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Politics Internal – Nuclear Lobbies
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Politics Internal – Nuclear LobbiesThe nuclear lobby is influential Farsetta 8 (Diane, the Center for Media and Democracy's senior researcher, Jul 1, [www.prwatch.org/node/7506] AD: 7-9-11, jam) Accordingly, NEI has ramped up its already-substantial lobbying operations. In addition to the sixteen NEI employees registered as federal lobbyists, the group currently retains fifteen outside lobbying firms and consultants. Last year, NEI lobbyists visited thirteen federal agencies, as well as both houses of Congress. NEI's lobbying disclosure forms show that the organization helped shape more than twenty bills in 2007, from the Nuclear Fuel Management and Disposal Act to the Tax Technical Corrections Act to the Energy Independence and Security Act. All in all, NEI spent nearly $45 million on industry coordination, policy development, communications, and "governmental affairs" in 2006, according to its most recent financial report. The nuclear lobby owns politicians on Capitol Hill JungJohann 11 (Arne, Masters in Political Science from the Free University Berlin, Director for the Environment and Global Dialogue Program of the Washington office, Jun 1, [www.grist.org/nuclear/2011-06-01-nuclear-industry-has-powerful-backers-weak-opponents] AD: 7-9-11, jam) The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) is the lobby association for the entire process chain of the nuclear industry in the U.S., from uranium mining to the manufacture of the reactors and the supply of nuclear fuel, all the way to nuclear power production. Its lobbyists are well-connected in the Obama administration and on Capitol Hill. In the last midterm and off-year election campaign cycle, politicians of both parties received approximately $4 million from the NEI. In order to boost public acceptance, shiny ad campaigns, such as those of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, filled the airwaves. This greenwashing by the NEI has repeatedly crossed the border of the permissible, and has been criticized by environmental and social organizations. The NEI PR staff even drafts opinion pieces which are sent to nuclear engineers across the country, to be signed and submitted to local newspapers. In addition to the umbrella lobby, the major nuclear power plant operators and corporations to which they belong also play an important role. In the last election campaign, they, together with the NEI, spent sums for lobbying and campaign contributions that went into the double-digit millions. Chief beneficiaries of this largess were Congress members from the states where their corporate headquarters are located, as well as committee heads and members of the caucus leaderships. Contributions of up to $10,000 to each individual Congress member are legal. Politics Internal – Nuclear Lobbies – A2 – TurnsThe anti-nuke movement is weak Jungjohann 11 (Arne, program director for Environment and Global Dialogue with the Heinrich Boll Foundation, 6/1/11, http://www.grist.org/nuclear/2011-06-01-nuclear-industry-has-powerful-backers-weak-opponents) JPG The anti-nuke movement is as weak as the nuclear lobby is strong. In the weeks after Fukushima, it fought like a lion, but it is still too small and its resources too few. Experts from NGOs such as Beyond Nuclear, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and the Union of Concerned Scientists trot from one TV channel to the next and try to explain to puzzled moderators that nuclear power is not clean energy, that it is much more expensive than generally assumed. Their attempts at an explanation are good, but they don't strike home. All this leaves us a long way from any basic change in direction for America's energy policy. The U.S. is still the land of nuclear power madness. The nuclear revival in the United States won't come to an end because of any fear of a meltdown, but simply because of financial necessity. Link Turn – Politics – Defense LobbyDefense lobbies support the plan Grossman 5 (Karl, prof of journalism at the State U of New York, Jul 11, [www.space4peace.org/articles/fire_in_the_sky.htm] AD: 7-7-11, jam) Then there is the military connection. The U.S. military has long been interested in space-based weapons and considers atomic power the ideal way to power them. "The fielding of space-based weapons of devastating effectiveness to be used to deliver energy and mass as force projection" is projected in a U.S. Air Force Board report, "New World Vistas: Air and Space Power for the 21st Century." As to energizing these weapons, it states, "A natural technology to enable high power is nuclear power in space." Groups who support the plan are key The Global Network 11 (The Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, advocacy organization, Apr 8, [www.grass-roots-press.com/2011/04/08/global-network-statement-on-japanese-nuclear-disaster/] AD: 7-7-11, jam) The issue of switching to safe, clean energy is not technological — it’s political. The problem involves vested interests: the government agencies which push nuclear power, notably in the United States the national nuclear laboratories and the entity that owns them, the Department of Energy (headed currently by a former national nuclear laboratory director), and the nuclear industry as it seeks to profit from selling nuclear technology despite the cost in people’s lives. These same entities are pushing nuclear power world-wide as evidenced by GE’s involvement in the construction of Japanese reactors and the recent U.S.-India Nuclear deal. China and other emerging nations are also expanding plans for nuclear power despite the horrific memories of Chernobyl and now Fukushima. A disgrace in demanding nuclear power on earth and space has been President Barack Obama. As president, he has reversed the critical position he espoused as a candidate and now, even in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan, is seeking to “revive” the nuclear industry with the building of new nuclear plants using billions of taxpayer dollars. Meanwhile, his administration has been pushing to also “revive” the use of nuclear power in space by restarting U.S. production of Plutonium-238 for use on space devices. Directory: files files -> Answer True False 2 points Question 2 files -> Integer programming and game theory files -> 4 Integer Programming files -> Bpa vehicle Window Repair Scenario #1 task: Procure vehicle window relacement. 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