FIRSTFRUITS OF THE EDWARDS WITHDRAWAL...

The Nuclear Energy Industry, which backed GOP candidates in past elections, gives large sums to Obama and Clinton.
By Dan Morain and Maloy Moore, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
February 3, 2008
Looking back, Joseph Cosgrove said he was naive to think that Sen. Barack Obama could require that nuclear power plant operators publicly disclose any radioactive releases.

Cosgrove and others who live and work in the hamlet of Godley, Ill., sought help after discovering years after the fact that there had been releases from the nearby Braidwood Generating Station.

Two years later, Obama's legislation, lobbied by one of his largest corporate backers, has stalled.

Cosgrove, glimpsing the nuclear industry's sway, said he watched as the bill's "teeth" were removed.

Many references to "nuclear" were stripped. (...thought reform, framing, brainwashing, its all the same deception, you might even call this selective editing of the word "nuclear" propaganda...) More important, Obama allowed deletion of a provision that nuclear plant operators "shall immediately notify" state and local officials about any release.

The issue is relevant in the 2008 presidential campaign. In an about-face, companies that have a stake in the nuclear energy industry are giving large sums to Democrats running for president, after having showered their money on Republicans in past campaigns.

In Washington and elsewhere, nuclear energy is being promoted as a way to generate large amounts of electricity without spewing greenhouse gases that exacerbate global warming.

Obama is the largest beneficiary of money from companies that have a stake in nuclear energy's future. The Braidwood plant's owner, Exelon Corp., has donated $275,000 to Obama over his career.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a co-author on the 2006 bill, is the second-largest recipient.

Neither candidate has come out in opposition to nuclear power, unlike their onetime rival, former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

The donations come as the industry reasserts itself. Several companies have filed or are considering filing applications to build plants after a generation-long moratorium.