USA

News from the Sunshine State reminds us that nuclear power is only an option for companies with very deep pockets. Or a hand in their customers' pockets, to be precise.

Progress (ha!) Energy have tripled the estimate for the new plant it's planning to build in Florida, saying that the new price tag will be an eye-watering $17 billion, and they haven't even got permission to start building yet. How are they going to pay for this? Why, by bumping up bills for its existing customers of course. "You can't avoid the notion that nuclear has an upfront cost for the customer," said Jeff Lyash, president and chief executive of Progress (double ha!) Energy Florida. "It does."

And that's just the beginning. We all know that, once the diggers move in, the costs for a nuclear power station take on a mysterious life of their own, spiralling ever upward. Just look at the delay-ridden, cash-sucking plant currently being built in Finland. It's the same in this country as well, with costs for dealing with existing waste (never mind the waste generated by a hypothetical fleet of new nuclear power stations) going repeatedly skywards.

So if the day comes when another load of nuclear power stations are being built here, remember it won't be private companies picking up the elephantine costs: one way or another, it'll be us.

US climate change policy will deliver hell and high water
© Greenpeace/Bill Auth

Last night, a day after George Bush's final State of the Union speech, Greenpeace volunteers in the US used one of their nation's most iconic monuments to paint a clear picture of what his climate change policies will mean for the planet.

It's all too depressingly familiar. The Bali consensus was watered down by low tactics from the US (supported by Japan, Canada, Australia and others). The strong science that should be driving the process was relegated to a footnote. And work to reduce emissions from deforestation still has a long way to go, thanks to the inclusion of a loophole that may allow some industrialised countries to swap binding targets for voluntary goals.

But the fact that we have a Bali Mandate at all - including a process, a deadline and a guarantee that several of the most important issues are on the agenda - is worth a celebration in itself.

The sparks are flying in Bali as the talks enter the final round. After the US tried to derail the negotiations, Al Gore took the stage and lambasted the Bush Administration for blocking negotiations.

"[M]y own country - the U.S. - is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali,'' he said, before urging the delegates to "find the grace to navigate around this enormous obstacle" and move forward without the US.

So, no surprises last week as George Bush's climate change summit ended up being pretty much what everyone expected it would - a futile and elitist talking shop which was a vain attempt for the outgoing president (15 months and counting) to say that he 'did something' about climate change.