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Show ENERGY UPDATE l. tjf "1 A LETTER TO NUCLEAR PROTESTERS: By Mrs. Barbara Keating Mrs. Barbara Keating is one of the founders and is President of Consumer Alert, Inc., a nonprofit national consumer membership member-ship organization. I respect your 'right' to protest peaceably, but I won't let you turn out my lights. I am offended by your planning my future. I protest pro-test your actions which assure me of a chronic energy crisis. You told me what you want. Now I'll tell you what I want. I want a future for my children that isn't sapped and barren and second-place, and unemployed unem-ployed and defenseless. The need for electricity will continue to grow no matter how much you wish it wouldn't. Electricity can be created by spinning turbines powered by oil. It can be created by natural gas tapped from below the earth's surface for as long as it lasts. It can be created by water falling where circumstances cir-cumstances permit and when environmentalists permit. per-mit. It can be created by burning coal, dug from dangerous mines. All of these methods cause death and damage to the environ-ment. environ-ment. Or, we can use technology and bombard uranium atoms to create heat environmentally the cleanest method. Is nuclear power here to stay? I don't know. Progress and technology do not stand still. There'll be fusion and solar and other methods up ahead. But today, the choices are limited. The crisis is real. Since when are we afraid of progress? What kind of Barbara Keating legacy are we leaving our youngsters? We are a proud, industrious and innovative society. We marvel at the development of technology. We didn't shut down the airline industry when the first plane crashed. We took it apart to see what went wrong, so it wouldn't happen again. I speak as one American who isn't willing to throw in the towel. Honest, knowledgeable and caring people your neighbors work in the nuclear energy field. I trust them. They do not hold second-rate citizenship. Their beliefs are entitled to equal weight. The future of our nation is at stake. It's high time you realized our predicament and grew up to face the responsibilities we all must face united. That 'new mobilization' you're beginning to sense is peopled by your neighbors and countrymen who are concerned about your constitutional con-stitutional rights, but who are even more concerned about the survival of the free world. Sincerely, Barbara Keating |