JUST ANOTHER SPECIAL INTEREST THAT GOT BUPKUS:

Obama Goes Nuclear in a Tough Winter for Enviros (David Corn, 2/17/10, Politics Daily)

In December, Obama forged a muddy and non-binding deal at the Copenhagen climate change summit that fell short of what most scientists say is necessary. (Environmental groups split over whether Obama had saved the summit by crafting a better-than-nothing accord that included the major emerging emitters, such as China and India, or whether he had helped undermine an international process that could produce a global treaty setting firm and significant deadlines for emissions reductions.) Then this week, Obama went nuclear.

On Tuesday, the White House announced -- make that, proudly announced -- that the administration would be granting the first federal loan guarantees in years for the construction of new nuclear plants. While a handful of enviros have pushed nuclear energy as an emissions-free process that can help prevent climate change, most are opposed to more nuclear power plants -- especially when there is no solution to the perennial problem of what to do about nuclear waste. (The administration remains opposed to dumping it at the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada.) And some conservative budget-watchers oppose nuclear subsidies, asking why the government should finance controversial and risky energy projects that cannot survive on their own within the market. (The Congressional Budget Office in 2003 noted that there's a 50 percent chance of default for nuclear power plant loans. Yet on a call with reporters on Tuesday, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said he was unaware of this report.)

At an event yesterday in Maryland, where Obama unveiled the initial $8.3 billion loan guarantee, which will go toward building two new nuclear reactors at an existing plant in Burke, Ga., he reiterated his support for a climate change legislation that would enact a cap-and-trade system. But in recent weeks -- such as during his State of the Union address -- Obama has come across as more enthusiastic about reviving nuclear power than forestalling climate change. That's not surprising, given that the climate change bill (which was passed by the House last year) has hit a major stall in the Senate. It might be dead -- or nearly so. Meanwhile, Obama does seem more focused on jobs and financial reform. In promoting the nuclear plant loan guarantees, the White House has repeatedly emphasized that building these reactors in Georgia will create 3,500 construction jobs and about 800 permanent jobs.

With Obama backing off the climate change charge -- at least, in terms of priorities -- enviros have also had to contend with controversies regarding the science of global warming.