Week 6 Item 14

As the hour draws nearer as to who our next leader will be, it is still important to see what the next elected president plans to do to better our environment.

In regards to nuclear power, McCain believes that nuclear power and offshore drilling will help ween us off our dependency on foreign oil. Two great ideas...with not so great consequences. Nuclear power is dangerous and volatile and offshore drilling is destructive with adverse affects. Is there really a way for us to save our environment from distegration and at the same time take us away from the current position that we have in the middle east?

According to Grist, on www.gristmill.grist.org, our oil consumption rate is at an all time high. "America's 20 million-barrel-a-day oil habit costs our economy $1.4 billion a day, and nearly $500 billion in 2006 alone. Every single hour we spend $41 million on foreign oil. America's oil consumption increased by over 20 percent between 1992 and 2005. Our energy-related carbon dioxide emissions increased by more than 15 percent between 1993 and 2005". Category 4 and Category 5 hurricanes has doubled in the past 30 years due to global warming. We are slowly playing a part in our own destruction.

Obama is not completly against nuclear power, but he is a little more leery on the subject than his opponent. As of now, nuclear power represents more than 70% of our non-carbon generated electricity. Taking nuclear power off the table completely is unrealistic if we are to try to tackle our current environmental problems. Obama believes that there are four key issues when dealing with nuclear power: public right-to-know, security of nuclear fuel and waste, waste storage, and proliferation. Here are some of the things he plans on doing to address these issues:

To prevent international nuclear material from falling into terrorist hands abroad, Obama worked closely with Sen. Dick Lugar (R -- IN) to strengthen international efforts to identify and stop the smuggling of weapons of mass destruction. As president, Obama will make safeguarding nuclear material both abroad and in the U.S. a top anti-terrorism priority. Obama will also lead federal efforts to look for a safe, long-term disposal solution based on objective, scientific analysis. In the meantime, Obama will develop requirements to ensure that the waste stored at current reactor sites is contained using the most advanced dry-cask storage technology available. Barack Obama believes that Yucca Mountain is not an option. Our government has spent billions of dollars on Yucca Mountain, and yet there are still significant questions about whether nuclear waste can be safely stored there.

Nobody is positive who the next presidential candidate will be, but regardless of who, let's hope they follow through on their promises of a brighter future and a greener environment.