Skip to main content

Another Blogger for Nuclear Energy

Meet Jonathan Hodges:
I believe that nuclear energy is the only short term solution to the energy problem until solar power becomes more efficient and viable on a large scale. And one of Greenpeace’s founders agrees with my opinion, despite the organization’s opposition to virtually every currently viable form of energy. In order to reduce atmospheric pollution and to address the issue the waning fossil fuel supply, nuclear energy is the only viable source in which to turn. New reactor technologies (i.e. breeder reactors) since the last plant was built in the US (1970’s) means even more efficient energy production. Building more nuclear power plants would provide additional clean energy sources in a time when there are shortages in energy across the country along with increasing pollution primarily from coal burning plants.
It's amazing to see the effect Patrick Moore's op-ed has had on the Blogosphere. Click here to see what I'm talking about.

Technorati tags: , , , ,

Comments

Anonymous said…
um, hasn't patrick moore been outed as biased: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.03/moore.html
Eric McErlain said…
If you define bias as disagreeing with you...
Anonymous said…
no i define biased as being paid by one side or another. he makes his living as a consultant for the industries he now espouses.

on the other hand, james lovelock makes no money (that i know of) from interested parties and still touts nuclear as a solution.
Eric McErlain said…
Whether you believe he's biased or not, don't you believe honest debate means that you ought to engage the arguments he makes, and not simply dismiss him?
Anonymous said…
Everyone is, in some way, biased. So what he gets paid for what he says? As long as he says what he honestly believes in, who cares that someone sponsors him to say it?

There's no evidence that he only holds his beliefs because he's paid to. In fact, the article you supply states:

Nonetheless, he adds, he refuses to tailor his opinions to please a client. "People don't pay me to say things they've written down or made up. They pay me to tell them what I think." Furthermore, he maintains that his positions - with the exception of his take on nuclear energy (which he now favors) - have hardly changed since 1971. The rest of the movement, he says, has shifted around him.

It's your choice to believe him or not, of course. It would be impossible to prove beyond any doubt he is sincere. But I can see little evidence to falsify this claim, unless you have something other than that he gets paid.

On a side note, Greenpeace activists get paid too, but nobody says they are biased.
Anonymous said…
Paul, this is a different person than the previous one and I agree with your point.

My statement in saying "nobody says they are biased" was one highlighting the hypocracy of those who try to say pro-nuclear/pro-corporate advocates are biased while not holding the anit-nuclear/anti-corporate advocates to the same level of scrutiny. The use of "nobody" was a bit imprecise, I admit.

Nonetheless, it is good to see exact facts and figures to back up my point.
Rod Adams said…
Paul:

Great data about Rockefeller Foundation activities.

There are plenty of other institutions with petroleum roots including but not limited to the MacArthur Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and the J. Paul Getty Foundation that provide plenty of money to the anti-nuclear activists.

Popular posts from this blog

Fluor Invests in NuScale

You know, it’s kind of sad that no one is willing to invest in nuclear energy anymore. Wait, what? NuScale Power celebrated the news of its company-saving $30 million investment from Fluor Corp. Thursday morning with a press conference in Washington, D.C. Fluor is a design, engineering and construction company involved with some 20 plants in the 70s and 80s, but it has not held interest in a nuclear energy company until now. Fluor, which has deep roots in the nuclear industry, is betting big on small-scale nuclear energy with its NuScale investment. "It's become a serious contender in the last decade or so," John Hopkins, [Fluor’s group president in charge of new ventures], said. And that brings us to NuScale, which had run into some dark days – maybe not as dark as, say, Solyndra, but dire enough : Earlier this year, the Securities Exchange Commission filed an action against NuScale's lead investor, The Michael Kenwood Group. The firm "misap

An Ohio School Board Is Working to Save Nuclear Plants

Ohio faces a decision soon about its two nuclear reactors, Davis-Besse and Perry, and on Wednesday, neighbors of one of those plants issued a cry for help. The reactors’ problem is that the price of electricity they sell on the high-voltage grid is depressed, mostly because of a surplus of natural gas. And the reactors do not get any revenue for the other benefits they provide. Some of those benefits are regional – emissions-free electricity, reliability with months of fuel on-site, and diversity in case of problems or price spikes with gas or coal, state and federal payroll taxes, and national economic stimulus as the plants buy fuel, supplies and services. Some of the benefits are highly localized, including employment and property taxes. One locality is already feeling the pinch: Oak Harbor on Lake Erie, home to Davis-Besse. The town has a middle school in a building that is 106 years old, and an elementary school from the 1950s, and on May 2 was scheduled to have a referendu

Wednesday Update

From NEI’s Japan micro-site: NRC, Industry Concur on Many Post-Fukushima Actions Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues • There is a “great deal of alignment” between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the industry on initial steps to take at America’s nuclear energy facilities in response to the nuclear accident in Japan, Charles Pardee, the chief operating officer of Exelon Generation Co., said at an agency briefing today. The briefing gave stakeholders an opportunity to discuss staff recommendations for near-term actions the agency may take at U.S. facilities. PowerPoint slides from the meeting are on the NRC website. • The International Atomic Energy Agency board has approved a plan that calls for inspectors to evaluate reactor safety at nuclear energy facilities every three years. Governments may opt out of having their country’s facilities inspected. Also approved were plans to maintain a rapid response team of experts ready to assist facility operators recoverin