Word: nuclear
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...story began when New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and Gov. Michael S. Dukakis both refused to submit evacuation plans to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for nuclear power plants in their states. Under existing law, no plant can be cleared for operation by the NRC unless an evacuation plan has been submitted. The governors both said that they could not in good conscience present a plan because they did not believe their citizens would be safe in an accident...
Clearly, the action by the Governors marked a stand against nuclear energy. They knew that by refusing to offer the evacuation plans they were playing trump cards which would prevent the NRC from licensing the plants. Markey, as a strenuous opponent of nuclear energy, sponsored the amendment because he saw the potential in the Dukakis and Cuomo actions to prevent unclear plants from being licensed forever...
...rather than arguing the merits of nuclear energy, Markey sought to make the amendment a referendum on states rights. He spoke passionately on the House floor, telling his colleagues that the right of the two states to determine their own safety was at stake...
...incantation of the federalism theme is no more tasteful when it emanates from the left side of the aisle. The debate over the Shoreham and Seabrook nuclear plants hinged on one's thoughts about nuclear energy. Is it fundamentally vital to national safety, or is it fundamentally dangerous...
...that issue, whether nuclear energy is so potentially dangerous as to be immoral, which must be debated precisely because of its emotional force, that Markey and his supporters such as Democratic presidential contender Richard Gephardt, sought to avoid...