Nuclear Up, Coal Down – Bruce Power tells it like it is in 30 seconds

Now this is the kind of messaging I keep trying to tell my colleagues that the nuclear industry should be unashamedly sharing. I could not care less if it happens to offend some dirt burners. As the ad shows, when nuclear energy production increases, energy production from competitive fuel sources decreases. It is as simple…

Coal ash needs proper regulation and enforcement

Occasionally I run into people who are opposed to nuclear who tell me that they fight it because we do not need the power. They forget that about 35-50% of the electricity in the United States comes from burning as much as 1.1 billion tons of coal per year. It is important to me that…

The Establishment Wants Us All To Overreact To Fukushima

A recurring theme on Atomic Insights is that nuclear energy is a disruptive technology that has the potential to reshuffle the wealth and power underpinning what my generation called “The Establishment”, which is essentially the same as what some now call the 1%. Though it may be a bit of an exaggeration or over simplification,…

Deconstructing Coal Industry Misinformation Campaign

A good friend sent me a link to an article by Brian Dockstader titled The Coal Industry Wants You In The Dark that does a reasonably good job of deconstructing the messages in the following 30 second television ad, which was paid for by a coal industry lobby group called “American Coalition for Clean Coal…

Month long quest to convince a fossil fuel advocate to believe climate change

I just spent a fascinating couple of hours watching an ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company) documentary titled I Can Change Your Mind About..Climate. Aside: Before that turns you off by making you think that the documentary lasts for hours, please understand that it can take me a long time to watch a show while preparing a…

Combine domestic coal with nuclear energy to make oil

As a South Central Virginia resident, I have something in common with the people in the Pacific Northwest who are concerned about the impact of coal exports from the US. Numerous coal laden trains pass through Lynchburg every day, many of them headed to the large coal terminal in Newport News. I can hear the…

Inspirational “clean coal” commercial

I hope this helps you get pumped up to work to improve the American economy and restore American power. I admit it, I am feeling a little sarcastic this morning. Perhaps a better word would be jealous – why doesn’t my industry run ads like these? Please forgive me for this one, but one of…

Blast from the past from a “clean coal” advocate – Amory Lovins

One of the great ironies in today’s America is that a two time college drop out and Friends of the Earth campaigner who strongly advocated for increasing coal use is often held up as a hero of the environmental movement while also making a lot of money as a consultant for the natural gas industry, Wal-Mart…

Uranium ban versus Coal Encouragement by Navajo Nation President

Yesterday morning during my commute, I listened to the May 31 edition of Democracy Now (http://www.democracynow.org/index.pl?issue=20050531) and heard an interesting interview with Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. He made a couple of statements that seemed rather incongruous. On one hand, he described his focused efforts since his election to pass legislation banning uranium mining on…