| Energy Biz Reader's Comments (from EnergyBiz Insider) I just read the responses from your readers concerning energy issues for 
    the past week as I have read all the responses from previous weeks in 2007.
 
 What strikes me is that the readers are well informed, engaged, highly 
    experienced and mostly from the practical hands-on side of the energy 
    business. Their knowledge for the most part comes from actually working 
    within the energy production, distribution or research industry. These 
    people care enough to respond and like myself most bristle at the 
    impractical and scream when the ridiculous is sanctimoniously placed on the 
    pedestal of possibility. From listening to EnergyBiz responders it is clear, 
    that for the most part, these experienced people ask good questions and dig 
    into issues, don't assume conclusions and want to resolve energy concerns in 
    a balanced and effective way. The EnergyBiz forum debate is excellent except 
    that for debate to be beneficial it should eventually conclude in refined 
    action. Perhaps it is just my perception, but it appears that web based 
    debate for the most part ends up in an electronic landfill filed under "YaDa 
    YaDa YaDa". Vetting these responses and finding a way to utilize the 
    information gained to expand the debate on an industry or national level 
    would benefit all involved and a priority of EnergyBiz. Additionally, for 
    2008, EnergyBiz should consider being more like its Responders and engage 
    energy company executives and government officials vigorously with solid 
    reality based questions and vet responses with an emphasis on technical 
    reality rather than the, "Our Lawyers said not to offend anybody", simple 
    minded MBA driven "GEWIZ" approach. Keep up the good work and make 
    improvement everyday a priority.
 
 
 Phil D'Angelo
 JoDAN Technologies, Ltd
 Glen Mills, PA
 
 
 Bali: A New Beginning - January 2, 2008
 
 
 The IPCC process, and the Kyoto and Bali conferences, are magnificent 
    edifices built on the sands of a flood plain. The sands are the inconvenient 
    fact that there is no SCIENTIFIC linkage between carbon dioxide in the 
    atmosphere and global climate. Thus, any measures to reduce CO2 emissions to 
    "reduce global warming" are a waste of effort and financial resources. 
    (Saving natural resources and fighting genuine pollution are entirely 
    different matters.)
 
 
 The present global warming began around 1850 and marked the end of the 
    Little Ice Age, an unpleasantly cold period of a few centuries when New York 
    harbor and the Thames River froze solid and which provided the inspiration 
    for the painting of Washington being rowed across an ice-filled Delaware 
    River. The change from 1850 can't be blamed on CO2 emissions because the 
    world was only beginning to be seriously industrialized, and CO2 levels were 
    much as they had been at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The 
    world has gone through climate cycles since time immemorial, and there is no 
    good reason to believe that the present warming (a mere 0.6°C since around 
    1850) is anything other than a normal occurrence. Our climate has warmed and 
    cooled (slightly) several times since 1850, and has not warmed since 1998.
 
 
 The most important greenhouse gas, by far, is WATER, as vapor and clouds. 
    Carbon dioxide is only a minor player, in addition to which Nature puts 
    about 30 times as much CO2 into the atmosphere as does Man.
 
 
 We are seeing the effect of a marvellous Chicken Little campaign by 
    environmental activists who have convinced an uncritical media that their is 
    equivalent to real science. The scare stories of sharply-rising temperatures 
    are all based on computer simulations, glorified video games, which are 
    strongly criticized as meaningless by experts who are knowledgeable about 
    computer simulations. The IPCC process is seriously flawed, aimed only at 
    proving that AGW is taking place and disregarding any technical information 
    that does not support their predetermined agenda. The belief in 
    anthropogenic global warming (AGW) has become a secular religion, with 
    believers and heretics. Many climate experts who know better (and they are 
    many) are afraid to prick this balloon of belief for fear of loss of 
    research grants, or even their livelihoods.
 
 
 Rather than debate the issue, most of the activists revert to ad hominem 
    attacks on the sceptics of their apocalyptic view of our future. Their 
    references to funding from "Big Oil" and comparisons with tobacco companies 
    are so frequent and predictable that they are laughable. (They also fail to 
    mention the millions that environmental organizations solicit in 
    contributions every year or the millions that Al Gore has made through his 
    error-riddled book, film, and slide presentations.) The problem is that 
    uninformed readers believe them because they seem so credible, aided by the 
    unquestioning and uncurious media. I know better because I have spent at 
    least a couple of hours a day for more than a year reading on the subject 
    via the Internet. Climate sceptics are far more persuasive to those who are 
    open-minded.
 
