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View Full Version : February 2008: Obama Defends His Nuclear Leak/Contamination Bill & Illinois Exelon Corp.




HOLLYWOOD
03-21-2011, 11:01 AM
I did post about this a few times from 2008 & on, but it's nice to see some of the press haven't forgotten and are regurgitating then, US Senator Obama (D-IL), who took time out from his presidential campaign run in Dec 2007/Jan 2008, to rewrite legislation on nuclear reactor leaks and contamination, removing "mandates & inserting guidance" from his huge campaign donor and nuclear plant power company, Exelon corporation.

New York Times
February 3, 2008
Nuclear Leaks and Response Tested Obama in Senate
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/us/politics/03exelon.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print


When residents in Illinois voiced outrage two years ago upon learning that the Exelon Corporation had not disclosed radioactive leaks at one of its nuclear plants, the state’s freshman senator, Barack Obama (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per), took up their cause.


Mr. Obama scolded Exelon and federal regulators for inaction and introduced a bill to require all plant owners to notify state and local authorities immediately of even small leaks. He has boasted of it on the campaign trail, telling a crowd in Iowa in December that it was “the only nuclear legislation that I’ve passed.”
“I just did that last year,” he said, to murmurs of approval.


A close look at the path his legislation took tells a very different story. While he initially fought to advance his bill, even holding up a presidential nomination to try to force a hearing on it, Mr. Obama eventually rewrote it to reflect changes sought by Senate Republicans, Exelon and nuclear regulators. The new bill removed language mandating prompt reporting and simply offered guidance to regulators, whom it charged with addressing the issue of unreported leaks.


Those revisions propelled the bill through a crucial committee. But, contrary to Mr. Obama’s comments in Iowa, it ultimately died amid parliamentary wrangling in the full Senate.


“Senator Obama’s staff was sending us copies of the bill to review, and we could see it weakening with each successive draft,” said Joe Cosgrove, a park district director in Will County, Ill., where low-level radioactive runoff had turned up in groundwater. “The teeth were just taken out of it.”


The history of the bill shows Mr. Obama navigating a home-state controversy that pitted two important constituencies against each other and tested his skills as a legislative infighter. On one side were neighbors of several nuclear plants upset that low-level radioactive leaks had gone unreported for years; on the other was Exelon, the country’s largest nuclear plant operator and one of Mr. Obama’s largest sources of campaign money.

Since 2003, executives and employees of Exelon, which is based in Illinois, have contributed at least $227,000 to Mr. Obama’s campaigns for the United States Senate (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/senate/index.html?inline=nyt-org) and for president. Two top Exelon officials, Frank M. Clark, executive vice president, and John W. Rogers Jr., a director, are among his largest fund-raisers.
Another Obama donor, John W. Rowe (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/john_w_rowe/index.html?inline=nyt-per), chairman of Exelon, is also chairman of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the nuclear power industry’s lobbying group, based in Washington. Exelon’s support for Mr. Obama far exceeds its support for any other presidential candidate.
Unfortunately, CNN, removed the video showing Obama's defense to removing mandates on nuclear leaks, imagine that. :rolleyes:

2008: Obama Defends Record On Nuclear Leak Bill
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/02/03/obama-defends-record-on-nuclear-leak-bill/


(CNN) - On the final weekend before Super Tuesday, Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign quickly responded to a New York Times article Sunday scrutinizing the senator's actions on a nuclear leak bill. The story, published on the front page, said "a close look at the path his legislation took tells a different story" from what Obama has said.
Obama's campaign posted on its Web site a lengthy "fact check" about the article defending the senator's work on the bill.
Two years ago, after Illinois residents learned that Exelon Corporation did not disclose leaks at one of its plants, Obama introduced the Nuclear Release Notice Act of 2006, which would require plant owners to report all leaks to state and local authorities, the article reported.
Obama has touted the bill - which never passed the Senate - on the campaign trail, and in December he told voters in Iowa it was "the only nuclear legislation that I've passed," the newspaper reported.


Although it passed the environmental committee, the bill never made to the full Senate, and the senator reintroduced it last fall, according to the report.

The article said the Obama camp did not explain to the newspaper why Obama told Iowa voters that the bill had passed.
The article also said Obama bowed to pressure from Senate Republicans, Exelon and nuclear regulators, and rewrote the bill to "reflect changes" they wanted.
"The new bill removed language mandating prompt reporting and simply offered guidance to regulators," the story said.
In its "fact check," the Obama campaign said the revised bill still required notification of leaks and that "the only change was that the requirements would be made through the regulatory process."
The "fact check" also said Obama had "criticized the industry's voluntary guidelines and vowed to press ahead with the bill after those guidelines were announced."
The "fact check" did not address Obama's remark about the bill having "passed." It also did not respond to the article's reporting that Exelon executives and employees have contributed $227,000 to Obama's campaign.
David Axelrod, Obama's chief political strategist, has worked as a consultant for the Illinois-based company Exelon, the newspaper reported.


"Obama 'never discussed this issue or this bill' with Mr. Axelrod," the article said, citing Obama's campaign.
Obama is locked in a tight race for the Democratic nomination against Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York.