{news} Congresssman Murphy pro Nuke stance

[Tim McKee]

Fairfield weekly (ADvocate chain)



County Fair: The Nuclear Option
===============================

Comments (0)
Thursday, October 02, 2008
By Dave Bonan

A few weeks ago, a piece of campaign literature arrived in the mail from
my congressman, Chris Murphy. It was a delight both because it was the
calm before the storm of the election season's lit blitz and because I
helped Murphy get elected after years under Republican Nancy Johnson's
special interests-fueled reign over the Fifth District. I worked for Ned
Lamont's senate campaign in 2006 in the Bethel and Danbury offices, which
shared workers, space and advocacy with Murphy's first congressional bid

The literature's bullet points were Murphy's involvement in 1) expanding
domestic oil and gas development on and offshore, 2) investing in wind
and solar power, 3) investing in safe nuclear energy development, and 4)
ending tax breaks to giant oil companies earning record profits.

Wait, what was that third one? "Investing in safe nuclear energy?" I had
never heard that issue raised by Murphy before.

Even though nuclear energy on the surface is green with no emissions, one
would think Murphy, a progressive Democrat, would stay clear of it, given
that all of his constituents live 44 to 85 miles from the Indian Point
Energy Center in Buchanan, N.Y., controversial for its aging equipment,
Nuclear Regulator Commission–fined siren system, and faulty evacuation
plan if the plant—which is frighteningly close to New York City—was to
blow.

Nowhere on Murphy's campaign site is the word "nuclear" used (just use
Ctrl + F and enter "nuclear" to search).

His campaign office says the third bullet point referenced Murphy's vote
for the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (passed by the House
and signed by the president), which also called for increasing
alternative fuel production, raising national fuel economy standards and
investing in renewable energy. His staff had no adequate answer why
nuclear energy is a new campaign point for Murphy, after I asked the
question numerous times.

Nuclear issues aside, Murphy was given a 100-percent rating on the League
of Conservation Voters' National Environmental Scorecard. Compare that to
Johnson's 52, the lowest of the Connecticut delegation.


******************************************
Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282
 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT.
BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com

-- 
Be Yourself @ mail.com!
Choose From 200+ Email Addresses
Get a Free Account at www.mail.com

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist10.pair.net/mailman/private/ctgp-news/attachments/20081001/123e7409/attachment.html>