[rohrpost] [cnn.com] Cheney: nuclear power "protects the environment", promise to reduce emissions "a mistake"

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Nuclear power can both solve America's energy woes and help protect the environment, Vice President Dick Cheney told CNN on Tuesday.

The answers, Cheney said, lie in increasing the supply of energy sources -- a policy that would include giving nuclear power "a fresh look."

"It is a safe technology and doesn't emit any carbon dioxide at all," the vice president said in an interview with CNN's John King. "With the gas prices rising the way they are, nuclear is looking like a good alternative."

[...]

"Cheney foresees an additional 1,300 to 1,900 new power plants over the next 20 years to meet demand -- some of which could be nuclear plants -- along with a number of refineries to process oil.

Promise to reduce CO2 emissions 'a mistake'

Cheney outlined a coming report from a task force he headed to help define the administration's energy policy. Although he provided few specific details, the vice president said that the increased demand for energy could be met with more coal production and exploring for oil on federal lands.

Answering critics who charge that coal use puts too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, Cheney said that new technology had lessened the emissions, and that President George W. Bush's campaign pledge to reduce such emissions was a mistake.

"It was a mistake because we aren't in a position today to ... cap emissions," he said. "But we can do a lot of work to clean up coal technology."

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