Saturday, April 16, 2011

Letter Re "Nuclear Power Loses Support in New Poll," Times

Two words strike particularly undeserved fear in the hearts of many
Americans: Nuclear and Genetic.

While, as expected, the current situation in Japan has renewed
only-recently-thawed nuclear anxieties, perhaps the disaster will
force us to overcome apprehensions regarding genetic engineering in
the pursuit of better biofuels.

Japan’s nuclear woes round out a demoralizing 12 months for the energy
industry which saw 29 coal miners lose their lives in a horrific
accident in West Virginia and BP's offshore drilling rig explosion
that resulted in the death of eleven people and the biggest oil spill
in the history of the industry.

Biofuels, however, remain a safe and practicable energy technology. No
longer just rancid cooking oil in old diesel engines, current efforts
in the genetic engineering of non-food crops and algae hold
promising opportunities for biofuels as a truly feasible fossil fuel
alternative.