Eugene David<br>...The One-Minute Pundit

Posted 7:26 PM by Gene

I do not ordinarily expect sense from GRATE.COM. This typing shows it. So does the most recent comment to date:

It's pretty lame stuff and I've got standards that just aren't fulfilled by this sorry collection of contributors.

But then go here and you get this:

If Japan, the United States, or Europe retreats from nuclear power in the face of the current panic, the most likely alternative energy source is fossil fuel. And by any measure, fossil fuel is more dangerous. The sole fatal nuclear power accident of the last 40 years, Chernobyl, directly killed 31 people. By comparison, Switzerland's Paul Scherrer Institute calculates that from 1969 to 2000, more than 20,000 people died in severe accidents in the oil supply chain. More than 15,000 people died in severe accidents in the coal supply chain—11,000 in China alone. The rate of direct fatalities per unit of energy production is 18 times worse for oil than it is for nuclear power.

Even if you count all the deaths plausibly related to Chernobyl—9,000 to 33,000 over a 70-year period—that number is dwarfed by the death rate from burning fossil fuels. The OECD's 2008 Environmental Outlook calculates that fine-particle outdoor air pollution caused nearly 1 million premature deaths in the year 2000, and 30 percent of this was energy-related. You'd need 500 Chernobyls to match that level of annual carnage. But outside Chernobyl, we've had zero fatal nuclear power accidents.

However reliable these stats, at least this is different. One must always be alert for Kinsleyism here, which can dilute even the very best articles -- but at least someone tried. Why must ST. WARREN's Web site be like an on-off switch that can't stay on?

We must note the Holy Sage of the Ages made a bet on something related to fossil fuels. What does ST. WARREN know and why does He know it?