'Alternative energy peace corps' on the way

So often in Washington, the findings of a major commission are released, discussed, and then tossed aside. Not so with the Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism, whose recommendations are finding their way into legislation this fall.

One of the key recommendations moving in Congress this week is the idea of creating a capability inside the U.S. government to help developing countries find alternatives to nuclear and petroleum-based energy that are environmentally and fiscally sustainable.

Senator Daniel Akaka, D-HI, added a mirror of the Energy Development Program Implementation Act, which requires the State and Energy Departments to create strategic and implementation plans to carry out this effort, to a larger WMD-related bill moving through the committee process now.

"This bill will create an alternative energy Peace Corps, as called for 31 years ago by the Nuclear Nonproliferation Act of 1978," former senators Bob Graham and Jim Talent, the chairs of the WMD commission, testified before the Senate Homeland Security committee last month, "As our report recommended, this bill would help reduce the further spread of nuclear technologies ostensibly for civilian purposes."

The energy development legislation has widespread support in Congress and the nonproliferation community. Congressman Jeff Fortenberry, R-NE, has a companion measure in the House.

"This is an idea whose time has come," said Christopher Paine, director of the nuclear program and the Natural Resources Defense Council, "Environmentally sustainable energy supply should be a central pillar of U.S. foreign policy. This bill just makes good sense."

The overall bill, entitled the WMD Prevention and Preparedness Act, is led by committee heads Joseph Lieberman, I-CT, and Susan Collins, R-ME. The markup of that bill continues next week.