A letter writer to Peninsula Voices on Jan. 31 (“Climate change”) states, “Donald Trump may in fact threaten human civilization by setting in motion runaway climate change beyond the capacity of civilization to cope.”
The opposite is true, and here is why: Crushing the coal industry, as the Democrats have done, without promoting nuclear energy may be politically correct but is not the correct solution.
The Democrats, allied with the Sierra Club, opposed nuclear power for 30 years and kept us on coal for 40 to 50 needless years.
We could be 75 percent nuclear energy like France or 40 percent nuclear like Sweden.
Instead, the Sierra Club has opposed and obstructed new and existing permits for nuclear power.
American nuclear power is 20 percent of our total electricity — no change in 30 years — and only one nuclear power plant has been commissioned in the past 20 years.
Nuclear reactor design has gotten much safer in the past decade.
Of course, nuclear plants should not be built in tsunami zones like the Japanese do.
They should not be built without containment buildings like the Russians did.
We should have as much wind and solar power as possible.
However, for our core carbon-free energy requirement, nuclear is the only solution.
President Trump’s policy of eliminating and streamlining obstructive regulations will bring more nuclear power plants online faster.
Democrats have been rethinking their nuclear power policy since 2010. Unfortunately, much environmental damage has already been done.
Take your pick — nuclear power or global warming.
Len Grim,
Sequim