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Sun and wind are best for us

(200 word version)

It’s disconcerting to read Rep. Mike Simpson tout nuclear as the best green option in our energy debate. He claims, “France learned long ago that nuclear energy is safe, abundant and cheap.”

While it’s true France uses 80 percent nuclear power, there’s a big brouhaha going on about related problems. For one, the French lay their insidiously deadly toxins to rest for millennia in poor peoples backyards. Much like Three Mile Islands’ skeleton core here in Idaho.

While Mr. Simpson says nuclear energy is safe, a uranium leak last summer in France, led to a user ban in two Vaucluse Rivers. What if we had to forgo boating and fishing in our Snake?

Rep. Simpson concludes, “Who wants their grandmother’s kidney dialysis machine to rely on wind energy on a calm day or solar energy when the sun is not shining?” Naturally, concerned relatives want reliable backup generators for such concerns, and currently scientists are developing innovative products that run off both solar and wind power, and require infrequent charges.

Instead of greenwashing Grandma with putrid plutonium promises, wouldn’t she rather see us funding her grandchildren’s colleges with more R&D to augment what safe, abundant sun and wind can generate?