Opinion - Hail, hydro

The ongoing nuclear disaster in Japan has sparked new conversations about how to meet future energy needs here in America.

A new blanket of fear cloaks nuclear plants. Since the Three Mile Island disaster, this country has turned away from nuclear generating plants. Then, as anxiety over nuclear plants was easing, the Fukushima plants went into meltdown.

Wind power, solar power and natural gas will not be enough to provide energy for the country. Alone or in combination, they fall short of demand.

Coal, of course, is environmentally suspect and requires expensive transport from mine to generat...