We’ve all seen the footage of slimy, brown birds, crabs and other sea life.   The devastation brought upon us by the BP oil disaster is truly heart breaking.  And infuriating.  Who’s to blame?  The energy companies?  The government agencies?  Maybe it’s even our own selfish needs.  Whoever is ultimately held responsible, the blame, is not what’s important.  Taking ownership, moving forward and learning from our mistakes, that’s what’s important.

Steve Christ, at Seeking Alpha, does a great job of helping us see the bigger picture.  Whether you blame the environmentalists for the requirements to drill so far away or if you blame the energy companies for simply drilling at all, there’s a lesson to be learned.  The mess in the Gulf is a filthy illustration of the need to explore alternate energy sources.  Wind farms are great idea, as are solar panels, but neither produces the amount of energy this country absorbs on a daily basis.   That’s why many eyes are, once again, turning to nuclear power.

Christ writes a powerful endorsement by stating, “For all of its potential faults, nuclear power is the one energy source with the scale to meet our needs that can still be considered environmentally friendly — especially considering the movement to reduce greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.”  Is nuclear energy safe?  In the wake of the tragedy in the Gulf, nuclear energy even appears to be the safer alternative.  In fact, France actually generates the majority of its electricity from nuclear power.  It seems to work well for them.

While discussing alternative energy solutions as “green energy”,  Christ quotes Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy, as plainly stating, “You can’t be serious about carbon unless you’re serious about nuclear.”

Hopefully, some good will come from the BP oil leak.  Will it be the reemergence of nuclear energy in America?  Perhaps.  Using a portion of the recently tripled nuclear power loan guarantees, The Southern Company recently began construction on the first two nuclear power plants erected in the US in over 30 years .