Nuclear Power Has a Friend in Heads of Obama's Oil Gusher Commission

- Section 1124-6 allows municipal power agencies to derive certain tax, bond and grant benefits from investing in nuclear power.

If nuclear energy interests have been able to influence the climate change bill in Congress this much, there's little reason to not believe that nuclear energy lobbyists and others related could influence the commission to investigate the oil leak in the Gulf. In fact, it's even possible nuclear energy interests played akey role in Obama's decision to appoint both Graham and Reilly.

Conclusion

There may exist the potential for former Sen. Bob Graham and former head of the EPA William Reilly to uncover all that BP has been hiding from the public and government and why it has taken BP so long to stop the oil from further gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. There is the potential for it to provide great insight into the impacts of offshore drilling and whether America should have a future where offshore drilling is part of a national energy strategy. Given Reilly's experience writing a report on the Exxon Valdez spill, his knowledge of what worked and didn't work then should be an asset when investigating and putting together a report on the recent BP oil disaster in the Gulf.

However, as demonstrated in this article, both Graham and Reilly have strong ties to nuclear energy interests. They are spearheading a so-called independent commission that has the capacity to determine the future of not only oil and gas in this country but clean energy in this country.

During the weekend, Graham publicly assured BP and Big Oil that they would get a fair hearing. Because of BP's and Big Oil;s influence on political leaders in Washington, the Commission is unlikely to suggest that America pursue an energy future free of oil and gas; the Commission will probably not ban offshore drilling permanently. However, what the Commission will likely do is suggest recommendations on how the U.S. can become less and less dependable on carbon energy sources, which contribute to climate change. And, if they do that, they will open a big window for the expansion of the nuclear energy industry in America.