Green Options » Senator McCain

Is the Hog Odor Earmark in the Stimulus Package More Pork - Or a Green Step Forward?

Brenda Keener — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 20:28:36 +0000

Lawmakers continue to raise a stink about the $1.7M earmark for hog odor research in Obama’s stimulus package, calling it “pork” in its finest form. Rural residents who live near hog farms, or worse, facilities where hogs are butchered, are calling it about time!

In the State of Iowa, pigs outnumber people by 8:1 - there are 20M pigs living in this Midwestern state. Hog odors are nauseating, sulferous, and hard to get out of clothing, vehicles, and carpeting. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin is proud of getting this earmark passed through, and his Iowa constituents view as his bringing home the bacon to his home state. Per Sen. Harkin (as quoted by mgwashington.com):

There’s Nothing Energy Independent (and sustainable) about Nuclear Energy

John Ivanko — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:52:35 +0000

Suppose we suspend our “precautionary principle” and understanding about the Three Mile Island crisis. You know, that 1979 national emergency caused by a partial meltdown triggered by a loss of reactor cooling water. Unfortunately, over the last three decades, neither plant owners nor the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have adequately addressed the basic flaws in U.S. nuclear safety that led to the Three Mile Island accident, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.

And suppose we just forget about what to do with the nuclear waste from the reactors, lethal to all life for more than 10,000 years. Even if we can contain the nuclear waste (a big “if” for many of us to swallow in these days of unforeseen financial market meltdowns), why pass this waste on to future generations, on to our great, great, great grandchildren?

That we’ve been unable to agree politically on a safe place to store nuclear waste (in Yucca Mountain, Nevada) masks the fact that we still need to move this toxic waste from as many as 104 currently operating nuclear reactors scattered throughout the continental U.S. Nice targets for those terrorists we’ve been unable to locate or perhaps for the swelling homegrown terrorist types as of late, folks who have come on hard times and can think of better things to do with a $700 billion bailout package and don’t like the way things are headed in Washington D.C. By the way, these nuclear reactors with a 40 year lifespan aren’t cheap, therefore they’ve been partially subsidized by American taxpayers for years.

What Senator McCain and Senator Obama seem to leave out in all their debates and public discourse is that America is no more energy independent with nuclear power than it is with oil. A key rationale for expanding nuclear power generation touted by those concerned about climate change – including both Presidential candidates: Nuclear power plants generate energy by splitting uranium atoms, resulting in no carbon dioxide emissions, standing in stark contrast to those CO2 emissions created by burning coal or oil. But the U.S., as it turns out, has even less uranium than oil as a percentage of domestic production.

McCain’s Nuclear Razzle-Dazzle Fizzles with Inconsistencies

Max Lindberg — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:19:34 +0000

Yucca Mountain, “Yes”; transport waste through my state?, “No”; what Grand Canyon?

It’s hard to tell if Senator McCain’s age is catching up with his memory, or if he’s just trying to ride a lot of fences when it comes to nuclear power.

The Sierra Club sent out a release today, pointing out the Senator’s love affair with nuclear power, revealed a YouTube clip of McCain saying he would not approve of shipping 77,000 tons of dangerous nuclear waste through his home state of Arizona, but felt it would be ok to move it through 44 other states.

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With this in mind, let’s examine his stand on drilling for uranium in the national parks surrounding the Grand Canyon.