I have some very engaged readers. Some of you even follow up if you send something interesting and I do not get around to sharing it with all of you. Daniel sent me a scan of an advertisement that appeared in the Courier-Mail out of Queensland, Australia in November 2007. it is a very straightforward [...]
Smoking Gun Part 11 – Scargill, National Union of Mineworkers, blasts Monbiot for acceptance of nuclear
Arthur Scargill, former leaders of the UK’s National Union of Mineworkers, published a commentary on August 8, 2008 on Guardian.co.uk that qualifies as one of the clearest examples of a professional coal advocate trashing nuclear power for economic reasons. Here is Mr. Scargill’s view of nuclear power and his reaction when a long time critic [...]
Not quite a "smoking gun" – Coal plant versus nuclear or alternatives
American Municipal Power-Ohio, a nonprofit wholesale power supplier and services provider, is planning to build American Municipal Power Generating Station (AMPGS), a 1000 MWe coal fired power plant in Meigs County, Ohio. The organization’s members are interested in building a plant that gives them more control over the cost of the electricity that they provide [...]
Smoking Gun Part 10 – Scottish government signals support for reopening Longannet
In the midst of the debate about whether or not the UK should include new nuclear power as one of its major options in a new energy strategy designed to lessen the island nation’s dependence on imported coal, oil and gas and to meet its obligations as a signatory of the Kyoto accord, the Scottish [...]
Smoking Gun Part 9 – Carbon Sequestration advocates share an interesting funding source
A good friend sent me a link to an interesting diary on Daily Kos titled “Clean Coal”‘s Dirty Hands?. That diary entry used an article written by Peter Montague, titled INSIGHTS: Carbon Sequestration that provides some very interesting documentation of grants provided by The Joyce Foundation to a number of mainstream environmental organizations. The essential [...]
Smoking Gun Part 8 – (Gas industry firing at coal with Sierra Club assist)
Every once in a while I come across articles that directly support the notion that much of the energy source debate is really a marketing battle, though the stated topic might be “energy security”, “environmental concerns”, or “global warming”. To their great credit, most engineers and scientists that I know are very straightforward people; they [...]
Smoking gun Part 7 – Australian mining union targets nuclear as a job threat
The ‘smoking gun’ series on Atomic Insights provides links to articles that describe a direct anti-nuclear statement from someone who is openly supporting a competitive energy source. This afternoon, I received an anonymous tip with a link to an article in The Australian dated July 30, 2007 and titled Nuclear threatens our jobs: union. Here [...]
Smoking Gun 6 – Chesapeake Energy Strategy
I love honest people. Engaging in straightforward discussions and even arguments is one of my favorite pastimes. This morning, I opened up my copy of Chesapeake Energy’s annual report and read the following clear statement of objectives: Some of the great public debates of the next 10 years will focus on how we should meet [...]
Smoking Gun Part 4 (direct anti-nuclear comment from Dick Armey, who is advocating coal instead)
Dick Armey is a former US Congressman (Republican) who now serves as the chairman of FreedomWorks, a conservative, issues-based organization founded in 1984 that includes “full time staff in ten states and over 800,000 grassroots volunteers nationwide.” (quote from the organization’s “About Us” page). The tag line for the group’s web site is “Lower taxes, [...]
Smoking Gun Part 3 (Direct anti-nuclear comment from an Australian coal industry supporter)
I came across an informative article in the Time South Pacific edition (on-line of course) titled Plugging in to Nuclear. The teaser summary of the article was enough to grab my attention As some greens learn to love atomic power, Australia weighs whether to use its abundant uranium at home. Not only is the entire [...]
Smoking gun – part 2 (Direct anti-nuclear political comment from coal supporter)
Back on 14 January 2006, I posted a comment titled “Smoking gun – part 1″ in which I told you that I would be on the look out for nuclear opposition that can be directly tied to the desires of competitive industries to maintain their market share. Though there is enough circumstantial evidence out there [...]
Smoking gun – part 1 (Direct anti-nuclear business comment from coal supporter)
One of the themes that I continue to pursue is the fact that the established energy industry has the means, motive and opportunity needed to be a silent partner in the anti-nuclear enterprise. When I bring up this topic at nuclear industry gatherings, I am often met with either silence or vocal disagreement. Many of [...]