Nuclear Energy Industry Looks for "Rebirth"

Now that the meltdown at Three Mile Island has faded from memory, the nuclear industry is claiming that the incident was actually a success because the radiation was contained. Following the 30-year anniversary of the disaster, some suggest that lessons learned have poised the energy industry for a nuclear rebirth.

The energy industry has been wary of nuclear power since the early morning of March 28, 1979, when water pumps failed in the Unit 2 reactor at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant along the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg, Pa., melting the radioactive fuel rods in the core and leaking radiation into the surrounding environment.

As radiation spread into local communities, regulators scrambled to place monitoring equipment and the governor of Pennsylvania eventually ordered the evacuation of pregnant women and children. The accident crippled the nuclear industry, costing over $100 billion and burning the fear of “meltdown” into the national consciousness. No more nuclear plants were ordered in the United States following the accident and none started after 1974 were completed.

The nuclear industry, however, says that it has learned from its mistakes and will place a sharper focus on safety, noting that reactors can generate electricity without the carbon emissions produced by coal-fired generators. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has applications from 17 companies to build 26 reactors—including a PPL proposal to build a plant in Berwick, Pa., near its Susquehanna plant.

Although no new nuclear plants have been constructed, the industry has spent $4 billion and created 15,000 jobs as part of a ramp-up over the last few years. The cost of building a nuclear plant has risen from a projected $4 billion to $5 billion a year ago to $6 billion to $8 billion now.

The NRC, which oversees the nation’s 104 civilian nuclear power plants, is reviewing proposals to construct new reactors. The industry has asked Congress to guarantee loans to pay for the construction costs. The estimated time from proposal to construction is 15 to 20 years. Experts in the industry expect the construction of six to eight new plants.

In Senate testimony this week, NRC Chairman Dale Klein emphasized his agency’s actions since the accident to tighten safety regulations. Industry leaders note that nuclear plants have operated for 20 million hours since the 1979 accident without an emergency of that magnitude. Nuclear plant designed have been strengthened, control room monitors have improved, and operators are given “what if” emergency training. Other plant protection plans were enacted to ensure against terrorist attacks, following Sept. 11, 2001.

The Obama administration has not been overly optimistic about nuclear energy, but he and his advisers say they support it. “I believe in nuclear power as a central part of our energy mix,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu recently told Congress. However, a push to include tens of billions of dollars in insurance for new nuclear reactors failed during the stimulus debate. The Obama administration also decided this month against storing nuclear waste at the Yucca Mountain facility in Nevada. Next week, the Senate Energy Committee will begin debating a bill that will decide whether nuclear power will be treated as a renewable energy source—it is currently not considered renewable, and would not be part of the Democrat’s proposed “Renewable Electricity Standard.”

Opponents say that those hoping for a nuclear renaissance are overlooking some obvious problems. The NRC fact sheet on the Three Mile Island incident acknowledges that the accident released a significant amount of radiation. According to the NRC, 10 million curies of radiation escaped the reactor’s core (1 curie = 37 billion radioactive atoms), but independent nuclear engineers have estimated that up to 150 million curies might have escaped.

The severity of the accident, and the government’s inability to evaluate the situation, illustrate some of the dangers of nuclear power. A 1997 study found that lung cancer and leukemia rates downwind from Three Mile Island were two to ten times higher than cancer rates upwind of the accident. Commentators point out that, although the industry would like to sell reactors as clean and safe, nuclear power can be dangerous and deadly.

More Conservative GOP May Hurt Specter in Pa.

An increasingly conservative GOP in Pennsylvania could hurt Sen. Arlen Specter’s (R., Pa.) chances for re-election in 2010. The state has trended Democrat in recent elections, and the party has a 1.2 million statewide advantage in voter registrations. Last year, 239,000 Republicans switched parties, and a recent poll indicates that most of these defectors are moderates – voters who have historically comprised the core of Specter’s support. Specter will likely face a strong challenge from former Rep. Pat Toomey, a conservative popular with the more conservative GOP electorate in Pennsylvania.

Specter has long had a rocky relationship with the conservative wing of the GOP. The latest flare-up stems from his support of the stimulus. He was one of only three Republican senators – and the only one up for re-election in 2010 – to back it.

Few Pa. Legislators Using State Car Fleet

Fewer Pennsylvania legislators are driving taxpayer-subsidized vehicles. Pennsylvania and California are the only states that offer legislators subsidized cars. In the House, 82 of 203 members drive fleet cars, and so do 18 of 49 sitting senators. Besides a base salary of $78,315, lawmakers also get up to $158 to cover meal and lodging expenses each day they show up to work in the Capitol, a pension program, and health benefits.

Obama Administration Creates Soaring Deficits

Obama’s budget would produce $9.3 trillion in deficits over the next decade, more than four times the amount for Republican George W. Bush’s presidency. This new Congressional Budget Office figure is $2.3 trillion worse than the deficit predicted by Obama’s administration last month. The White House said the deficit will be down to $533 billion by 2013. According to some, this is unlikely to happen, since the stimulus package included health care and other spending that will create permanent new federal spending. Some experts say the 10-year cost of Obama’s health care initiative will be twice the projected cost of $634 billion.

Pa. State Rep. Seeks to Legalize Medical Use of Marijuana

State Rep. Mark Cohen announced on Mar. 20 that he hoped to introduce a bill next month to legalize the medical use of marijuana in Pennsylvania. The New Jersey measure would let registered patients suffering from cancer, multiple sclerosis and other illnesses grow marijuana plants for medical use or buy the drug at a licensed center. Cohen said the bill could raise more than $25 million a year in taxes. Next month, Michigan will legalize the medical use of marijuana, joining a dozen other states including California.

