March 09, 2009
Oh To Be On Yucca Mountain...
The WaPo and NY Times laud Obama's bold stance separating science from politics but overlook his Yucca Mountain chicanery. Headlines, please:
Obama Aims to Shield Science From Politics
Memo to Accompany Stem Cell Action
and:
Obama Lifts Bush’s Strict Limits on Stem Cell Research
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WASHINGTON — Pledging that his administration will “make scientific decisions based on facts, not ideology,” President Obama on Monday lifted the Bush administration’s strict limits on human embryonic stem cell research.
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Obama lauds his own bold stance, too:
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That is why today, I am also signing a Presidential Memorandum directing the head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to develop a strategy for restoring scientific integrity to government decision making. To ensure that in this new Administration, we base our public policies on the soundest science; that we appoint scientific advisors based on their credentials and experience, not their politics or ideology; and that we are open and honest with the American people about the science behind our decisions. That is how we will harness the power of science to achieve our goals – to preserve our environment and protect our national security; to create the jobs of the future, and live longer, healthier lives.
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What a guy!
Yet it seems like only yesterday the Times reported that Obama was plotting with Sen. Harry Reid to cut off funding that would have answered questions as to whether Yucca Mountain would be a suitable repository for our nation's nuclear waste:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/06/sc...pagewanted=all See also :
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/n...inline=nyt-geo
Quote:
WASHINGTON — President Obama’s proposed budget cuts off most money for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project, a decision that fulfills a campaign promise and wins the president political points in Nevada — but raises new questions about what to do with radioactive waste from the nation’s nuclear power plants.
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Mr. Reid does not appear to have the votes to kill the Yucca Mountain depository entirely, because many members of Congress want to stick with the consensus they achieved two decades ago to bury the waste there. If Congress changes the law that designates Yucca Mountain as the prime candidate, said Edward F. Sproat III, who was the Energy Department official in charge of the depository project for the last two and a half years of the Bush administration, “everybody knows their state is going to be back in play.”
The site’s suitability is supposed to be established in hearings by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which must decide whether to license the repository. Now, the Obama administration is proposing to provide only enough money that project officials can answer questions from the hearings. Eliot Brenner, a commission spokesman, said the hearings would proceed.
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Here is how Obama pandered to Nevadans during the campaign:
http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/7598337.html
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After spending billions of dollars on the Yucca Mountain Project, there are still significant questions about whether nuclear waste can be safely stored there. I believe a better short-term solution is to store nuclear waste on-site at the reactors where it is produced, or at a designated facility in the state where it is produced, until we find a safe, long-term disposal solution that is based on sound science.
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Uh huh - a disposal solution based on sound science that Obama won't fund. In another Administration folks would detect the mixing of politics and science. Since libs are (mostly) comfortable trashing nuclear power, this will be ignored. And the nation will try to cut our oil imports and greenhouse gas emissions without nuclear power. Scientifically!
[END OF ELEVATING POLITICS OVER SCIENCE]
http://justoneminute.typepad.com/mai...-mountain.html