Given a moment to think about it, nearly everyone agrees that the United States needs to make some decisions about how to insure that we have safe, clean, reliable, affordable energy for the future. If we keep postponing these decisions, we’ll be putting our economy, our environment, and our way of life at risk.

But you certainly wouldn’t know that from all the posturing and sloganeering that seems to dominate the national discussion of energy and environmental issues. To make matters worse, many Americans are deeply confused by the expert and leadership sparring. Four in ten Americans cannot even name a “fossil fuel” when asked to do so. More than half think nuclear power contributes to global warming.