After more than a year of trying to push the boulder of modern nuclear power uphill in California, it is nothing short of fantastic to have Gov. Schwarzenegger put his considerable shoulder into the effort too. 

Shane Goldmacher over at the SacBee just reported on the Governor’s pro-nuclear comments over at the Capitol Alert blog.  In part:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is making waves in energy circles after saying Friday that nuclear power has “a great future” and that it is time to “relook at that issue again rather than just looking the other way and living in denial.”

Schwarzenegger, who has made environmentalism a centerpiece of his governorship after signing a landmark greenhouse gas reduction law in 2006, decried environmental “scare tactics” that “frighten everyone that we’re going to have another blowup and all of those things.”

Referring to a recent conversation he had with John Bryson, CEO of Edison International, Schwarzenegger said of nuclear power, “I think that’s a very important kind of a subject that we ought to debate over in the future because we’re talking about carbon free, you know, power and energy.”

“There’s no greenhouse gas emissions,” he later said of nuclear power.

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, an Irvine Republican who floated an initiative to lift California’s ban on nuclear power last summer, has already seized on the comments as a positive sign.

“I’m delighted to see Gov. Schwarzenegger now out front on this vital issue. California cannot meet its global greenhouse gas reduction targets nor meet its growing need for clean energy without modern nuclear power,” wrote DeVore, who voted against AB 32, the 2006 measure which requires California to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020, on his blog.

DeVore has authored two pieces of legislation, AB 1776 and AB 2788, on nuclear power again this year.

In addition, Doug Wilson, the chairman of Townhall.com, just penned this piece on the importance of local elected officials, writing in part:

As you might expect, many conservatives have long-since taken this message to heart. For example, while Washington has bickered and bantered about our energy crisis, state leaders have taken concrete action to address the problem.

Consider the efforts of Chuck DeVore, a Republican legislator in the California State Assembly. DeVore recently stumped for a bill that would legalize nuclear power in the state. He was blocked by the Democrats, but now Governor Schwarzenegger announced to the Wall Street Journal that it is time for the Golden State to relook at nuclear power if it ever wants to meet energy demands for the future. DeVore has played a big role in bringing the issue out to the forefront and now he may gain real traction with the governor’s endorsement.

To be sure, conservatives may disagree on the merits of his nuclear bill. But that aside, we should applaud DeVore and his colleagues for taking action to address a problem that Washington refuses to confront in a serious manner. In order to maintain the strength of the conservative movement, we need to follow DeVore’s lead and advance state and local solutions for other issues such as healthcare, education and immigration.

This is great progress.  I encourage anyone who can to write a letter to their state legislator to encourage them to support AB 1776 and AB 2788.

All the best,

Chuck DeVore
California State Assemblyman, 70th District
To Comment, see: http://www.chuckdevore.com/blog/index.php