Some skeptics criticize the plans of the Bush administration to ignore conservation, start drilling for oil in pristine parks and renew nuclear reactor construction with a program so aggressive it would put the Russian and French to shame. I think these plans don’t go far enough, especially concerning nuclear power. With the right mix of geography, hubris and uranium, we can be energy self-sufficient and forget about conserving entirely.

To this end, let’s spend the next 10 years building scores of 1,000-megawatt nuclear power stations on the North Olympic Peninsula. With the power produced, Clallam and Jefferson counties might just singly-handedly end our whole nation’s dependence on foreign oil once and for all. The peninsula has a high unemployment level, so construction of scores of reactors will provide thousands of jobs.

It also has plenty of open space, so it’s a win-win situation. Some critics worry that nuclear power will remain costly even if we gut the ability of the Nuclear Regulatory commission to set the highest safety standards in the world.

Peninsula Daily News section A May 20, 2001