today delivered the following letter to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stating why they oppose giving nuclear power a second chance. The Governor earlier said nuclear power has a great future because it has no greenhouse gas emissions and it's clean.

Edit by Brian: See the flip for the letter.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Assemblymember Chuck DeVore's initiative to allow the rapid construction of nuclear power plants in California bit the big one yesterday.

With no support and no funding, the initiative -- largely considered a publicity stunt by the right-wing Assemblymember -- was yanked. DeVore told the press he would reintroduce it if his legislation didn't get signed into law next year. And given the distaste for nuclear power among California citizens, it looks like the most DeVore will get out of it will be another few headlines.

DeVore cites nuclear power as clean energy that will help ease the global warming crisis. However, DeVore's concern about global warming seems to end when it comes to actually doing something about it: he joined all but one Republican legislator in opposing AB 32, California's landmark greenhouse gas emissions control law.

Image courtesy CorrosionCost.com.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Gary A. Patton
Executive Director
Planning and Conservation League

At its meeting last week, the PCL Executive Committee took official action to oppose a proposed ballot initiative designed to allow more nuclear power plants in California. The measure would essentially repeal the Nuclear Safeguards Initiative, passed by California voters in 1976. Here’s what it would do:

• Repeal California's nuclear power plant safety protections and permit construction of nuclear power plants in seismically active areas.

• Allow nuclear generation plants in the Coastal Zone.

• Allow construction of nuclear power plants before facilities for permanent, long-term storage of radioactive materials are developed and licensed.

• Redefine permanent storage of high-level radioactive waste to "100 plus years of onsite storage at California's reactors" as the benchmark to be met for the state to lift its moratorium on the siting of new nuclear reactors.

The full text of the proposed measure is available on the Attorney General's website.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Peter Schrag

Today, is the day when toute la France heads off on its month-long summer holiday. No, it's not everybody. Somebody has to drive the trains, keep the nuclear power plants running, staff the seaside hotels and patrol the autoroutes.

But they'll all get their turn -- an average 37 days vacation per worker per year, compared with an average of 13 days in the United States, which is the lowest in the modern world. (Those hard-working Japanese take 25 days). French law guarantees every worker 30 days. Paid sick leave is standard. Americans are guaranteed nothing.

All this is particularly relevant now because the French and their arrangements are back in fashion. Freedom fries are off the menu. But if you read the national pundits or go see Michael Moore's latest movie, you know that French health care is in; so are French trains, French children's services, French social welfare, French education and French technology.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

California environmentalists and policy makers are starting to rethink nuclear power. The San Jose Mercury News explores the nuclear issue in some depth. Nuclear power could help ease our society's transition to a lesscarbon-polluting energy policy (and for cheap, too), but there arestill areas of concern.  Nuclear power plants don't create much waste,but what there is lasts effectively forever.  On the other hand,industry advocates argue that nuclear waste can actually be recycled;France already has an effective nuclear waste recycling program inplace.

Is anyone else annoyed by the whole premise that political leaders needto talk about their private faith to gain voters' trust?  To take asingle example, the Sacramento Bee has a story about John McCainbeing urged by conservative Christians to talk more about hisreligion.  McCain himself has said, "It's primarily a private issuerather than a public one. . . .  When I'm asked about it, I'll be gladto discuss it. I just don't bring it up."  Hear, hear.  Let's have moretalk about the issues and less about the precise details of acandidate's personal religious beliefs.