Christine Todd Whitman, James Woolsey, John Podesta and Karen Harbert debate energy policy, with a focus on the pros and cons of nuclear energy.
The dual shocks of record-high energy prices and global recession have produced fertile ground for policymakers to radically reform America's energy policy. While many have called for increasing production of domestic oil and coal supplies, others have seen this as a unique opportunity to move beyond an energy policy dominated by fossil fuels.
In July 2008, former Vice President Al Gore outlined the first step in this process when he called for America's electricity supply to be carbon-free in 10 years.
Bio
Jim Angle
Jim Angle is FOX News Channel's chief Washington correspondent and a substitute anchor for "Special Report with Bret Baier." Previously FNC's senior White House correspondent, Angle is a former correspondent for CNN and ABC News, and he worked in public radio for 18 years.
He has received numerous awards and honors, including the Merriman Smith Memorial Award from the White House Correspondents' Association, in 2001 and 2003, and the "Excellence in Financial Journalism Award" in 1994 and 1995, for covering economic issues on "Nightline."
Karen Harbert
Karen Alderman Harbert is President and Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for 21st Century Energy, working to build support for national and international energy action through policy, education, and advocacy.
Harbert is the former Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy, where she focused on domestic and international energy issues, climate change programs, and regulatory concerns. She has also held positions at the U.S. Agency for International Development, the International Republican Institute, and the Organization of American States.
John Podesta
John Podesta is the president and CEO of the Center for American Progress and visiting professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center.
Podesta served as chief of staff to President William J. Clinton from October 1998 until January 2001 and was at that time responsible for directing, managing, and overseeing all policy development, daily operations, Congressional relations, and staff activities of the White House.
He coordinated the work of cabinet agencies with a particular emphasis on the development of federal budget and tax policy and served in the President's Cabinet and as a principal on the National Security Council.
Podesta has also held a number of positions on Capitol Hill, including counselor to Democratic Leader Senator Thomas A. Daschle; chief counsel for the Senate Agriculture Committee; chief minority counsel for the Senate Judiciary Subcommittees on Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks Security and Terrorism and Regulatory Reform; and counsel on the Majority Staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Christine Todd Whitman
Christine Todd Whitman is President of The Whitman Strategy Group, a consulting firm specializing in energy and environmental issues. She served as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (2001-03), and as the first woman governor of New Jersey.
During her EPA tenure, Governor Whitman promoted watershed-based water protection policies and emissions regulations, and the agency promoted the redevelopment of "brownfields." She is Co-Chair of Clean and Safe Energy and of the Republican Leadership Council, and is the author of It's My Party Too (Penguin Press, 2005).
Robert James Woolsey
R. James Woolsey is chairman of Woolsey Partners LLC and former United States Director of Central Intelligence, heading the Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Intelligence Community.
Specializing in a range of alternative energy and security issues, Woolsey serves in various capacities at VantagePoint Venture Partners, Paladin Capital Group and the law firm Goodwin Procter. Previously, he was a vice president and officer of Booz Allen Hamilton, and a partner at the law firm Shea & Gardner (now Goodwin Procter) in Washington, D.C., where he practiced for 22 years in the fields of civil litigation, arbitration and mediation.
Including his Central Intelligence tenure, Woolsey served in the U.S. government on five different occasions, holding presidential appointments in two Republican and two Democratic administrations. He was ambassador to the Negotiation on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, under secretary of the Navy, general counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services and part-time delegate at large to the U.S.–Soviet Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) and Nuclear and Space Arms Talks (NST). As an officer in the U.S. Army, he was an adviser on the U.S. delegation to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I).
Woolsey serves on a range of government, corporate, and nonprofit advisory boards, chairing several, and has served in the past as a member of boards of directors of a number of publicly and privately held companies, generally in fields related to technology and security. He is a frequent contributor of articles to major publications, and gives public speeches and media interviews on the subjects of foreign affairs, defense, energy, and intelligence. Having received his bachelor's degree from Stanford University, Woolsey earned a master's degree at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and a law degree from Yale Law School.
There are so many falacies mentioned at the start of this video it makes me nauseous. Climate refugees, loss of jobs because of energy costs (not - it's US taxes and cap and trade will not help)
Humans are not responsible for global warming. The forces that drive climate are just too big for us to make a difference.
For Example:
- Best-case scenario, 50% of the water supply of California will be gone. (business-as-usual scenario: most of the water in California will be gone)
- The midwest is in danger of becoming a desert. (if you didn't know, that's where our food comes from)
For Example:
Build a 3GW nuclear power plant every week for the next 25 years
+ 100 sq meters of solar cells every second for the next 25 years
+ 50 sq meters of solar thermal mirrors every second for the next 25 years
+ a swimming pool's worth of biofuel algae every second for the next 25 years (about the size of Wyoming)
+ some more
(he talks about this at 35:00)
Banana-ism: brilliant. I encounter so many people who are unwilling to even turn off the light when they leave a room, let alone support (or, at least, not oppose) the development of green energy sources near where they live.
member. 
