Political Quotes

“In May of this year, I wrote a letter to Mr. Daniel Reifsnyder of the U.S. Department of State, transmitting my comments on the Draft Second U.S. Climate Action Report. In this letter, dated May 15, 1997, I reminded Mr. Reifsnyder that nuclear energy is responsible for 89 percent of all the carbon dioxide emissions avoided by U.S. electric utilities between 1973 and 1995 and that over 1.9 billion metric tons of carbon emissions have been avoided in the United States alone through the use of nuclear energy. Nuclear energy has made and can continue to make tremendous contributions in avoiding carbon emissions. Although the contributions of nuclear energy appear to have gotten little acknowledgment in the U.S. Climate Action Report, if we look at what is happening internationally, we see that other countries have not failed to take notice of the nuclear option. Specifically, France and Japan continue their reliance on nuclear energy for substantial percentages of their energy needs, and China has ambitious plans for developing its civilian nuclear program. The failure of this country to take a long term view and invest in nuclear research and development has the potential to damage not only our own civilian program, but our ability to observe and influence the programs of other nations.”