You're joking, right?

The April 1 letter, "Nuclear is nicer," asserts that environmentalists should prefer nuclear power over solar and wind energy because nuclear energy "is clean, safe, economical, and has a small footprint."

Building nuclear power plants is not clean; it requires significant amounts of energy.

Nuclear power plants' waste is both dirty and unsafe, and the financially risky nature of nuclear power is demonstrated by the private sector's refusal to fund construction of new plants.

More critically for New Mexico, the footprint left by mining of uranium, the fuel used by nuclear power plants, is evident in communities in northwest New Mexico, where there are hundreds of abandoned uranium mines that have caused massive environmental degradation and extensive public health problems.

There is nothing small or benign about this footprint, and we should not add to it by allowing more uranium mining simply to preserve our scenic views.

Douglas Meiklejohn

NM Environmental Law Center Santa Fe