Earth Equity News

Environmental Advocates Cooling on Obama. By John M. Broder, NYTimes, February 18, 2010. "There has been no more reliable cheerleader for President Obama's energy and climate change policies than Daniel J. Weiss of the left-leaning Center for American Progress. But Mr. Obama's recent enthusiasm for nuclear power, including his budget proposal to triple federal loan guarantees for new nuclear reactors to $54 billion, was too much for Mr. Weiss... The early optimism of environmental advocates that the policies of former President George W. Bush would be quickly swept away and replaced by a bright green future under Mr. Obama is for many environmentalists giving way to resignation, and in some cases, anger... Environmental advocates largely remained silent late last year as Mr. Obama all but abandoned his quest for sweeping climate change legislation and began to reach out to Republicans to enact less ambitious clean energy measures. But the grumbling of the greens has grown louder in recent weeks as Mr. Obama has embraced nuclear power, offshore oil drilling and 'clean coal' as keystones of his energy policy. And some environmentalists have expressed concern that the president may be sacrificing too much to placate Republicans and the well-financed energy lobbies. Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth... said 'We were hopeful last year; he was saying all the right things, but now he has become a full-blown nuclear power proponent, a startling change over the last few months... Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the administration's most stalwart supporters up to now, also expressed disappointment in the president's new focus on nuclear power and his mention in the State of the Union address of 'clean coal technologies.'"