U.S. Supreme Court to Rule on "Hillary: The Movie"

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether “Hillary: The Movie” should be considered a political ad. The 90-minute anti-Clinton film was shown in eight theaters during the 2008 Democratic primary season, and its creators, Citizens United, wanted to run ads in key primary states and show the movie on cable television’s video-on-demand. Federal courts ruled that the ads would violate the McCain-Feingold law, which revised the nation’s campaign finance laws, and judges called “Hillary” an attack ad. The case may settle the question of whether the government can regulate a politically charged film as a campaign ad.

Economic Uncertainty Scares Off Foreign Investors

President Obama has stated that international investors should have “absolute confidence” in the safety of U.S. government debt, but many foreign leaders are beginning to worry. Foreigners withdrew funds from American assets in record amounts in January—except for China, which increased its load of U.S. debt.

Net foreign capital outflows reached a record $148.9 billion in January, in contrast to $86.2 billion in inflows in December, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The cost of insuring against a U.S. default has risen by about 60 percent since the end of last year. Even Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao recently said he was “definitely a little bit worried” about Beijing’s U.S. holdings. China is the largest foreign creditor to the U.S. government, with total holdings of $739.6 billion, according to data from the Treasury Department.

Some are concerned that new levels of government intervention and micromanagement in the economy might scare off more investors. Writing for the National Review, Mark Steyn noted that investors will be dubious about putting their money into the U.S. when legal contracts can be annulled by “ex post facto” laws, as in the case of the AIG executive bonuses scandal.

“The investor class invests in jurisdictions where the rules are clear and stable,” wrote Steyn. “Right now, Washington is telling the planet: In our America, there are no rules.”

Furthermore, the Obama administration has announced that it will call for increased government oversight of executive pay at all banks, Wall Street firms, and possibly other companies as part of a sweeping plan to reform financial regulation.

These reforms come as a reaction to AIG’s $165 million in bonuses paid using bailout funds as part of a previously existing and legally binding contract—a sum that amounts to only 1/18,500 of the $3.1 trillion federal budget.

Obama Will Raise Revenue With New Climate Change Laws

President Obama announced Thursday that he would like to raise more than half a trillion dollars by 2020 from new climate-change laws. A top White House economic advisor told Senate staff that a proposed cap and trade system could raise “two-to-three times” the administration’s existing $646 billion revenue estimate for the next eight years, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

In his 2010 budget proposal, Obama plans to raise these funds by capping carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions and auctioning off the right to emit greenhouse gases, aiming to cut carbon dioxide emissions 14 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050.

The deputy director of the White House National Economic Council, Jason Furman, told Senate staff that “the cap and trade system could actually generate between roughly $1.3 trillion and $1.9 trillion between fiscal years 2012 and 2019.” Dow Jones reported that five people at the meeting confirmed the statement.

This would be the largest revenue measure in U.S. history – at least twice as large as the largest to date, the $107 billion (in 2007 dollars) tax to pay for WWII. The White House claims that this new tax revenue would be dedicated to tax relief, but more than 42 percent of tax cuts in the Obama budget go to people who don’t pay taxes.

Senior officials said the $646 billion in estimated government revenues is based on an emission price of around $20 a ton for emissions, a number that could rise. Climate analysts predict a higher range of emission prices, which would change the burden on power industries.

Appointee to National Intelligence Council Has Ties to Saudi Arabia, China

Obama’s administration is pushing to appoint Chas Freeman as the chairman of the National Intelligence Council, despite the fact that he previously effectively worked for the Saudis and Chinese. Freeman, a former diplomat, was ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1989 to 1992 and is now the president of the Middle East Policy Council, a non-profit anti-Israel group funded by the Saudi government.

A growing number of critics say that Freeman is too entangled with foreign interests to maintain an impartial stance in his new position. Freeman was appointed by Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, not Obama, and his job does not require Senate confirmation. However, he is drawing some of the toughest criticisms directed at an appointee yet, on issues far deeper than failure to pay one’s taxes.

Freeman has a record of supporting Saudi Arabia and has made statements perceived as favoring Hamas while claiming that the U.S. relationship with Israel has hurt peace in the region, stating that the U.S. “abandoned the role of Middle East peacemaker to back Israel's efforts to pacify its captive and increasingly ghettoized Arab populations.”

In 2006, Freeman told the Saudi-U.S. Relations Information Service that the Middle East Policy Council could not exist without “the generosity of [Saudi] King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz.” In 2007, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al-Saud donated another $1 million to Freeman’s organization (but was rejected by Mayor Rudi Giuliani after Sept. 11).

Before becoming ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Freeman served in China where he was a member of the international advisory board of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), a major oil company owned by the Chinese government which makes business deals designed to expand China’s worldwide influence and has also been accused of multiple human rights violations.

Freeman—nominated for America’s top intelligence analysis job—sits on the board of CNOOC, which in 2005 tried to purchase the ninth largest oil firm in the U.S. while he was a member. The merger was stopped by bipartisan congressional opposition due to concern that it would be a threat to America’s national security. Freeman has been quoted in the media supporting Chinese policies and once wrote an article praising communist Chinese leader Mao Zedong.

A ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Michigan Rep. Pete Hoekstra, has stated that he wants Freeman to withdraw his name from the nomination. On Thursday, the inspector general for the director of national intelligence agreed to requests from lawmakers to examine Freeman’s controversial foreign ties concerning Israel, Saudi Arabia, China, and U.S. foreign policy.