Congressional Dems blame global warming for nuclear reactor shutdown

Henry Waxman (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you've ever wondered why the U.S. economy is in free-fall and has record-setting debt, look no further then to how our elected leaders are spending (wasting?) their time and our money on utter, frivolous nonsense:

House of Representative members Henry Waxman of California and Bobby Rush of Illinois, both Democrats, are calling for Congressional hearings after learning that Millstone Power Station's Unit 2 reactor was shut down this summer because the water needed to cool the reactor was too hot.

Millstone’s Unit 2 reactor was shut down this August after the water in Long Island Sound was above 75 degrees, the warmest ever recorded since Millstone’s existence, according to Millstone spokesman Ken Holt.

Waxman and Rush, after reading a story in the Washington Post about Millstone’s shut down and other related events (I guess they missed the Patch piece), wrote a letter to the House's Committee on Energy and Commerce asking for Congressional hearings on the issue.

“The impacts of climate change on our nation's power plants are real and are happening now,” the letter reads. “They are imposing costs and logistical challenges today. We respectfully ask you to schedule a hearing on this issue as soon as possible so that the members of the Committee can hear from experts about these impacts.”

Full story here.

As an aside, if this reactor had existed before it went "live" in 1975, this unit would have gone offline many times due to the high temps and tidal swings of Niantic Bay, which is at the intersection of the Atlantic ocean and Long Island Sound. This is Unit 2's source of coolant power.

For two Democrats to waste taxpayer dollars to pursue their own demagoguery and own agendas is exactly why we are in such a dire financial mess. Note to Dems: It's the economy, stupid!