Senator John Corzine and environmentalists

The New Jersey-based blog Dirty New Jersey links to a story in Newsday that discusses the upcoming New Jersey governor's race and how a few decisions by Sen. John Corzine have left the presumed Democratic nominee looking for ways to woo back one of his bases of support - environmentalists.

Among the issues raised by environmentalists, Corzine supports extending the license of one of the country's oldest nuclear power plants, Oyster Creek, and he has endorsed construction of an enormous entertainment complex in the Meadowlands, the sprawling wetland across the Hudson River from New York City. The state's three biggest environmental groups are suing to stop the Meadowlands project.

While I understand there are many issues that have caused this erosion of support among the environmental community, one must take issue with the contention that the re-licensing of Oyster Creek is bad for the environment. A study conducted by Polestar Applied Technology and released last month by the Nuclear Energy Institute demonstrates that nuclear energy must remain a leading source of electricity in the Northeastern United States for decades to come if efforts under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to reduce CO2 emissions in the electricity sector are to prove successful without major upheaval for industry and consumers.

Non-emitting nuclear energy produces 31.6 percent of the Northeast's electricity, making it the single-largest electricity source in the region. The prominence of nuclear power plants means that Northeastern states already enjoy some of the lowest carbon dioxide emission rates in the country.

Note to the NJ environmental community: Without Oyster Creek, the CO2 problem is only going to get worse.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Environment, Energy, Politics, Technology, Economics

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