Assemblyman Chuck DeVore

Irvine Assemblyman Chuck DeVore’s crusade to repeal California’s 32-year ban on nuke-plant construction has so far been short-circuited by Democrat lawmakers and anti-nuke activists. But suddenly he’s getting juice from unlikely sources. The conservative Republican recently penned a scholarly article on nuclear energy as a solution to global warming for UC Berkeley’s new ecology law journal. DeVore got another boost last week at the UCI-Milken Institute-New Majority Energy Alternatives conference at The Island Hotel. He touted nukes and dissed ethanol in a presentation to scientists, businesspeople and policy wonks. Moreover, he drew encouragement from a passing remark by none other than Jerry Brown. During a rambling, entertaining speech, the Democrat attorney general said, “We gotta look at nuclear.” Brown was gone by the time DeVore got to the podium, but DeVore seized on the comment, noting the irony that it was Brown who as governor in 1976 signed the nuclear-plant ban. He quipped that Californians love to recycle and may recycle Brown back into the governor’s office. Earlier this year, current Gov. Arnold said, “I think nuclear power has a great future.” But Schwarzenegger avoided the topic in his 10-minute address at the conference. He mentioned “solar” five times, “renewables” three times and “body building” once, but never uttered the N-word.