Obama Took More Money From Nuclear Energy Execs Than Any Other '08 Candidate

Not a surprise that Obama continues to promote nuclear power as safe and secure energy even in the face of nuclear horror in Japan - he's on the company payroll, as are some of his closest former aides:

Fun with CQ Moneyline: Nearly $200,000 for the President's election came from one company's executives, who happen to work for the nation's biggest operator of nuclear power plants.

You can bet they are now applauding Obama's continuing drive for federally-backed industry loans despite the horror in Japan.

Nearly 250 executives with the Chicago-based Exelon Corporation wrote checks for Obama's 2008 campaign that eventually totaled $197,261. Obama's closest Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, got $700 from Exelon workers. His general election foe, Republican John McCain, collected $35,600.

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Ties between Obama and his home state's nuclear powerhouse go back to his 2004 Senate election, when Exelon gave him nearly $50,000. His longtime advisor, David Axelrod, was a consultant for the company.

Early in 2008 the New York Times reported on how Obama the senator had dealt with news that Exelon "had not disclosed radioactive leaks at one of its nuclear plants." After initially siding with outraged citizens by introducing tough legislation, he eventually weakened the bill to Exelon's liking -- and never got it passed (despite claiming on the presidential campaign trail that he had won passage).

"On one side were neighbors of several nuclear plants upset that low-level radioactive leaks had gone unreported for years; on the other was Exelon, the country's largest nuclear plant operator and one of Mr. Obama's largest sources of campaign money. "
-- New York Times, (2/3/2008)

Since those days, the President has justified his friendly relations with the nuclear giant, the third largest in the world, citing his belief that radioactive power is vital to the Administration's green energy agenda. But the Japanese catastrophe reminds us that clean is not exactly spotless.

Not surprisingly, Obama's benefactor is a leading advocate for tens of billions in federal loan guarantees to its industry -- a desire that the White House still dutifully promotes despite the tsunami-provoked backlash against nuclear power.

Exelon's CEO John W. Rowe laid down the marker last year in a speech:

"We support loan guarantees to jump start new nuclear construction, which will be needed to diversify our generation mix and replace the current aging nuclear fleet."

Last month Obama's 2012 budget sought $36 billion in underwriting for new reactors, doubling the $18.5 billion that George W. Bush had set aside.

So far Obama is not backing away from this nuclear war against fossil fuel. Pick your poison.

That's change we can believe in, all right.

What a crook.

Safe And Reliable Nuclear Power

President Obama on nuclear power, February 16, 2010:

Investing in nuclear energy remains a necessary step,” the president said today at the IBEW Local Headquarters in Lanham, Maryland, “What I hope is that, with this announcement, we're underscoring both our seriousness in meeting the energy challenge and our willingness to look at this challenge, not as a partisan issue , but as a matter that's far more important than politics because the choices we make will affect not just the next generation but many generations to come.”

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“Japan and France have long invested heavily in this industry. Meanwhile, there are 56 nuclear reactors under construction around the world; 21 in China alone; six in South Korea; five in India,” the president said, “Whether it's nuclear energy or solar or wind energy, if we fail to invest in the technologies of tomorrow, then we're going to be importing those technologies instead of exporting them. We will fall behind. Jobs will be produced overseas instead of here in the United States of America. And that's not a future that I accept.”

Japan today:

TOKYO — Japanese officials struggled on Sunday to contain a quickly escalating nuclear crisis in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake and tsunami, saying they presumed that partial meltdowns had occurred at two crippled reactors, and that they were bracing for a second explosion, even as they appeared to face cooling problems at two more plants and international nuclear experts said radiation had leaked from a fourth.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said the Japanese government had declared a state of emergency at the plant with the radiation leak; that plant is about 60 miles from Sendai, a city of 1 million people in Japan’s northeast. The government did not immediately confirm the report from the I.A.E.A., which said it was not yet clear what caused the release.

