CASEnergy Coalition's presence at National Conference of State Legislators ' (NCSL) annual meeting brought many new legislators on board to the coalition and raised awareness of nuclear energy among many others. In all, 47 new legislators from 22 states have joined CASEnergy and there are many more who are considering joining. We will be following up with an additional 50 legislators and staff who have expressed interest in nuclear energy and the coalition.
The state legislators who joined come from a variety of states and both political parties. Arkansas provided the most new legislative members to the coalition. Other new members come from states that have not normally been supportive of nuclear energy like Minnesota, Colorado and Hawaii. Even a representative from Nevada joined our coalition after mentioning that he is a nuclear engineer and understands the safety of the technology.
Some of the coalition’s current state legislative members came by our exhibit to talk about the coalition and recruit other members from their state. Iowa Representative Phil Wise, who has recently authored opinion editorials on behalf of the coalition, convinced four other Iowa state legislators to join. Phil Wise was also recently interviewed about the benefits of nuclear energy by Fox News in Iowa. Arkansas Representative Roy Ragland also recruited two more legislators from his state as well. Click here to view Phil Wise’s interview.
Overall, our interactions with legislators, staff and other organizations were very positive , although there were few outwardly anti-nuclear conference attendees. Many legislators said they were not able to join the coalition for political reasons, but are supportive of nuclear energy. According to NCSL veteran Mike McGarey, this demonstrates a shift in perception from past years at NCSL when there were more vocal nuclear energy opponents.