Paper Urges Sen. Stabenow to Back Yucca Mountain Project

Continued high temperatures in the Midwest have the Grand Rapids Press thinking about electricity, nuclear energy and the lack of progress on the Yucca Mountain Project:

Now the Senate is moving to set up regional waste centers to last 25 years or until Yucca Mountain can be opened. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved such a plan this week. The idea likely is a false hope and an expensive one at that. Further political blockades and drawn-out legal battles are inevitable. Congress instead should focus on legislation needed to push the Yucca Mountain project forward.

Michigan needs that movement. The state's existing power plants aren't generating enough electricity to meet the state's peak requirements. Not for 17 years has a major power plant been built in the state. A Michigan Public Service Commission report this year recommended that Michigan have at least one new electric power plant on line by 2011. The plant almost certainly will be coal-fired unless nuclear power can be freed up as an option.

That should happen. Nuclear power is a clean, safe and reliable energy source. It also would serve to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Michigan's federal lawmakers should be pushing nuclear power. This time, Sen. Stabenow should be among them.

Something tells me the folks in Michigan won't be the last to notice. Reminder: The next hearing on the Yucca Mountain Project is scheduled for this Thursday before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Power, Used Fuel, Energy, Technology, Electricity, Yucca Mountain, Nevada, Michigan