Really dumb to let the Ziggies endanger the whole nation?

THE United States must have a reliable supply of electric power, but it is not on track to have that. According to the NexGen Energy Council, demand is expected to grow by 18 percent in the next 10 years, and baseload generating capacity by only 8 percent by 2016.

The United States will require about 120 gigawatts of new generation to maintain the 15 percent reserve margin needed to ensure a stable and reliable power system. That will take an investment of least $300 billion in generation and transmission lines over the next eight years.

Yet lawsuits that block the building of that infrastructure are delaying much-needed expansions.

One of the primary barriers to new power plants and transmission lines, the group contends, is "the opposition of well-funded environmental groups that oppose and file lawsuits against virtually every new infrastructure proposed."

The result is that if vulnerable regions like the western United States experience unusually hot weather for prolonged periods in 2009, "the potential for local brownouts or blackouts is high," the study said.

Everyone - everyone - wants a cleaner environment and a more diverse energy supply.

But allowing an extreme environmentalist fringe to paralyze construction of energy projects - including coal-fired power plants - endangers the whole nation.

http://www.dailymail.com/Opinion/Editorials/200810030468