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Obama’s all too cosy circle of pro nuclear advice and money

..Ultimately, Obama remains as mired in nuclear energy as he is in the Gulf oil mess. Let’s hope it doesn’t take a nuclear accident to change his mind.

Obama’s nuclear family. AlterNet, by lindagunter 14 June 2010,
June 14, 2010In case we were hoping that the BP oil disaster would open the Obama administration’s eyes to the equal if not likely greater risks of nuclear energy, we can quickly disillusion ourselves. …..
During his 2004 run for the Senate, Exelon was Obama’s fourth largest patron, with close to $75,000 in campaign contributions (these at least doubled during his presidential run).  As a Senator during debate on the 2005 energy bill, Obama helped to vote down an amendment that would have killed vast loan guarantees for power-plant operators to develop new energy projects.

Inside the White House, the Exelon ties are most apparent in Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod. Emanuel helped create Exelon while at investment bank, Wasserstein Perella where he earned $16.2 million in two years, much of it from the Exelon merger. Axelrod has been a paid consultant for Exelon. His consulting firm also helped concoct a public ComEd campaign for rate increases.

Jason Grumet was lead energy advisor to the Obama presidential campaign. According to the New York Times, he was tagged at the time by environmentalists as being “too wedded to the use of nuclear power.”  His day job is as founder and president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, whose board chair is John Rowe, the CEO of Exelon.

Two of Obama’s biggest fundraisers during his presidential run, Frank M. Clark and John W. Rodgers, are Exelon executives. Exelon’s lead lobbyist is Elizabeth Moler who served as deputy national co-chair for the Obama campaign, saying that “we are proud to be the President’s utility”……..Ultimately, Obama remains as mired in nuclear energy as he is in the Gulf oil mess. Let’s hope it doesn’t take a nuclear accident to change his mind. Obama’s nuclear family « Chalk Flew Up

June 15, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, uranium