Sen. John McCain called Wednesday for the construction of 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030 and pledged $2 billion a year in federal funds "to make clean coal a reality," measures designed to reduce dependence on foreign oil. McCain said the 104 nuclear reactors currently operating around the country produce about 20 percent of the nation's annual electricity needs.
"Every year, these reactors alone spare the atmosphere from the equivalent of nearly all auto emissions in America. Yet for all these benefits, we have not broken ground on a single nuclear plant in over thirty years," he said. "And our manufacturing base to even construct these plants is almost gone."
Even so, he said he would set the country on a course to build 45 new ones by 2030, with a longer-term goal of adding another 55 in the future. "We will need to recover all the knowledge and skills that have been lost over three stagnant decades in a highly technical field," he conceded.
This is great, great news! This is what we need to reduce our dependence on foreign enemies for oil: increased energy production. Conservation, recycling, and so forth are fine, but they won't drive a growing economy. He has also come around on drilling for oil:
On Tuesday, McCain delivered a speech in Texas in which he made the case for a nationwide effort to reduce dependence on foreign oil, including additional drilling in U.S. coastal waters, and said he would begin laying out specific proposals in the coming days.
With his appearance in Missouri, he began making good on that promise. The Republican presidential contender said Missouri gets about 85 percent of its electricity from coal, an abundant natural resource in the U.S. "Perhaps no advancement in energy technology could mean more to America than the clean burning of coal and the capture and storage of carbon emissions," he said.
With the $2 billion in federal funds, he said, "We will build the demonstration plants, refine the techniques and equipment, and make clean coal a reality. This single achievement will open vast amounts of our oldest and most abundant resource. And it will deliver not only electricity but jobs to some of the areas hardest hit by our economic troubles."
The United States is to coal what Saudi Arabia is to oil: the big dog. We need to continue to develop our coal resources, and it's good to hear that McCain supports that. Not surprisingly, Barack Obama is doing his best to hamper any efforts to actually produce energy:
Obama has said McCain's support for additional offshore oil drilling is evidence that he would effectively give the country another term of the Bush presidency.
"I guess the senator has changed his position since voting for the 2005 Bush energy bill—a grab-bag of corporate handouts that I opposed," McCain said. "Come to think of it, that energy bill was the only time we've ever seen Senator Obama vote in favor of any tax break—and it was a tax break for the oil companies."
McCain opposed the 2005 measure and said at the time it was larded with billions in unnecessary tax breaks for the oil industry.
It's true that McCain has done a flip-flop on this topic, but I'm inclined to accept it since it's clearly in the best interests of America. Also, there's a big difference between gas prices of even two years ago and today (it has almost doubled), and especially if you look as far back as 2000, when I believe McCain also came out against oil exploration (it's many times higher). While one could look at this position change as a flip-flop, one could also make the argument that McCain has acknowledged the changing reality of our weak position on energy production, and has finally decided to get on board to do something about it. As John Maynard Keynes said, "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?"
Now, if we can just get McCain to dump his ridiculous insistence on global warming legislation, he may start looking like a real conservative on something for a change.
There's my two cents.
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