Obama's new budget proposal cuts $26 billion in oil and gas industry tax breaks.  Tax breaks that he says are "unjustifiable loopholes" for that industry.  Furthermore, he is pushing to shutdown the planned construction of the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste facility in Nevada and he has proposed to end government subsidies for new nuclear power plants.  The proposed budget will also end a research and development program for designing and equipping our Cold War arsenal with new and improved nuclear warheads. Check out the Associated Press article where I got my information.

These proposals are a step in the right direction, as long as that step is actually taken.  The budget cuts signal a transition away from catering to the oil and gas industry.  They also steer us away from nuclear energy, new nuclear weaponry, and the creation of one of the largest radioactive waste facilities to ever be built. 

The Yucca Mountain waste facility and the nuclear industry subsidies are a major part of the environmental justice issue I presented in my Nuclear Case Study post.  If passed, the Obama budget will be a clean and peaceful step into a sustainable future.

- Cyrus