USA Today criticizes the three Democratic presidential contenders for pandering to Nevadans opposed to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage facility:
In a singularly disingenuous bit of political jiu-jitsu, Edwards (who twice voted for Yucca Mountain) said he opposed using the site and then said he opposed building any more nuclear power plants because there's no safe way to dispose of the waste. In an only slightly less irresponsible comment, Obama said he opposed dumping at Yucca even though his home state of Illinois has the most nuclear plants. Let's see whether we follow the logic: His state is contributing more to the problem than any other, but he opposes the only likely solution. Clinton said she opposed the Yucca site - and attacked Obama and Edwards for not being quite as opposed as she is. Frankly, it was hard to tell the difference.
And where do the Democrats stand on nuclear power, generally? Hillary Clinton on nuclear power: "I think nuclear power has to be part of our energy solution. I think we've got to do a better job in figuring out how we're going to deal with the waste... It's a tremendous source of our energy." Senator Obama on nuclear power: "Nuclear power represents more than 70 percent of our non-carbon generated electricity. It is unlikely that we can meet our aggressive climate goals if we eliminate nuclear power from the table." Former Senator Edwards on nuclear power: "Wind, solar, cellulose-based biofuels are the way we need to go. I do not favor nuclear power. We haven't built a nuclear power plant in decades in this country. There is a reason for that." Only Edwards has a logically defensible position: no more nuclear power, and no facility for storing the waste. That makes him, arguably, less hypocritical than his rivals. If as most observers agree, the United States is about to enter a 'renaissance' of nuclear power, there will eventually need to be a national consensus on what to do about nuclear waste. It had seemed that a national consensus had been reached in 1982, with passage of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. That measure led to the designation of Yucca Mountain as the site of a national nuclear waste repository. However, the opposition of Nevada's Senators has blocked the facility from completion. In continuing to oppose the Yucca Mountain facility, are the Democratic presidential contenders being more hypocritical about energy independence, or combating greenhouse gas emissions?