Early Responses to Kerry-Boxer

Just in case you thought we’d have to wait a bit for some comment on the Kerry-Boxer climate change bill introduced yesterday, think again. Here’s Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska):

“We’ve got to be honest with ourselves if we are truly going to decrease emissions,” Murkowski said.  “Nuclear energy must be a part of our energy mix if we are going to do so.”

We guess some of our readers consider that Republican boilerplate, but remember that the bill itself is very friendly in its preamble to nuclear energy. Since Murkowski is on a committee that gets a crack at this – Energy and Natural Resources - look to her (among others, of course) to push for the nuclear imperative.

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And she’s not the only one. Here’s Sen. John McCain (R—Ariz.):

The bill introduced Wednesday by Sens. John Kerry, [D-Mass.], and Barbara Boxer, [D-Calif.], has "nothing about nuclear power," McCain complained in the interview, which was part of the "First Draft of History" forum sponsored by The Atlantic and the Aspen Institute. "It's the left-wing environmental organizations that are not allowing us to move forward with nuclear power."

The second part of his quote is somewhat curious, since all kinds of organizations had meetings on the Hill about this bill. Clearly, the legislation is, by design, like a Christmas tree waiting for its ornaments; McCain will probably be hanging some of those when he gets the chance. And like Murkowski, we expect he’ll be looking at the nuclear portion very carefully.

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And Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.):

“These are fancy, complicated words for high-cost energy that sends jobs overseas looking for cheap energy. Instead, we should take practical steps to produce low-cost, clean, carbon-free energy and create jobs. Specifically, we should build 100 new nuclear plants, electrify half our cars and trucks, expand exploration offshore for American natural gas and oil, and double funding for energy research and development.”

We’ve always liked Alexander’s thinking about energy – for the obvious reasons, of course – but also because, as seen here, he thinks very broadly and has a good grasp of the complexities of energy policy. He thinks big and captures the breadth of the subject..

Here’s a little more:

We need to commit to building new reactors. Even Energy Secretary Steven Chu has said that he supports using nuclear energy to solve the energy crisis.”

So there you go.

Sens. Kerry and Boxer