Letter: Nuclear energy isn’t a green technology

I would like to remind anyone thinking about nuclear options to go green that nuclear’s carbon footprint is second only to that of fossil fuels (“Expand use of nuclear energy to combat global warming,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Sept. 5).

That’s higher than any other alternative even before you include babysitting toxic waste for thousands of years, which results in the carbon and dollar costs becoming infinite.

Rather than arguing what options might be best and trying to predict their outcomes, an elegant solution is “The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act.”

This legislation incentivizes American ingenuity and markets to race to solutions in differing situations by taxing carbon to discourage waste, while creating green jobs and protecting consumers by returning dividends to them so the bill will be paid by industry profiteers.

The Citizens Climate Lobby is working on this and hoping U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz will support it. There isn’t a silver bullet. This is a silver buckshot approach we can all support and benefit from.

Sheryl Roberts

Makawao, Maui

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