Republican presidential candidate John McCain last week endorsed nuclear power and clean coal technology as two paths toward future energy independence. And his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, has embraced the promising FutureGen technology, once bound for a demonstration project site in Mattoon.

vvIt's true that President Bush promised to expand the use of nuclear power during his term (it hasn't happened) and even used a State of the Union address to unveil the notion of burning coal for electricity and then storing the carbon dioxide emissions underground (although his administration later killed the FutureGen idea).

But recent remarks by both major party presidential candidates about the need to expand energy production are encouraging, especially for those disappointed with the Bush administration's abandonment of FutureGen.

Last week John McCain endorsed an aggressive yet sensible revitalization of nuclear power. "I will set this nation on a course to building 45 new reactors by the year 2030, with the ultimate goal of 100 new plants to power the homes and factories and cities of America," McCain said. "This task will be as difficult as it is necessary. We will need to recover all the knowledge and skills that have been lost over three stagnant decades in a highly technical field."

And regarding coal, McCain said: "The good that clean coal can do extends around the world – and into its skies. Once we supply the means of clean-burning coal and carbon capture, nations everywhere will pursue the same end: abundant energy with low carbon emissions."

While McCain did not mention FutureGen by name, his promise to promote "the clean burning of coal and the capture and storage of carbon emissions" was an endorsement of the fundamental technology of FutureGen.

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said last week in Mattoon that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama "will work hard to make (FutureGen) a reality." And in an interview Obama recently gave a Montana newspaper, he delivered his clearest-yet endorsement of FutureGen. "We had a project called FutureGen, a billion-dolar project that was slated to go up and the Bush administration cancelled it after the siting decision was made and it wasn't in Texas," Obama said. "I think that's a mistake. We're the Saudi Arabia of coal, and the sooner we can figure out a way to burn it cleanly, not only are we going to benefit from it but we can license that technology to countries like China and India that are putting up new coal facilities every week."

Obama probably won't offer the same enthusiastic support for nuclear power, in part because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, opposes nuclear expansion. Doing so would almost certainly mean the development of a nuclear waste storage facility in Nevada that Reid has fought.

But nuclear power, as McCain has noted, offers not only a safe, reliable and large-scale energy source, but it does so with little greenhouse gas emissions.

The nation's energy policy should not be limited to just coal and nuclear. Domestic oil production must be increased as well, and solar and wind energy development should be encouraged. But the nuclear and coal energy industries must be reinvigorated. Those two sources are plentiful, available domestically and offer the best promise of clean use. The nation should not have to tolerate another presidential term of inaction on a new energy policy.