McClaughry: Climate guru again calls for more nuclear power

By John McClaughry

The New York Energy and Climate Advocates put out a press release on April 15 that should be of some interest. “As New York’s Climate Action Council conducts public hearings on how to meet the goals of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, climate scientist and former director of NASA’s Goddard Institute Dr. James E. Hansen, labor representatives, community leaders, and engineers called for a bold and inclusive climate strategy, embracing both renewables and zero-carbon nuclear.”

Former director of NASA’s Goddard Institute Dr. James E. Hansen

It continues: “Hansen’s 1988 historic testimony before Congress on the impacts of global warming is widely recognized as the catalyst for the modern climate movement. But in the decades since, many governments have fallen short. ‘The urgency of the crisis demands that all viable forms of carbon-free energy be on the table,’ said Hansen. ‘Without a growing role for nuclear power, New York and the world have little chance of meeting their climate goals.’”

The release continues: The New York state climate change plan “calls for hundreds of square miles of solar panels across New York, thousands of giant offshore and onshore wind turbines, massive battery plants, and sprawling transmission. Yet, to prevent blackouts from the intermittency of renewables and storage limitations, the plan relies on a large and completely theoretical fleet of highly flexible carbon-free technologies that do not exist yet.”

What’s interesting is that the guru of climate catastrophe, Dr. James Hansen, is again calling for zero-carbon nuclear power.

John McClaughry is vice president of the Ethan Allen Institute. Reprinted with permission from the Ethan Allen Institute Blog.

One thought on “McClaughry: Climate guru again calls for more nuclear power

  1. John, thanks for bringing up nuclear again. This country made a number of huge mistakes in the last 50 years. Two of the biggest in my opinion are doing away with the draft (actually, not transitioning to a draft for everyone, men, women and most handicapped where you are in service for the country for one year. Draftees could opt to go into the military for a 2-3 year hitch or stay for the year doing a myriad of social and infrastructure services).
    And, to the point of this article, keeping and improving nuclear power. Imagine how advanced the technology would be today if our best minds had been developing and creating nuclear technology for the past 50 years.
    Thank you Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas for “The China Syndrome” which helped spell the death nell of nuclear power in 1979!

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