Happy TMI, everyone!

Today is the anniversary of the Three Mile Island nuclear accident. I can't believe that it's been 28 years - I wasn't quite eight years old yet, but I do remember the accident quite well, since I've lived in Pennsylvania all my life.

TMI is not far from the state's capitol of Harrisburg. At the time, the plant was owned by Metropolitan Edison (Med-Ed), which was pretty personal to me, since my father and my stepfather at the time both worked for Met-Ed.

Thankfully, neither had to go to TMI for cleanup efforts, but there were rumors that they would.

The accident is a pretty amazing event in our nation's and Pennsylvania's history. It changed the direction of our energy policy, if you can remember back that far to when we had one. Presidents Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton and Bush have done damn little to effectively implement any meaningful energy policy that's really made a difference.

I bring up the anniversary for two reasons:

Nuclear energy can and must be a part of any effective energy policy for the next administration. I say next, because President Bush has done little more than offer up wishful thinking about ethanol, and before that, hydrogen-powered cars.

Also, the TMI accident also was a time long, long ago when presidents took bold action (both Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter personally visited the island during the crisis), and also held incompetent people accountable for mistakes. To his credit, President Carter sacked Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Joseph M. Hendrie after the accident, saying the NRC "needed new leadership" as a result of many mistakes at the plant and the NRC's poor handling of the crisis.

Of course, if TMI happened on President Bush's watch, Hendrie would have been awarded the Congressional Medal of Freedom.