Not only did Mr. Obama push for “building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country,” but he endorsed “opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development” and “continued investment in...clean coal technologies.”

Does the President actually believe offshore oil drilling makes sense and that coal and nuclear can be safe, healthy and non-polluting? Or, as the country’s uber politician, is he trying to maintain a balancing act in order to avoid alienating members of Congress who are beholden to the fossil fuel and nuclear industries for their campaign contributions?

If it’s the latter, we should all remind the President of his campaign promise to rid the nation of “politics as usual.” If it’s the former, President Obama’s science, environmental and health advisors need to make a beeline to the Oval Office so they can brief their boss on the industries he’s touting. Why?

*  Clean coal and nuclear are myths, the products of aggressive industry public relations far more than reality.  Says analyst Richard Coniff, “Clean” is not a word that normally leaps to mind for a commodity some spoilsports associate with … acid rain, black lung, lung cancer, asthma, mercury contamination, and, of course, global warming. Even if the carbon is captured and sequestered or impurities are “scrubbed” away, the pollutants that result from burning coal never truly disappear.”

* The very act of mining coal destroys the environment.  Mountaintop removal mining is decimating both the natural and human landscape of Appalachia, for example.

* Offshore oil drilling pollutes the oceans, threatens marine animals and plants, and trashes beaches and coastlines.

As for nuclear energy, I have a hard time imagining any scenario that can lump “radioactive waste” and “clean” in the same sentence. There’s a reason no state wants to become a repository for the waste from nuclear power plants: they can’t guarantee it won’t eventually make its way into our air, water, and soil — or be stolen by terrorists and converted into a bomb.

Now, to be fair, the president did strongly endorse renewable energy:

“We know the country that harnesses the power of clean, renewable energy will lead the 21st century,” he said, noting that “Thanks to our recovery plan, we will double this nation’s supply of renewable energy in the next three years.”

I applaud the Administration’s commitment to “put Americans to work making our homes and buildings more efficient so that we can save billions of dollars on our energy bill.” Likewise, I support his decision to “invest fifteen billion dollars a year to develop technologies like wind power and solar power… and more fuel-efficient cars and trucks built right here in America.”

But rather than link these winning strategies to losers like coal, oil and nuclear, why not expand his vision for our future to include cost-effective and non-polluting options like mass transit, telecommuting, and stricter building standards to reduce energy demand from space heating and lighting?

If we want an energy future we can believe in, that future cannot continue to depend on fossil fuels and nuclear energy.

President Obama said it best: “If we confront without fear the challenges of our time and summon that enduring spirit of an America that does not quit, then someday years from now our children can tell their children that this was the time when we performed, in the words that are carved into this very chamber, “something worthy to be remembered.”

The post “Clean” Coal and Nukes Should Not be Part of Obama’s Energy Future – or Ours. appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Lisa Jackson, who’s been tapped to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, was the first Obama pick to grace the podium. I had a long chat with Lisa late last year at the Glamour magazine shoot we both did in New York in October. At the time, she was chief of staff to New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine after having completed a stint as the state’s top environmental regulator. She spoke then of the frustration of trying to reduce pollution in a state riddled with out-of-date manufacturing facilities. Tonight, she told the cheering throng how thrilled she was to be taking the helm at EPA and pledged to work with us all to set a new, cleaner energy course for the U.S. BTW – Lisa personifies the new brains Obama is bringing to government. She graduated summa cum laude from Tulane University’s School of Chemical Engineering and has a Master’s Degree in chemical engineering from Princeton.

Department of Energy Secretary nominee Steven Chu, another brainiac (Nobel-prize winning physicist, director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), was all smiles as he told the audience he shared our goals to reduce climate change and develop  more clean energy resources. Chu is famous in my crowd for saying “Coal is my worst nightmare.” We couldn’t agree more.

Margo Oge, EPA’s Director of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality, echoed the sentiments of her colleagues and the crowd with an enthusiastic endorsement for a greener, cleaner future.

Newly elected New Mexico Senator Tom Udall – not a member of the Obama cabinet but still a Democrat with a solid environmental protection track record – pledged his support for an energy future based more on solar and wind than fossil fuels. Sen. Udall has been appointed to two key committees – Commerce, Science and Transportation, and Environment and Public Works – where he can make good on those goals.

Then there was a surprise. General Wesley Clark, former Democratic presidential candidate and former Supreme Commander of Allied Forces for NATO, stepped on to the podium. Anyone who’s been following the debate on energy and national security knows that Clark has become a vocal advocate for reducing American dependence on petroleum. He made it clear that he sees the next four years as an opportunity to craft new energy policy that could help restore America’s economy as well as our standing in the world.

Emcee Jan Hartke, a long-time personal friend and colleague and now an official at the Clinton Foundation’s Climate Initiative, spoke as forcefully as any of the guests about the new environmental opportunities our nation faces. Jan and I have worked together in Washington on and off for the last 20 years. “This is the first time I have real hope,” he said. Don’t we all!

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