[NukeNet] Energy Bill: Bad News, unless a better source knows!

[Mike Ewall]

I haven't heard anything about nuclear loan guarantees getting back 
into the energy bill.  The big battle over the nuclear loan 
guarantees is now in the Appropriations bill.  See the previous 
messages from Michael Mariotte and me on this topic.

While there's not a copy of the revised bill up online yet, my 
understanding is that it still includes two provisions on nuclear issues:

* expansion of the Price-Anderson Act, limiting nuclear industry liability
* a provision in a required study of using renewable electricity to 
power electric vehicles that ensures that they also study using 
nuclear power for this purpose

The most disturbing part of the energy bill, in my opinion, is the 
5-fold increase in the ethanol mandate.  This isn't a nuclear issue, 
but many hundreds of additional communities are now going to become 
targets for ethanol biorefineries, including "advanced" biofuels, 
which will include even more use of biotechnology and which will 
clear our forests and crop lands to liquidate them to feel 
vehicles.  Even more troubling is that much of this will create a 
demand to try to turn trash, sewage sludge and other contaminated 
waste streams into liquid fuels.  We're already busy enough trying to 
help communities fight these things and our work is going to get FAR 
bigger.  The more we succeed in stopping these insane "biofuel" 
schemes in the U.S., the more we'll end up importing it and 
contributing to deforestation and global hunger in other countries.

...and on the CAFE standard, it is NOT worth it.  35 mpg by 2020 is a 
joke.  Without doing anything, the sustained high price of oil alone 
would do more to change the fleet of what (or IF) people choose to 
drive 12 years from now.  Take one look at the price trend on oil 
(http://www.energyjustice.net/peak/) and this should be 
self-evident.  35 mpg was a good idea for the 1970s.  Any serious 
goal for 2020 needs to be more around 60 mpg (or rather zero mpg, 
since we shouldn't be burning gallons of anything, but should be 
using clean electricity for the reduced amount of vehicles we should 
have by then).

Mike Ewall
Energy Justice Network
215-743-4884
catalyst at actionpa.org
http://www.energyjustice.net