Political Muse

Newt Gingrich said it best,

“We must lead the world in environmental stewardship.  To do this we must implement a “green conservatism” that uses America’s strengths – free markets, incentives, economic growth, technological achievement and entrepreneurship – to create a cleaner environment and great prosperity for the world.”

I couldn’t agree more.  We as conservatives get so caught up with the facts around global warming and CO2 we never get to the heart of the matter – making America ‘greener’ is a worthy goal. I would argue that it doesn’t really matter whether or not CO2 emissions are warming our planet.  Many former global warming proponents, in the face of 10 year cooling cycle, have changed their tune suggesting CO2 emissions are creating global climate change.  But, again, I don’t think it matters.  My point is that the stuff that creates CO2 (oil, natural gas and coal) is getting more and more expensive and it is just plain dirty.   Wouldn’t it make sense to take drastic and immediate action to replace as much fossil fuel demand as possible by building non-CO2 emitting power generation technology that is fully capable of creating massive amounts of energy today (no further study needed).  No, I am not talking about magic; I am talking about nuclear energy.

I feel like a guy alone in the wilderness, the answer is so obvious, we need a Roosevelt-style program of massive public works creation of nuclear power plants.  Talk about a stimulus program (yea, my kids will be paying for it, but at least they will get the benefit).  Obama and many Republicans aren’t interested in nuclear energy, they wants to burn more coal (they calls it clean coal, I don’t care if you call it ‘magic coal’ it still generates 40% of the CO2 emissions we generate as a country).

• Repeal laws that prevent a single, interchangeable nuclear power plant design (using the 3rd generation technology designed by US firm Westinghouse – being deployed in China today)
• Fast track approval of nuclear reactors throughout the United States (our goal should be to start 10 reactors per year for the next 10 years).
• Repeal all coal subsidies and begin conversion of appropriate coal plants to use natural gas (this can take as little as six months and cost about $20 per ton of carbon saved – cash for clunkers cost $1700 per ton of carbon).
• Provide a level playing field for wind and solar power generation by a) eliminating oil and gas subsidies or b) providing equal subsidies for wind and solar.
• Allow drilling for oil and natural gas in all 50 states and off of our shores (highly regulated so as to limit the impact to nature).
• Fund research in the development of a next generation of battery that will allow automakers to build electric cars that can tap into the new zero-CO2 nuclear power grid that will be coming online in the next decade.

The current Cap and Tax bill Congress is considering does nothing to a) reduce CO2, b) make the environment greener, c) increase our energy independence. Newt Gingrich has some interesting facts about what the bill will cost us:

Estimates are that the Waxman-Markey bill will raise electricity prices by an astounding 90 percent. It will raise gasoline prices by 74 percent. It will raise the average American family’s energy bill by $1,500 each year. And, far from creating jobs, experts predict that the global warming bill will destroy 1,105,000 jobs on average each year, with peak years seeing unemployment rise by over 2,479,000 jobs. All in all, the bill is expected to reduce our gross domestic production (GDP) by $9.6 trillion. And for what?