 
 An example of the ad hominem nature of warmist attacks is to refer to 
    sceptics as "climate deniers", as if the case were closed. (They also say 
    "the science is settled", which it most certainly is not.) In reality, the 
    sceptics are those of us who are sticking by science. The warmist are 
    promoting only belief, and are as credible as a scruffy street-corner 
    preacher. Remember: the opposite of scepticism is gullibility.
 
 
 Ian L. McQueen
 Glenwood, NB
 
 
 Your title is perfect. Bali is a "New Beginning" because Kyoto (the "Old 
    Beginning") has accomplished nothing and will accomplish nothing by 2012. 
    The "New Beginning" will start from a higher level of annual emissions and a 
    higher level of ambient CO2 concentrations than the "Old Beginning". This 
    would have been true, even if the developed nations among the Kyoto 
    signatories had met the emission reduction goals they agreed to achieve, 
    because of the massive increases in emissions by China and India, among 
    others.
 
 
 You could perform a real service by publishing a table listing all of the 
    Kyoto signatories, their 1990 CO2 emissions, their 2007 CO2 emissions and 
    the change (+/-); and, a table listing year end global average temperature, 
    global average atmospheric CO2 concentration and global annual CO2 emissions 
    for the period 1990-2007.
 
 
 Edward A. Reid, Jr.
 President
 Fire to Ice, Inc.
 
 Coal Town Gets New Light - January 4, 2008 
 
 As I understand it, Department of Energy [DOE], one day following Mattoon IL 
    selection as site, cautioned that costs were getting out of hand and it 
    wasn't ready to sign off on the $1.8 billion FutureGen power plant. DOE 
    stated that projected cost overruns require a reassessment of FutureGen's 
    design and that DOE would provide more details in January 2008 on plans to 
    restructure FutureGen.
 
 
 Their economic issue may focus on the capture and disposal of Carbon Dioxide 
    [CO2] - so-called Greenhouse Gas. Factoring in Carbon Capture and disposal 
    [Sequestration - geological burial] increases the cost from 20% [per Ed 
    Rubin, an environmental engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University] 
    to 30 - 40 % [Sithe Global Power's proposed 750 MW Nevada plant]. For 
    example, Florida Light & Power, proposed and cancelled 1800 MW Glades County 
    ultra-clean plant, was estimated at $1.2 billion. If Carbon Capture and 
    Sequestration had been added, estimated cost could have increased by $240 to 
    $480 million. If FPL could not recoup such costs via higher electricity 
    rates, plant cancellation may have been pre-destined and justified.
 
 
 Hopefully, the FutureGen Project will move ahead - demonstrating 
    cost-effective technology to capture and dispose of Carbon Dioxide - 
    justifying construction of new coal-fired power plants.
 
 
 Dr. Richard W. Goodwin, P.E.
 Environmental Engineering Consultant
 
 Energy Bill Focuses on Fuel Efficiency - January 7, 2008 
 
 The net effect of all biofuels projects is either puny or negative.
 
 
 Brazil is repeatedly cited as an ethanol success story. Despite all the hype 
    and their uniquely favorable conditions for raising sugar cane, they still 
    use petroleum fuel to supply 80% of their motor fuel energy. To accomplish 
    even this much under uniquely ideal conditions they are continuously 
    clearing virgin land to raise food, i.e. killing the trees that have been 
    eating atmospheric CO˛ for eons.
 
 
 The Brazilian experience demonstrates just how utterly fatuous our ethanol 
    from corn project is.
 
 
 Drastic world population reduction remains our salvation.
 
 
 Don Hirschberg
 
 This ethanol policy is most irresponsible and uneconomical - it is akin 
    to the latest alcohol policy we had, the Prohibition. As such, it will 
    disappear as soon as the Elections are over. Here are three arguments for 
    thought.
 
