THE NORTH CAROLINA GREEN PARTY SUPPORTS NEW EPA CLEAN POWER PLAN
by Wayne Turner, North Carolina Green Party cochair
In the new Clean Power Plan unveiled by the EPA on August 3rd, there is rightly a limited role for nuclear power in achieving the desperately needed reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Nuclear power cannot be reasonably incorporated into this plan because:
• Construction of nuclear power plants is slow and expensive. Money invested in nuclear power would be better spent in rapid deployment of less expensive solar and other renewable power solutions
• After Chernobyl and Fukushima, and recognizing that existing running nuclear power plants are often the source of leaks (and are always a source of dangerous waste), continued construction of nuclear power plants poses a new environmental threat that could be avoided
• The construction and proliferation of nuclear power in an increasingly politically unstable world increases the potential for nuclear proliferation and for the mis-use of highly radioactive spent fuel
The North Carolina Green Party supports the EPA recommendations as the shortest and most effective path to mitigating anthropogenic climate change. In addition to supporting the limitations on the use of new nuclear power to meet emissions goals, we call on the United States to rapidly implement the solutions of the Clean Power Plan, and to provide strong support for global efforts to reduce carbon emissions.
We also note that North Carolina's governor and the Republican controlled legislature have already vowed to oppose the greenhouse gas emission limits in the plan. This is a shameful and deeply cynical position to take in the face of the continued degradation of our environment. We call on the governor and the legislature to stop playing politics with our lives and the future of the planet.
There is no Planet B.
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