FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
Energy Secretary Perry Argues Opposition to Coal, Nuclear Keeps Billions in Poverty
June 26, 2018 (EIRNS)—In his keynote speech today at the triennial World Gas Conference in Washington, Energy Secretary Rick Perry blasted the ideologues whose “stubborn opposition” to the use of fossil fuels takes no consideration as to the impact on the lives of billions of people in developing nations. Perry has been tasked by President Trump to find a way to keep U.S. coal and nuclear power plants from shutting down, to protect the economy and national security. That is also the priority for developing nations.
The most virulent, irrational argument against the use of coal is the supposed environmental impact of carbon. As CNBC reports, “Perry has publicly denied the scientific consensus” that there is climate change that is caused by human activity, including use of fossil fuels. Perry stated that forecasts indicate that fossil fuels will still be providing 75% of the world’s energy in 2040. Countries that have reserves of coal will continue to increase exploitation of this domestic resource. “For the sake of our fellow human beings,” Perry said, every nation has the right to “responsibly use every fuel at its disposal.”
The environmentalists are using the same fight, even the same green arguments, to kill the nuclear industry.
At a media round table yesterday, Perry told reporters that the U.S. must step up to bring the latest technology into the nuclear industry, or be left out of the international market, with foreign orders for nuclear power plants going to Russia or China rather than Westinghouse. And if the U.S. talks to India and Saudi Arabia, which are in the market for clusters of nuclear plants, but “we let our industry collapse for whatever reason, then it puts the future of nuclear power in the U.S. in jeopardy,” because it sends a message that “America is really not committed to nuclear power.”