Soon after that announcement, Kyodo News reported that a plant about 75 miles north of Tokyo was having cooling system problems, making it the third plant to experience such troubles.

The emergency at the plant that suffered an explosion appeared to be the worst involving a nuclear plant since the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago.

The government confirmed that radiation had escaped from the worst-hit plant, and local officials said that 22 people outside the plant showed signs of radiation exposure and about 170 other people near the plant had likely been exposed, but it was unclear if they had received dangerous doses. Early Sunday, the government said three workers were suffering full-out radiation illness.

The developments prompted the evacuation of more than 200,000 people.

On Sunday, Kumiko Fukaya, 48, who fled the area with several family members, she had been lulled into a false sense of complacency at the nearby plants, which she said had not had serious problems before. Then, on 7:30 Saturday morning, loudspeakers hung throughout her town of Tomioka blared a call for evacuation.

“The entire town was enriched by Tokyo Power,” she said, referring to the company that runs the plants, the closest of which is three miles from her home. “I thought they picked a safe and secure location. So instead of opposing the nuclear plant, I felt more security.

“Now I realize it’s a scary thing.”

It's the Obama Curse.

Offshore oil drilling is safe - except for when the platforms explode and spill millions of gallons of oil a month and wreak havoc on the environment.

Nuclear power is safe when done right - except for when an 8.9 earthquake occurs offshore that devastates a country and causes four reactors not even located near each other to melt down.

Again, just another reason to look at the neo-liberal corporate shill in the White House and realize he is simply parroting whatever his corporate owners want him to parrot.

But NEVER think he has the best interests of working and middle class people in his heart.

Where Are Those People Who Say Nuclear Power Is So Safe Now?

Okay, I've tried to leave the earthquake news out of Japan to the new sites and newspapers, but this news is just too horrific to ignore:

WASHINGTON — An explosion at a nuclear power plant in northern Japan on Saturday blew the roof off one building, brought down walls and caused a radiation leak of unspecified proportions, Japanese officials said, after Friday’s huge earthquake caused critical failures in the plant’s cooling system.

Television images showed a huge cloud of white-gray smoke from the explosion. Soon afterward, government officials said an evacuation zone around the plant had been doubled, to 12 miles. The chief cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, confirmed earlier news reports of an explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, 15o miles north of Tokyo, saying: “We are looking into the cause and the situation and we’ll make that public when we have further information.” He was speaking amid fears that a disastrous meltdown could be imminent because of critical cooling failures at that plant and another nearby, Daini, after both were shut down.

Images on Japanese television showed that the walls of one building had crumbled, leaving only a skeletal metal frame standing with smoke billowing from the plant. The Associated Press reported that the damaged building housed a nuclear reactor, though that report was not immediately verified by nuclear officials. The cause of the explosion was unclear, with some experts speculating that it may have resulted from a hydrogen build-up.

There was no immediate confirmation of news reports that the container of the nuclear reactor itself had escaped damage.

Bloomberg News quoted Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant’s operator, as saying the explosion happened “near” the No. 1 reactor at around 3:40 p.m. Japan time on Saturday. Four people were reported injured. The explosion came roughly 26 and a half hours after an 8.9-magnitude earthquake caused a deadly tsunami that killed hundreds and caused both plants to be shut down. Authorities issued broad evacuation orders on Saturday for people living near the plants and warned that small amounts of radioactive material were likely to leak out.

Officials said even before the explosion that they had detected cesium, an indication that some of the fuel was already damaged.

Now I seem to remember there was somebody in the United States who was saying nuclear power plants, when built safely and securely, were an important energy investment.

Who was that guy again?

Oh, right - this guy.

Wasn't he the same guy who said offshore oil platforms are very safe and never explode just 18 days before one exploded in the Gulf of Mexico and unleashed millions of gallons of oil into the environment?

Yes, it was the same guy.

How is it this guy manages to avoid accountability for the stupid things he says about energy and the environment?