 One, we subsidize ethanol to the tune of $0.50 per gallon. At the current 
    production level, it is a blip on the budget screen, a mere $3Bn. If we are 
    to go to 15Bn gallons ex cellulosic, two things will happen. First, grain 
    prices will continue to go up. This is the main reason why producers are 
    losing money today, and shelving plans for expansion - see Pacific Ethanol 
    cancelling plans and Verasun buying capacity instead of building. Therefore, 
    subsidies will have to increase - I suspect to $1.50 per gallon. This would 
    amount to $22Bn a political hot potato at horizon 2015 when the big problem 
    will be Medicare/Social Security funding.
 
 
 We could offset this by increasing the acreage planted. With an average 
    yield of 150 bushels of corn per acre and 1 Bushel per 2.8 gallon of 
    ethanol, this additional 9Bn gallons would require 3.3Bn additional bushels, 
    i.e. 21Mn acres. As the chart below indicates, 2007 already saw the largest 
    increase in acreage planted in a long time, indeed since 1944, up 15% or 9Mn 
    acres. So maybe we can get there, but it will induce further dislocations.
 
 
 Two, we currently export 55Mn Tons of corn, i.e. 2.2Bn bushels, and this 
    represents 65% of the world's imports. This happens to be the same number we 
    consumed to produce ethanol in 2007. Unless production increases 
    dramatically, as per the above, we are walking a disappearing line.
 
 
 Three, ethanol does pollute. I refer to an article reproduced in Energy 
    Central dated 5/7/07. Even the EPA agrees - Nox, Smog (Ozone), etc. So, mix 
    it all up, even with the benefit of slightly curtailed oil consumption, 
    ethanol is not the answer. Lester Brown from The Earth Policy Institute said 
    it much better than me in Congress.
 
 
 The answer is, yes, cellulosic ethanol - but this is still early R&D. In the 
    meantime, CAFÉ most definitively, and a real push into electric/hybrids 
    vehicles. I suspect it would take less than $22Bn per year to fund these 
    industries - even less than the $3bn we currently spend on farm votes, on 
    top of overall farm subsidies.
 
 
 Franck J. Prissert
 C.E.O.
 Capital Max, Inc.
 
 
 The United States has the most concentrated energy supply in the world in 
    the oil shale located in the Rocky Mountain area. There is an estimated 800 
    billion barrels of recoverable oil in a very small area.
 
 
 New methods of extracting the oil from the oil shale have been developed but 
    the Federal Government, which owns the land, simply sits on its hands and 
    will not allow a concerted effort to use this supply of energy.
 
 
 The so-called "Global Warming Crisis" blamed on increases in C0˛ is being 
    systematically disproven by the reputable scientist that are coming forward 
    en masse to refute the propaganda put forth by Al Gore in his bid to gain 
    the Presidency of the United States.
 
 
 Ethanol made from corn is almost a net energy loss.this has been known since 
    the process was touted as a replacement for oil. Corn should not be used to 
    produce it.for it could be used to feed hungry people abroad and bring a net 
    cash flow into the United States.
 
 
 If we were to have a "Manhattan type" project to extract and refine the oil 
    in the oil shale. I would predict that the United States could become an oil 
    exporting nation within ten years.
 
 
 It would not matter the cost of the extraction of the oil for the "money 
    stays at home", creates American jobs and improves our economy instead of 
    the economies of those nations that support international terrorism. The US 
    could control the price of oil worldwide and the dollar would once again 
    become "stronger than Ajax".
 
 
 Johnny A Williams
 Conroe, Texas
 Physicist with 35 years experience in the Power Industry
 
 
 Nuclear Energy's Presence - January 9, 2008
 
 
 Would we have ever reached the moon with the type of thinking that is going 
    on today? John F. Kennedy had a vision that the whole country got behind and 
    we as a nation were able to reach his goal approximately five years after 
    his assassination. We can continue to wallow in our fears or we can resolve 
    to solve the problem together and come up with an appropriate solution. We 
    already have the technology to store spent fuel indefinitely because we know 
    how to transport it. If the present size of Yucca Mountain is too small we 
    may need to develop other sites as well. Presently the spent fuel is being 
    stored in everyone's back yard (the nearest Nuclear Plant) safely and 
    effectively without incident.
 
 
 President Kennedy was able to motivate the people to get behind his goal. 
    That is truly what cost him his life, because our enemies feared his power. 
    Do you think he was fearful of losing his life when he was leading this 
    country? I believe he gained his inner strength from the same source of 
    power that helped him to swim miles in the ocean with another soldier on his 
    back.
 
