Everyone talks about how we need to be more energy independent for financial and national security reasons. Politicians and commentators also say that we need a broad-based approach to energy that includes greater domestic development of oil, natural gas and coal; as well as nuclear and alternative energy sources.
The economy is largely dependent on cheap energy for GDP growth. In France, approximately 75% of their electricity is generated from nuclear power. In the U.S. we have not started construction on a new nuclear power plant since 1974. Everyone talks a good game but we are unable to bring them online because of over regulation and lawsuits.
My solution to this problem of bringing new nuclear plants online would be to open federal lands to the construction of power plants. This would reduce the amount of oversight and regulation at the state and local levels. It would limit lawsuits to the federal courts. Further, I would fast-track construction permitting.
Candidates for the 2012 election should run on a platform of opening federal land to new nuclear construction whereby a minimum goal of four to as many as ten new nuclear plants should be approved within the 2012 – 2016 time-frame.
Neil Bonner works in the information technology field for the Transportation Security Administration. His focus is on mobile, Rapid Applications Development, Social Media and collaboration platforms. He manages a portfolio of applications that are internal and citizen-facing. In 2011 he was recognized as a “
neil [at] michelangelo.com
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