Assembly Pubbies on the Right Path

Here's a bit of good news:

Wisconsin lawmakers are debating whether to lift the state's 25-year moratorium on new nuclear power plants, with backers arguing it will shore up the energy supply and combat global warming.

Backed by business groups, the Republican-controlled Assembly is advancing a bill that would allow the Public Service Commission to again consider plans to build nuclear power plants. The chamber gave preliminary approval to the plan early Thursday after no debate but Democratic critics delayed a final vote.

The plan would repeal a 1983 law that outlaws the construction of such plants unless they are shown to save ratepayers money and a federal repository for nuclear waste is operating. The law, enacted after the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident, has essentially acted as a ban.

The plan will not become law this session given opposition by Democrats who control the Senate and Gov. Jim Doyle. But approval in the Assembly would be significant and escalate a debate over the safety of nuclear power and the best ways to provide energy for Wisconsin residents.

The flappayappa over "saving ratepayer money" will be moot in about 3 years or so as the price of natural gas and coal continues to rise. In fact, the irresponsible and unwarranted use of natural gas to create electricity will be a VERY ....ah....hot.....issue in that timeframe, as the demand bids up the price of a resource which is no longer easy to find in the USA--thus increasing heating bills for many Wisconsin residents.

As to a suitable dumping spot for used nuke fuel: how about Jim Doyle's office? He nukes all kinds of good ideas and can always use more ammo.