 
 We can continue to bicker and squabble and run from our personal fears, or 
    we can suck it up. We must draw on that inner strength that is available for 
    the asking, and finish the necessary projects to continue to be a strong 
    nation. The solution is not just Yucca Mountain. The solution is not just 
    reclamation of the fuel for other sources. We do not even have all of the 
    alternative solutions identified yet. The real solution is to have the 
    country pull together to help solve our energy crisis together, much as we 
    were able to reach the moon.
 
 
 G Alan Bysfield
 Sr Staff Electrical Engineer
 System Engineering
 Cooper Nuclear Station
 
 
 There has never been any danger to humans from nuclear waste stored at 
    Department of Energy sites, used nuclear fuel stored at nuclear power plant 
    sites, or shipments of nuclear materials and nuclear waste.
 
 
 Significant amounts of highly radioactive wastes have leaked from old tanks 
    at DOE sites, but none of this waste has contaminated the water table.
 
 
 Wastes in soil at DOE's Hanford Site are some 200 feet above the water 
    table. Water from seven inches of annual rainfall evaporates at the surface 
    and provides no mechanism for moving the wastes into the water table.
 
 
 Wastes leaking from tanks at DOE's Savannah River Site was into heavily 
    reinforced concrete vaults surrounding the tanks, not into the water table.
 
 
 Even if some radioactivity did reach the water table, ion exchange capacity 
    of both Hanford and SRS soils would preclude movement into water supplies 
    off site for periods of time much longer than decay times of the highly 
    radioactive material.
 
 
 Used fuel assemblies containing nuclear waste can be safely stored at 
    nuclear power plant sites - or other sites - until decisions are made for 
    appropriate disposition.
 
 
 Since this used fuel and depleted uranium stored at uranium enrichment sites 
    can be used to provide enormous amounts of energy for future generations, it 
    must be maintained available for such use in advanced nuclear power plants.
 
 
 Reprocessing and recycle facility designs provided in 1978 by DuPont based 
    on its successful reprocessing experiences at the Savannah River Plant would 
    permit carrying out economically viable fuel recycle without credible danger 
    of nuclear weapons proliferation to proliferation threat.
 
 
 Clinton Bastin
 
 
 *Bastin, of Avondale Estates, Ga., had lead responsibility for Atomic Energy 
    Commission programs for disposition of used nuclear fuel, storage and 
    studies for final disposal of nuclear wastes and processing of nuclear 
    materials. He was recognized by the Department of Energy as "the U.S. 
    authority on reprocessing.
 
 
 
 
 
 Most of the comments I have read deal with one form of generation over 
    another. From a practical perspective all viable options need to be 
    considered to meet load growth. Nuclear is the most viable for generating 
    significant megawattage; however, it is plagued with misinformation. 
    Concerns about safety and spent fuels need to be better understood and for 
    this I fault the nuclear fleet owners which have failed to properly educate 
    and inform the general public. From a safely perspective Chernobyl was a 
    disaster given that containment of reactors was not a design build criteria 
    in Russia at that time. Three Mile Island was a success story in that human 
    error resulted in a radioactive leak but automated systems contained that 
    leak. Regarding spent fuels, if all the spent fuel rods produced during the 
    40+ year history of nuclear power in the US were stored in a single location 
    the volumemetric containment would be equivalent to one football field about 
    15 feet deep. If the US recycled its spent fuel rods the volume would be 
    reduced to a single end zone about 10 feet deep. Nuclear power generation 
    has a zero carbon footprint.
 
 
 Wind and solar are still not cost justified and most likely will not be 
    until more effective storage technology is developed. However, both should 
    still be stressed to decrease CO˛ emissions.
 
 
 Bob Percopo
 Executive Vice President
 AIG Global Marine & Energy
 
 
 Nuclear energy in Sweden has paid its way. It paid it with higher 
    employment, lower costs for energy intensive industries, higher tax returns 
    to finance things like health care and education, fewer greenhouse gas 
    emissions, etc, etc. It could do the same everywhere.
 
