Rush Holt on Energy Policy, Barack Obama and John Holdren

[bananas]

"Nuclear proliferation is a problem that humankind has not solved. I don’t want to see us get deeper into a dependency on nuclear power until we demonstrate to each other that we can solve the problem of nuclear proliferation. Because if we don’t, that could be our greatest undoing."

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/rush-holt-on-energy-policy-barack-obama-and-john-holdren/

January 15, 2009, 7:40 am
Rush Holt on Energy Policy, Barack Obama and John Holdren
By JARED FLESHER

Congressman Rush Holt, a Democrat from New Jersey, is one of four physicists now serving in Congress. For nearly a decade he worked as assistant director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory at Princeton University. Supporters in his Central Jersey 12th District can be spotted driving around with bumper stickers that say, “My Congressman IS a Rocket Scientist!”

<snip>

Q. What role do you think coal and nuclear should play in America’s energy future?

A. <snip>

On nuclear, the biggest problems are not primarily technological. They have to do with the connection between nuclear processes and weapons. Nuclear proliferation is a problem that humankind has not solved. I don’t want to see us get deeper into a dependency on nuclear power until we demonstrate to each other that we can solve the problem of nuclear proliferation. Because if we don’t, that could be our greatest undoing.

<snip>

[bananas]

1. Hillary Clinton: India, Pakistan have upset nuclear deterrent balance

Front page article in India: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x241214

[kristopher]

2. WWII scale effort

"Q: Barack Obama said recently, “To finally spark the creation of a clean energy economy, we will double the production of alternative energy in the next three years.” Is that a proper and achievable goal?

A: Of course it’s achievable. When you look at the Second World War, where we were building a ship a day from start to finish, where we created an entirely new industry in support of the building of the atomic bomb, in two years we created an industry as large as the American automobile industry.

So can America do things on that scale at that speed? Yes, if there’s the motivation. It’s not clear to me that the motivation exists to match Barack Obama’s vision. But of course he is in the position to help create that national motivation. "

[joshcryer]

3. Such an old article, we know that with COP15 the legislation ain't even close.