Bush’s Plans for the DOE will hurt the U.S. Economy

Today I saw two awkward stories in the news on nuclear weapons. In a Washington Post story scientists at Livermore bemoaned “budget cuts by Congress and the Bush administration {which} have reduced their ability to carry out scientific research needed to ensure the reliability of the nation’s nuclear arsenal in future years.” Another story took a similar, positive, stance on the development of new nuclear weapons; claiming that by not proliferating nuclear weapons we lose valuable jobs and scientific progress. SPEAK OUT, HERE.

Also today: the Bush administration announced the U.S. plan to combat global warming; by not reducing our countries carbon footprint until 2025.

Let’s deconstruct the news shall we?

• I’ve answered the reliability questions many times in this blog so I will refrain from doing so again. Simply to say, our nuclear stockpile has been thoroughly tested for its ability to decimate other countries on command.
• Especially, given our ‘commitment’ to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty why increase the production of nuclear weapons at home while admonishing other countries for their nuclear programs? It’s another example of our National hubris preventing productive diplomacy and scientific innovation.
• In this economic crisis we cannot afford to lose hundreds of jobs provided by nuclear factories to scientists and labor workers alike. Those who may lose their jobs with a decrease in U.S. nuclear production can and should be trained in market-ready, earth-friendly energy science.

We really should follow our own example: The U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation (full disclosure: I worked at CRDF as an Intern in 2006) is a NGO founded by Congressional mandate (Nunn-Luger) to fund non-weapons scientific projects by former nuclear weapons scientists in the Former Soviet Union and Western Asia. CRDF also works on nuclear clean-up and creating market-ready energy technologies with emerging scientists from this area. The intention is to clean up and stop production of nuclear materials while stimulating the local economy with non-weapon related technology. GENUIS!

If we implemented a similar program for U.S. weapons scientists and factory workers – a program to promote innovation in earth friendly energy – we could really accomplish a lot. In fact, we already are accomplishing a lot in Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and dozens of other countries where new, innovative and earth friendly energy alternatives are being conceived and put into production. Bush could learn a lot from the programs set up by his colleagues in Congress decades ago; invest in the technology of the future, not the past.

The U.S. must take significant steps to reduce our carbon foot with innovative and economically feasible alternatives to oil. It is imperative we invest our resources into the production of THIS type of technology – not nuclear weaponry. Shifting our budget priorities from nuclear weapons to earth friendly energy technology innovation is an important step toward preserving this world for our children. You can speak out to the Department of Energy about new nuclear weapons by clicking here.