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On Environmentalists and Nuclear Energy

By Eric McErlain
Yesterday on NPR's program, Day by Day, correspondent Mike Pesca filed a report that the broadcaster slugged, "Environmentalists Reconsider Nuclear Energy." But after listening to the report, I'd have to say that it left the impression that serious environmentalists weren't really reconsidering their position at all.

Instead of talking to, or mentioning figures like Patrick Moore, James Lovelock and Stewart Brand, Pesca only did interviews with Navin Nyack of U.S. PIRG and Fred Krupp of Environmental Defense. Nyack, as you would have to expect, was hostile, while Krupp's support seemed lukewarm at best. l

At one point in the piece, Nyack began to mention all of the environmental groups that have taken a public stance against nuclear energy. But as we saw last week with the press announcement concerning a coalition of groups repeating their opposition to nuclear energy, those numbers seem to have been padded. And I'll reiterate a point I've made before: the list that was released that day communicated more about the mainstream environmental groups who weren't listed than the ones it did.

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Comments

Norris McDonald said…
And the small but powerful African American Environmentalist Association also supports nuclear power. It appears that we are being left out of listings of green group support for nuclear power in various articles. I do not like whining but we do not intend to be ignored. I hope this does not become a distraction. Is there a motive operating here that we need to know about?
June 24, 2005 at 10:00 PM
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