Tracy EmblemTakes on Nukes: America Should Reconsider its Bail-out of the Nuclear Power Industry...

America Should Reconsider its Bail-out of the Nuclear Power Industry

No new nuclear power plants have been built in the United States since the late 1970's.

However, in 2009, Senator Lamar Alexander from Tennessee unveiled his blueprint to build 100 nuclear power plants within the next 20 years.  Even with the nuclear power plant crisis unfolding in Japan, the senator insists that nuclear energy is safe and continues to call on the federal government to guarantee loans for nuclear power plants with tax payer dollars.

According to the Institute for Southern Studies, the nuclear industry has spent at least $640 million lobbying during the last decade.

Although there are several deep budget cuts proposed for social and environmental programs, President Obama has budgeted another $36 billion dollars in loan guarantees even though the nuclear industry should be seeking private marketplace financing for new construction. This amounts to a bailout for the nuclear industry.

The federal guarantees were first authorized by Congress in 2005. The New York Times reports that "a one-sentence provision" was buried in the energy bill and inserted without debate at the urging of the nuclear power industry, making nuclear plants classified as clean energy and eligible for tens of billions of dollars in government loan guarantees.

Apparently the lessons learned from the 1986 Chernobyl power plant reactor meltdown that caused the worst nuclear accident in history were forgotten. In the United States in 1979, we almost had a partial meltdown at Three Mile Island but the reactor was brought under control just in time.

With the meltdown of nuclear reactors in Japan, our government leaders, charged with protecting the health and safety of our citizens, should carefully evaluate the risks of nuclear power plants.

No matter how the industry spins it, nuclear power is not safe and will never be until the waste problem is solved. Thirty years later, we have not solved the dilemma of storing nuclear waste or the problem of what to do with the weapons-grade plutonium. It only takes about 18 pounds of plutonium to build a nuclear weapon. 

In the United States, more than 60,000 metric tons of nuclear waste is stored in temporary storage facilities at 131 civilian and military sites around the country. The current storage solutions are only expected to last 100 years, while nuclear waste can remain lethal for 100,000 years or more.  The government has no long term plan to store the waste and insure the waste does not remain an environmental hazard.

We must also consider the weapons proliferation risk in an age of transnational terrorism in addition to the risk of an environmental accident. These are just some reasons why we must adopt alternative renewable energy standards and use renewable energy sources rather than build 100 more nuclear power plants.

In the United States, a conservative solution is to invest in clean energy sources that do not pose risks inherent in nuclear energy production and storage. These sources include creating bio-energy from plant matter or animal waste. For example, in Northern California, Pacific Gas and Electric Company and BioEnergy Solutions are building an innovative bio-gas project in Fresno County to deliver renewable natural gas derived from animal waste, reducing the carbon footprint at its source.

In San Diego, San Diego Gas and Electric Company has announced a partnership in a wind project on the Campo reservation using renewable energy. This month SDG&E also announced a 25-year contract to generate solar energy from a proposed 1,057-acre solar energy facility near El Centro which would create almost 300 construction jobs in a two-year period.

Rather than subsidizing nuclear power plants or off-shore drilling, an alternative approach is needed. Using concentrated solar energy we could power the entire United States annually.  The public already owns the right-away along the state and interstate highways. It does not take a lot of imagination to conceive of a solar-electric array 100 feet wide and 100 miles long, or any number of miles. Since the highways pass through cities that need electricity we would have connectivity where every American could see their tax dollars at work.

While those in favor of building nuclear power plants argue that nuclear energy is inexpensive, they have not factored in the costs and risks associated with the building and maintenance of storage facilities for the nuclear waste or the cost to our people's health and the environment if there is a problem with the nuclear reactors.  If they had to factor in the cost of insurance to pay for these risks, nuclear energy would not be inexpensive.

America should have vision. Consequently, the United States should consider phasing out its nuclear power plants over the next generation and begin investing in other safer renewable energy sources. We can lead the world in clean energy technology.

Tracy Emblem Takes On Poverty: Subsidized childcare breaks the cycle of poverty

Subsidized childcare for low income families is supported in full or in part on a sliding scale basis by federal and state taxpayer dollars. In San Diego County, subsidized childcare and child development programs include state funded preschools, CalWORKS, Head Start programs, and a network of other alternative payment programs.

Federally funded Head Start programs help preschool children from poor homes meet their social, health, nutritional and psychological development needs. However, recently the House of Representatives has proposed federal budget cuts to Head Start which will result in nearly 17,000 California children being dropped from the programs.

California's legislature is also contemplating heavy funding cuts of 35-percent or $760 million dollars from childcare and child development budgets. These cuts will target infant-toddler programs and preschool and after-school programs for children ages 0-12 years.

Unfortunately, these childcare funding cuts are short-sighted and could put more marginal families and children at risk and cost us more in the end.    

CalWORKS childcare is a crucial component of the federally mandated Welfare-To-Work program. Since 1997, over 400,000 have graduated from the program. Stage 1 childcare is administered through local county welfare departments. Stages 2 and 3 are administered by the California Department of Education. There are imposed time limits on Stages 1 and 2 childcare. A family moves into Stage 3 when they have "timed out" on the first two stages and for as long as the family remains otherwise low-income qualified for childcare programs.

Subsidized childcare allows a parent to work, look for a job, or attend a work-training program or school with a defined graduation plan. Self-sufficiency is the goal - to lift families out of poverty, and off of the welfare rolls and into taxpaying jobs

Consider what it could mean to a single mother if her subsidized childcare is eliminated. With childcare she can work and make a productive contribution. However, without childcare her options are bleak. One option is to quit her job; another is to leave her children home alone or with someone not properly trained and licensed.

These last two options could leave the children at risk. Underground childcare is a breeding ground for poverty and child neglect. In fact, the greatest increase in foster care over the past 5-years has been for children who are still infants and toddlers.

Early childhood education programs also provide school readiness and save government dollars which would need to be spent on K-12 education, child welfare, and even the criminal justice system.

Subsidized child care provides a socio-economic return on investment by helping to break the cycle of poverty and giving poor families a helping hand-UP -  not a hand-out. A 2009 Cornell study reports that every $1 invested in childcare yields a direct return of $3.50. 

Certainly, there will always be those individuals who know how to "game" the state welfare system and those who want to cut funding for programs that help the poor will rely on this fact. But the socio-economic value to the many thousands of children who receive subsidized childcare and early childhood education each year far outweighs the few bad apples.

It is easier for elected officials to cut programs that benefit poor children since children cannot vote. However, in making tough budget decisions, elected officials should also examine other wasteful spending before gutting critical safety-net programs like childcare. 

For example, the Defense Department paid $285 billion dollars to about 100 contractors who defrauded taxpayers between 2007 and 2009. In January, the federal government reported that it recaptured $4 billion dollars from pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, doctors, nursing homes and others who overcharged federal health-care programs last year. These were not the "poor" gaming the system.

Our elected officials should carefully consider the benefits of subsidized childcare programs and not derail nearly 70-years of progress in building a system of high quality childcare, early education and early intervention.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tracy Emblem is an appellate attorney who has lived in Escondido since 1964. She received her law degree from National University School of Law in 1989, after working at the California Attorney General’s office, writs and appeals division.

Working closely with her longtime husband, attorney Thor Emblem, she supervises the civil research on the firm’s major cases and has authored numerous civil and criminal writs and appeals which have been published in the California courts. Known for solving seemingly impossible cases, special writs of habeas corpus.

Tracy ran as a candidate in the June 2010 California Democratic primary for the 50th Congressional District's nomination and lost despite building many coalitions and receiving many state and national endorsements for a first time candidate.