 
 In addition, as pointed out by myself and other contributors to the 
    important forum EnergyPulse (www.energypulse.net), if amortization periods 
    roughly corresponded to physical 'lengths of life'. Then if would be 'very' 
    easy - as compared to 'merely' easy - to prove to rational persons who 
    understand a little secondary school math that nuclear is the most 
    competitive source of electric power.
 
 
 Ferdinand E. Banks
 Professor
 
 
 Congress recently enacted a provision in the Energy and Water Appropriations 
    Act for Fiscal 2008, which the news media has touted as a major boost in 
    energy project loan guarantees, particularly for nuclear, plants. However, 
    these guarantees are not contained in the actual law and are based on 
    non-legally binding bill report language without a budget offset.
 
 
 The actual provision of law signed into law not only fails to resolve major 
    Congressional conflicts, it also creates more hurdles for the Energy 
    department to overcome before it can execute its loan guarantee program.
 
 
 Given these circumstances, it's likely that if you queried the Wall Street 
    banks, you might find that it's premature to be popping champagne corks.
 
 
 Robert Alvarez
 Senior Scholar
 Institute for Policy Studies
 
 
 I note in your "Nuclear Energy's Presence" article today that there are some 
    incorrect statements or statements that make seem to be off-handed in regard 
    to nuclear power, as follow:
 
 
 Yes, Nuclear Power Plants got $18.5 B in loan guarantees in the December 
    Energy legislation, BUT Renewables and Energy Efficiency also got $18 B ($10 
    B and $8 B, respectively).
 Please tell your readers more clearly sometime that all Advocates (Renewables 
    included and not just Nuclear) rightly claim that loan guarantees are not 
    taxpayer handouts, but simply security for lenders in the unlikely event of 
    the borrowers default.
 In your third paragraph you state that several nuclear plants have recently 
    received operating license extensions for another 20 years. Webster's 
    defines several as "more than two but not many". In fact the NRC has given 
    license extension approvals to 48 plants, 14 more are awaiting approval, and 
    22 more are expected to apply for extension. In short, about 81% of the US 
    nuclear fleet will soon have license extension to allow operation for up to 
    60 years. [I covered this and other subjects in a book, "A Brighter 
    Tomorrow", I co-authored i n 2004 for Senator Pete Domenici; see page 54]
 Spent fuel dry storage tasks are all above ground and not underground as you 
    stated.
 
 I hope this is helpful to you for future use ----- I like to see nuclear get 
    attention and hopefully positive ---- or as James Lovelock's Gaia theory 
    implies we will be like Kevin Costner's Waterworld people within a few 
    centuries.
 
 
 Julian Steyn
 Energy Resources International, Inc.
 
 
 I enjoy your newsletter; almost every edition covers topics that interest 
    me.
 
 
 Having spent more than 30 years involved with designing, building and 
    supplying material to nuclear power plants, and being active in IEEE nuclear 
    qualification standard writing activities, there is a real difference in the 
    perceived vs. actual risks regarding nuclear power. Other than nuclear, at 
    this time we have no other viable large scale, base load generation 
    alternatives.
 
 
 I highly recommend a recently published book, "Power to Save the World - The 
    Truth About Nuclear Energy" by Gwyneth Cravens, published by Knopf. A former 
    anti-nuclear activist, she has taken an in-depth look at the industry and 
    has changed her mind regarding the industry. The book is full of facts - and 
    opinions - regarding the relative risks of various energy sources and the 
    possibilities of terrorist attacks, etc. causing a large scale radiation 
    risk.
 
 
 Most people (myself included despite my experience and graduate level 
    education) are irrational regarding radiation risk. The book brings us back 
    to earth! The activities we should have taken at least 20 years ago 
    regarding new nuclear plants as base load generation would have greatly 
    improved our energy independence, and our trade imbalance. Luckily, the NRC 
    has gone a long way toward streamlining the licensing process - although 
    this needs to be proved in the rebirth. We can't go on increasing GDP with 
    decreased energy usage - we need more non-fossil capacity.
 
 
 Jan Pirrong
 President
 CableLAN Products, Inc.
 
 
 Energy Biz publishes a number of articles and letters with substantial 
    misrepresentations of nuclear power.
 
