Venezuela Gets a Pass, Whitman Talks Nuclear

In writing about Venezuela’s nuclear energy ambitious, I wondered what the U.S. response would be. Now we know:

"We have no incentive nor interest in increasing friction between Venezuela and the US, but we do think Venezuela needs to act responsibly," [President Barack] Obama told Spanish media at the White House.

"Our attitude is that Venezuela has rights to peacefully develop nuclear power," he said, adding that as a signatory of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty it must also meet its obligations not to weaponize those systems.

So there you go. And Venezuela is moving right along:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez clinched a deal in Moscow on Friday that will see Russia build and operate the first nuclear power plant in his country.

You can read the rest of the story for more.

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Former EPA chief Christine Todd Whitman weighs in on the renewable electricity standard, which will require that utilities get a percentage of their power from non-carbon-emitting energy sources. Leaving nuclear energy out of the standard has never seemed very on-point since the goal of it is to encourage the production of “clean” electricity. Nuclear does that. Here’s Whitman:

Whitman said in a telephone interview that she'd like to see it broadened to a "green" standard that includes nuclear power. She argued that renewable sources alone won't be able to meet the country's growing energy needs.

This is true, but if the goal is to promote wind, solar, hydro and so on, then perhaps nuclear does not need to be part of it.

"What we want is clean, green energy," Whitman said. "And you should let the market decide which form is going to work the best. If you say renewables, you can't include nuclear, because it does rely on uranium, and that's a finite resource."

Because when you limit the standard to renewable, you’re not really fulfilling the policy goal.

"What we want is clean, green energy," Whitman said. "And you should let the market decide which form is going to work the best. If you say renewables, you can't include nuclear, because it does rely on uranium, and that's a finite resource."

In other words, make the standard broad enough without being too specific about the technologies needed to accomplish the standard’s objective. In that way, government policy and industry policy sync more congenially.

"I get very leery when Congress picks the winners within any band of energy source," she added.

Say it loud.

Christine Todd Whitman. An excellent example of a person who has devoted herself to public service, elective or no.