It has been apparent for many, many years that America needs an energy plan. It has also been apparent American needs to become energy independent. One of the most consistent and safest and cleanest sources of power generation is nuclear power production. Nuclear power technology has improved greatly in the last twenty years and is not the polluting and unsafe technology it was in the days of Three Mile Island And Chernobyl. While it is still an expensive technology to build and takes time to build nuclear power plants, why is it we can't get moving on building new nuclear power plants in locations in the US where they are most needed and would be most effective?

Today, the Etracer and Xtracer from Switzerland led in their class for the XPrize by delivering over 180 MPG. www.monotracer.com There is hope this country can break through its energy glass ceiling but it will take action.

Barbara, et al., If you read Adam Smith or other (non-Keynesian economists), you will learn that INCREASES in PRODUCTIVITY are the only solution to a stable and growing economy - and this will require INCREASES in Energy - from my perspective ALL types of energy. Regarding nuclear waste, the Atomic Energy Commission started considering nuclear waste disposal in the 50s (a tribute to government decision making). The virtually indestructible casks for transporting nuclear waste have been available for 20 years, and the Yucca Mountain disposal facility has been mired in lawsuits for many years - but the problem is NOT insurmountable. Richard mentions a potentially valid point regarding hydraulic fracturing

Richard Grabowski I am VERY concern about hydraulic fracturing, as you are. I travel throughout PA and in that state alone 3700 gas well permits where given out in 2009. I live in Western NY and we have under us the Medina Sand deposit. gas wells have been drilled here for over 60 years none have been hydraulic fractured that I have acknowledge of. Most off the PA wells are way out of view of the majority of the citizen of PA "BUT" the watershed that these wells are in include most of the Chesapeake and Ohio river. For the life of me I can not see why Boone, with his intelligence, can't see the repercussion of using hydraulic fracturing to retrieve this natural gas. We in NY have the same shale vein that PA has plus the Medina under 70% of this state. We should do just as Boone suggest. I only wish Boone would comment on how incredibly destructive hydraulic fracturing is and tell us how he can make this work with out hydraulic fracturing and retrieve the volume of natural gas hydraulic fracturing does. I guess I'll wait and see.

I would like to see an energy comparison. What is the cost and availability of clean coal, petroleum, natural gas, wind, solar, nuclear, geothermal, tidal, hydroelectric...etc? What are the problems with each? I would like proof of the Picken's Plan that we can see for ourselves so that we can weigh carefully, discuss and come to conclusions about. I want to be convinced with the facts, after they are debated and challenged. Then I would like our legislatures to act without further delay.

To all the chicken littles out there. I would say that it sounds like you want to sell your childerns future to the middle east. Your are happy our country is going broke paying for imported oil. This is all to new to you and you don't like change. You have the power to make natural gas happen, but you would sooner complain that it could cause problems. Guess what we already have problems and it is called imported oil. Wake up!!!!

Like others in this list, I am aware of the problems of methane contamination of ground water sources caused by hydraulic fracturing of shale deposits. Most of my family now lives in Pennsylvania, where groundwater contamination by gas recovery wells is becoming really serious: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/nearly-a-year-after-a-water-well-explosion-dimock-twp-residents-thirst-for-gas-well-fix-1.365743 The contamination in virtually all cases is not direct but instead due to inadequate sealing of the well as it is drilled. I encourage everyone to look at http://www.columbiapetroleum.com/Websites/columbiapetroleum/templates/cpTheme/video/hsd.html because it is clear where in the drilling and well-sealing process the contamination of the groundwater aquifer will occur. That said, somehow we must be able to explore safely for energy resources while protecting the groundwater resources essential to all of us. That will require additional regulatory oversight and development of techniques both to correct a damaged wellbore and to remove methane contamination from the pumped groundwater at its point of use. Conventional water softening systems are used to remove mostly calcium oxide/hydroxide and iron from "hard" groundwater. Such systems have been in use since the early years of the 20th century, and no one thinks of them as the decontamination systems they really are. But the common single-stage water softening systems replace calcium ions with sodium ions, rendering the softened water unsuitable for drinking, particularly for those with high blood pressure. A second-stage of purification is necessary to remove the sodium ions and make the water drinkable. In order for us to become energy-independent by using all of our natural gas resources, including those that require shale fracturing that will contaminate ground water resources, we will have to develop domestic and industrial-scale "water softening" systems that remove dissolved methane from groundwater and that prevent methane accumulations that can lead to water well explosions, one of which is described in the article referenced above. Paul M. Rybski, Physics, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

Everyone needs to know this -- there is a CLEAN, SAFE, NON-PROLIFERATING nuclear reactor design created 50 years ago by Alvin Weinberg at Oak Ridge. Alvin's molten-fueled, thorium reactor was up and running for 5 years before being squashed by DOD's need for plutonium and nuclear weapons. Yet here we are, still stampeding down the path to uranium-fueled, water-cooled reactors. Please take a look at the Thorium Energy Alliance (TEA) web site. I promise you'll be amazed. http://thoriumenergyalliance.com/ Alvin's old liquid-fuel reactor design (the "3P" -- a pot, a pipe, and a pump) could be engineered into commercial reality within two or three years. Coal generators could be completely phased out in 15 to 20 years. All our nuclear waste and weapons could be used as fuel and eliminated. Saudi Arabia, Iran and North Korea could have all the reactors they need without fear of nuclear weapon proliferation. All this with 1/1000th the toxic waste of existing reactors, and nearly 50% efficiency. As a bonus, there's enough cheap thorium (400 times more than uranium) to keep all the liquid-fuel reactors in the world running for the next one thousand years, and to desalinate all the water the world will ever need with the leftover heat. India, China and Russia are all researching liquid-fuel reactors. Let's finish what we started 50 years ago and get there first.

hi there hows it going

right on Barbara. Conservation is the cheapest immediate solution. I practice what I preach (unlike AL Gore) by living in a 320 sq.ft RV for 10 yrs., using 1/8 of a normal family's energy and water. I was all for natural gas until I see the fracking problems- who do you believe? When are people going to buy SMALLER houses and drive less?? I read a quote 20 yrs. ago that the oil equivalent of the Alaska pipeline is lost through the leaks in our houses. How can anyone say conservation is irrelavent. It could save the equivalent of solar or wind at a tiny fraction of the cost.