 
 * Nuclear Waste - Nuclear power is the only technology for generating 
    electricity that DOES incorporate most of the "external" costs for 
    generating power, unlike other methods. The cost of the power includes 
    charges for decommissioning and long-term handling of spent fuel. Huge sums 
    are collected from nuclear utilities for long-term management of spent fuel 
    -- the total collected to date by the federal government is over $28 
    billion. Even after the inflated, gross and embarrassing fiscal 
    mismanagement and expenditure of $8 billion to date by the federal 
    government for the pitiful progress at the Yucca Mountain repository, there 
    is still a balance of more than $20 billion in the fund, and increasing 
    every day.
 
 
 * Edward F. Sproat III, Director for Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, 
    U.S. Department of Energy, in testimony before the Committee on the Budget, 
    US House of Representatives on October 4, 2007 stated: " The Nuclear Waste 
    Fund is funded by a 1 mil per kilowatt-hour fee on all nuclear generation in 
    this country. As of today, the Fund has a balance of approximately $20.7 
    billion, which is invested in U.S. Treasury instruments. The Government 
    receives approximately $750 million per year in revenues from on-going 
    nuclear generation and the Fund averages about 5.5 percent annual return on 
    its investments."
 
 
 * Why publish letters and articles claiming that utilities do not pay for 
    managing their wastes when it is an obvious lie? Interestingly, "greenie" 
    power advocates do not include the costs of disposal in their calculations. 
    Solar panels, for example, have some very nasty materials in them, and 
    environmentalists are planning to just dump them in a landfill?
 
 
 * Interestingly, most (97%) of the nuclear "waste" is not waste at all but 
    valuable fuel and elements created during nuclear processes. Metals 
    reclaimed through reprocessing include Uranium, Plutonium, Zirconium, and 
    Rhodium and Ruthenium (important noble metal catalysts).
 
 
 * The oceans of the world alone contain about 4.5 Billion tons of natural 
    Uranium, plus many other radioactive elements. Needless-to- say, landmasses 
    contain much more than that. It is rather obvious that mankind is not 
    capable of making more than a very minor contribution to the world-wide 
    burden of nuclear materials even if all power were produced by nuclear 
    plants and the wastes were scattered randomly over the oceans. Managing 
    nuclear wastes is not a scientific issue, the solutions are well known. What 
    is with these ignorant articles and letters claiming that there are no 
    scientific and engineering solutions? Certainly the management of nuclear 
    wastes is far more proven than Global Warming. Fair enough to say that there 
    is no POLITICAL solution.
 
 
 * Nuclear power plants, on net, eliminate radiation from the environment. A 
    nuclear plant converts long half-life isotopes to short half-life isotopes. 
    These short half-life isotopes are carefully shielded from the environment, 
    and after they decay, there are fewer radioactive atoms in the earth's 
    inventory than when the process started. People who do not like radiation 
    should logically support plants that "burn" it up.
 
 
 * It is an indisputable scientific fact that nuclear power plants produce 
    electricity for less than the costs to make power from solar or wind plants. 
    It is possible to build and operate nuclear power plants and produce power 
    for $0.05 per kWh. It is currently done in many countries. Existing plants 
    in the USA do it, and the power is available 24 hours a day. (Caveat - The 
    cost structure for future plants depends on many factors, such as inflation 
    and regulatory issues, just as with any technology.)
 
 
 * All the hand waving and conspiracy theory paranoia cannot make alternative 
    power affordable. It takes science and engineering to build things to 
    fulfill their imaginations.
 
 
 * Everyone wants cost-effective alternative power, and there is much 
    progress in that direction. Wind, for example, will continue to make 
    significant contributions in producing non-dispatchable power. However, 
    materials costs, construction labor and scientific and engineering realities 
    impact all methods of making power. Notice that the cost of windmills is no 
    longer going down because of the same material and labor cost constraints 
    impacting everything.
 
 
 * Regardless of how the "greenies" massage the message, energy storage and 
    transmission costs are the Achilles Heel of alternative power. The costs are 
    massive to supply base loaded or intermediate loaded power. As an example, a 
    solar facility can produce no more than the equivalent of 8 hours (typically 
    6) of full power a day if there is never a cloud or a killer sand storm. 
    Thus, a 1000 MW solar plant must generate at least 3000 MW when the sun 
    shines in order to store energy for the other 16 hours and deliver a 
    constant 1000 MW.
 
