No nukes? Maybe no more.
Gov. Martin O?Malley has announced plans for an energy summit July 25, and expanding nuclear power production is one possible outlet. After the embarrassing failure of O?Malley?s campaign promises about energy costs, the governor is desperate to do something to look like he?s doing something about energy.
We?ve come a long way from the “No Nukes” concerts in 1979. You remember those. The big names of rock ? Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, et al ? got together to say nuclear power was evil in the wake of the Three Mile Island incident.
There were several concerts held and a big album released from the events. Everybody had a wonderful time making music, using energy and saying businesses are bad.
Fast forward to 2007.
The big names of music ? Madonna, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Police, et al ? got together to say carbon-based power was evil in the wake of Al Gore?s global warming crusade.
There were several concerts held across the globe, and this time you can download the tunes from the Internet or watch clips on YouTube. Everybody had a wonderful time making music and using a monstrous amount of energy.
It?s easy to connect the dots between the idiocy of 1979 and its evil twin of 2007. Thirty years from now, we?ll probably have a concert against wind power to save the birds from being chopped into pate by the blades.
At least for now, nuclear power is back on the table, and that?s good news for an energy-dependent nation. To hear O?Malley tell it, this time, nukes might be the power behind keeping his throne.
To do that, he has to oppose his own left, which is still lost in 1979.
The Examiner?s Len Lazarick unearthed some Earth-firsters, who seem to resent human habitation of our planet. The latest examples include the League of Conservation Voters and the Maryland Public Interest Research Group. Both oppose nuclear power. Maryland PIRG put out a report earlier this year with the neutral title: “The High Cost of Nuclear Power: Why Maryland Can?t Afford a New Reactor.”
What it doesn?t want to say is Maryland can?t afford to run out of power either, and nuclear is a viable solution. PIRG has no solution except cutting back our energy use. Its Web site calls for cutting “Maryland?s energy use 20 percent by 2020 through energy efficiency programs.”
That?s not a plan. We could cut energy use 100 percent if humans would just move back to caves and move down a few links on the food chain.
Let?s reject the no-it-alls. We can even have a “Yes Nukes” concert. At least when we use energy, we wouldn?t be hypocrites.
Dan Gainor is The Boone Pickens Free Market Fellow at the Media ResearchCenter?s Business & Media Institute, a career journalist and media commentator. He can be reached at [email protected].
