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March 14, 2025 08:31 AM UTC

Friday Open Thread

  • 20 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“Personality is only ripe when a man has made the truth his own.”

–Soren Kierkegaard

Comments

20 thoughts on “Friday Open Thread

    1. Placement is clearly the key and nuclear power is a tremendous solution to our planet’s energy needs . . .

      . . . as long as the reactor is located at least ninety million miles from the nearest playgound.

        1. Nuclear proponents like to say things like, "oh, the waste disposal is not that bad a problem, and anyway, it's solved." But they almost never acknowledge the *source* side of the equation – mining, extraction, and processing. See for example https://www.hcn.org/articles/contamination-threatens-the-last-source-of-clean-groundwater-in-west-new-mexico/

          Provably worse than fracking for oil and gas. I'm not going to take any pro-nuclear arguments seriously unless the supply side environmental damage is addressed.

            1. David will not look at the supply side environmental issues because he can't really keep this distraction going if he resolves everyones' questions. The world is about to explode, and David wants to keep the conversation about nuclear power? Really, David?

              Do you have a uranium lease out in Nevada or something?

          1. So, what's a uranium mining project look like today versus one that was built in the mid-20th century with an unlined tailings pond built under the purveyance of the Atomic Energy Comission to build a nuclear arsenal as quickly as possible with no environmental concerns?

            I mean, an IBM 7000 series was something in the 1960's but I'm not going give it as an example of modern computers capabilties.

          2. There is a lot of toxic waste from uranium as well as pretty much every other type of mining in the past. And we're going to be dealing with these super fund sites for decades and possibly centuries.

            The question is what's going on today. I've looked and can't find any major issues with mining in the U.S. today. There's issues with fracking and run-off from oil wells. But everything else seems to be handled a lot better now.

            If there are examples of problems today, please do share.

            1. It often takes decades for those problems and their full extent to come to light.  Certainly usually not until after the mining concern has issued dividends on executive options, paid bonuses, gone bankrupt, and folded up the corporation.

              This administration’s gutting of environmental regulation and driving a stake through any regulatory authority will only incentivize irresponsible industry behavior and birth inevitable problems.

              Check back here in another thirty years, huh?  There will undoubtedly be examples aplenty of what we have foolishly failed to learn (over and over and over again) from past experience.

            2. "examples of problems today…." Geez, David. You are aware, I hope, that hardrock mining in the US is still governed by the General Mining Act of 1872? Prospectors, many of them fortune hunters, can stake a claim for a pittance on any land that isn't already designated. And minimal, if any, royalties get paid to the taxpayers. If that's not a problem or major issue with mining today, I don't know what is.

  1. I hope enough Senators hold the line and vote no on cloture today. Yes both options suck. But voting no means the Democrats in the Senate will stand up to Trump. Voting yes means they will accept whatever he tries. They may tell themselves they'll vote no next time. But each subsequent time it actually becomes harder to vote no after the previous yes votes.

    1. I read that last sentence as "each subservient time".

      Yes. Boil the frog now, or later.

      Public opinion is like surfing: You need to time your stroked to catch the wave.

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