“DOE to do NEPA’s EIS on BNFL’s AMWTP at INEEL after SRA protest”

Conn Carroll / July 28, 2008

The above sentence is an actual headline from the Idaho Mountain Express. Translated from lawyer to English it reads: Department of Energy to do National Environmental Policy Act environmental impact statement on British Nuclear Fuels Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project at Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory after Society for Risk Analysis protest.” What the sentence means, is that are nation’s environmental laws have an absolute stranglehold on the energy sector of our economy. Many progressives, like Open Left‘s Matt Stoller, often argue that had we not invaded Iraq, we could have spent the last five years investing in our energy infrastructure. What they always forget is that our outdated environmental laws simply would not have allowed that infrastructure to be built.

The Atlantic’s Megan McArdle has similar thoughts here: (more…)