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Local Pols Picking on Vermont Yankee

By Eric McErlain
Over at The Prog Blog, Rep. Sarah Edwards of Vermont is attacking Patrick Moore for his efforts in support of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant:
Moore said Vermont should be held up as an example of how greenhouse gases can be reduced, and that the rest of the country should follow our lead. “Vermont has the lowest per capita greenhouse gas emissions in the United States for one single reason, your power supply,” he said. While Moore is right about Vermont having low per capita greenhouse emissions, his rationale is way off base.

Moore believes that there is literally no future without nuclear power. Many of us believe there is another way to create a sane energy future in Vermont. It lies with focused economic development related to conservation, efficiency, and new, renewable energy technologies. Rather than lauding our aging nuclear power plant, we would like to see Vermont play a strong leadership role in the renewable energy industry.

[...]

As a shameless campaigner for nuclear energy, Moore presented a wholly biased view to the committee. He neglects the danger of creating high-level nuclear waste. He claims nuclear power is cheap but fails to examine the total cost. He doesn’t mention the fact that the federal government has provided massive subsidies to the industry since its inception. Since 1974, the industry has received $47.9 billion, while $12.4 billion has been given to renewables and $11.7 billion has been devoted to efficiency. Imagine how it would be if those numbers were reversed.
As we've noted before, folks like Rep. Edwards like playing fast and loose with the numbers when it comes to energy and subsidies. For a little dose of the truth, see these posts by David Bradish and N. Nadir.

For our complete file on Vermont Yankee, click here.
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