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President Obama on Energy: Chuck Schumer

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Last week, the senior Senator from New York, Chuck Schumer, stopped by the Charlie Rose show and surveyed the Senate landscape under an Obama administration. A transcription follows, but mere text on a page does disservice to the actual exchange - occurring at the 13:40 mark in the video below.
Charlie Rose: What else will we see in terms of legislation in the House and Senate?
Chuck Schumer: You will see a really serious energy policy that will wean us away from fossil fuels.
Charlie Rose: Okay, but tell me what that means. What is going to wean us away?
Chuck Schumer: It means, it's going to mean changing the tax laws. We developed...
Charlie Rose: Incentives to...
Chuck Schumer: All kinds of alternative energies. All kinds. I would say with President Obama, nuclear energy is on the table. Okay? People don't realize that. It's in his platform.
Charlie Rose: Add to nuclear energy?
Chuck Schumer: Mmm hmmm. Mmm hmmm. [Affirmative]. With Senator Obama, all kinds of... now, we'll have an electric car. Production. Work. Travels the same distance in five or six years. Okay?

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Matthew66 said…
Westinghouse and Chicago Bridge and Iron announced last week that a $150 million contract for the fabrication of two containment vessels for AP1000 nuclear reactors. The utility involved was not disclosed. Currently there are six applications for twelve AP1000's being considered by the NRC. If CBI does a good job on the first contract, they're frontrunners for the other five, potentially another $750 million. Does anyone seriously think that President Obama is going to take that kind of work away from a company tied to his home state?

The new build in the nuclear industry is going to provide a lot of jobs to traditional Democrat voters - steel workers, boiler makers, electrical workers, construction workers, shipyard workers. They've delivered Michigan and Virgninia to the Democrats. I don't think the President-elect is going to bite the hand that feeds him.
November 5, 2008 at 8:30 AM
Anonymous said…
If I were thinking about building a new reactor, I would be very worried about that capital at risk. With capital being very scarce, commodities being expensive, and real reason to believe that Harry Reid will set the agenda in the Senate, I would not bet the company on a risky new plant project that ends like that fancy new plant on Long Island that never made power.
November 5, 2008 at 10:40 AM
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