 
 At present, the only cost-effective way to store huge amounts of energy is 
    pumped storage -- dam a river and pump the water uphill during the day. 
    However, eliminating wild rivers is very expensive and hardly a "green" 
    solution. Even if the solar collectors are free, the economics are not 
    attractive. Steel, concrete, solar tracking systems, labor, land and energy 
    storage systems are needed on a massive scale.
 
 
 * "Greenie" power costs are computed using special "Greenie Math."
 
 
 The main problem with "Greenie Math" is that it considers government 
    subsidies as free money from the Tooth Fairy that does not negatively impact 
    society. Here is a News Flash => Money thrown away on uneconomical projects 
    could build schools, send the kids to college and eliminate poverty. Most 
    "greenie" articles talk about only the subsidized cost of power, and it is 
    usually impossible to extract the true cost from the information provided. 
    Talk about deceptive!
 
 
 * Nuclear has delivered big time in proportion to government money used to 
    stimulate the technology over the years. For the various subsidies and 
    research grants provided over the past 50 years, "greenie" power has been a 
    bust on the basis of kWh produced per subsidy dollar spent. (Note: Sanity is 
    needed in the nuclear debate, not more government money. Alternative power 
    subsidization of prudent projects that show promise for economic viability 
    should continue.)
 
 
 Trash talking nuclear power is bizarre. Nuclear has delivered on its 
    promise. France produces 80% of its electrical power from nuclear, and many 
    other countries produce 30% or more. Even the USA manages 20%. France is the 
    leading exporter of electrical power in the world and the only industrial 
    nation that has control of its carbon footprint, and has done it 
    economically.
 
 
 Edward R. Dykes, P.E.
 La Grange, Texas
 
 
 California Exercises Legal Options - January 11, 2008
 
 
 I am among the few that still supports the Bush administration, but I think 
    they are falling short with this issue. Tougher policy is required and it 
    needs to be directed to the source of the problem. That's the people who 
    continue to buy large gas guzzling vehicles. If stiffer penalties were 
    placed on people buy those vehicles than their motivation to buy them would 
    change and that in turn would motivate the auto industry to produce a more 
    fuel efficient fleet of vehicles. The auto industry certainly does not need 
    a "patchwork of state rules" for the reasons stated in your article, but 
    that's what we might end up with if the proper motivation is not directed at 
    the source of the problem.
 
 
 Keith D. Wilson
 GE Infrastructure - Energy
 Contractual Services Ops Manager
 
 
 The Federal Agency that regulates Surface Coal Mining also requires States 
    to have laws and regulations that conform to Federal standards. Their test 
    is that State laws must be "no less stringent than" and their regulations 
    "no less effective than" the Federal. They take the position that States 
    always have the right to be more stringent than the Federal.
 
 
 California has taken the stand that they have the right to be more stringent 
    than the Federal, which would be in the mainstream of current State/Federal 
    relations. I do not remember a historical case of the Federal requiring 
    States to hold to a lower Federal standard since before the Civil War when 
    Free States were not allowed to have laws that Slave States objected to.
 
 
 Kimery C. Vories
 Edwardsville, IL
 
 
 I will not be surprised to see California prevail on this - the California 
    Air Resources Board were really the first in the world to figure out "smog" 
    and do something about it in the late 50's and early 60's and for years the 
    auto makers had to make "49 state cars" and "California cars" with different 
    emissions systems. Seems like the precedent was set long ago.
 
 
 William S. Bulpitt, P.E.
 Senior Research Engineer/Strategic Energy Institute
 Georgia Institute of Technology
 
 
 I find the statement below somewhat humorous but not representative of the 
    true "will" of millions of people.
 
 
 "[EPA officials] are ignoring the will of millions of people who want their 
    government to take action in the fight against global warming," counters 
    Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
 
 
 If the millions of people were really interested in reducing tailpipe 
    emissions, why aren't they all driving econoboxes or "green" vehicle such as 
    the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid? California could impact tailpipe 
    emissions by simply imposing a stiff gasoline tax that made people more 
    "willing" to purchase more fuel efficient vehicles or use mass-transit. Then 
    again, these types of policies don't get you re-elected.
 
 
 Greg Palovchik
 Specialist, Distribution Planning
 PCIO Sales Support
 Nationwide Insurance
   
 
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