FPN02-42

A Message to Politicians

June 20, 2002

In a letter dated June 14, 2002 to the chairman of the Republican National Committee, John J. Specht (jjs@surfnetusa.com), a retired aerospace engineer living in Santa Cruz, CA, writes "If Oppenheimer had been saddled with the present energy bureaucracy, he would still be working on that bomb!!"

Specht writes, "Fusion Power is the ONLY source of energy that can restore our environment and provide a long term solution to the nation's energy problem." He says, "A high priority Manhattan type program is needed. All proposals for major new fusion facilities have been rejected by the U.S. government since 1976. The world fusion community is proposing the immediate construction of ITER, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, which is the key stepping stone for the first FUSION pilot plant. The DOE has cancelled the US participation. The Department of Energy has been assessing, re-evaluating, and considering, and protecting their rear. Meanwhile the highly trained people doing the work are stalled."