Editorial

Energy deserves attention worthy of wartime project

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Many readers -- especially younger ones -- may have been mystified Monday when they read in this column that Sen. Chuck Hagel compares the nation's urgent need for energy development to the Manhattan Project.

What in the world was the senator talking about? The Manhattan Project? What's that?

Sit back for just a minute. Us oldtimers are going to tell you.

The Manhattan Project happened more than 60 years ago, soon after the start of World War II. Fearing that other nations were going to develop an atomic bomb, and use it to dominate the world, the United States launched an atomic development project of its own.

The effort began in 1942, and was coordinated by the Corps of Engineers through the Manhattan Engineer District. A physicist, Robert J. Oppenheimer, directed the design and building of the bomb. Industrial and research activities took place at sites in Los Alamos, N.M .; Oak Ridge, Tenn.; and Hanford, Wash.

The super secret concentration of brainpower and resources worked. Three years after the project began, the Manhattan Project scientists successfully exploded the first atomic bomb on July 16, 1945, at Alamagordo, N.M. In the months which followed, use of the atomic bomb on Japanese targets helped bring World War II to an end.

With his reference to the Manhattan Project, Sen. Hagel was trying to illustrate how severe the energy problem has become. He was also suggesting that the top scientific minds in the U.S. could find ways to generate sufficient, affordable energy if given the resources and authority to do so.

The first signs of an energy solution are already beginning to appear. The hope lies in renewable fuels. One example of this is ethanol, a gasoline extender. Using corn and milo, ethanol plants turn the grain into alcohol, which is then added to gasoline to extend the fuel's productivity.

The good thing, should ethanol use be fully developed, is that the raw materials -- corn, milo and other grains -- are renewable, meaning that they can be planted and harvested year after year after year.

In a related development, the Nebraska Public Power District broke ground this week on the state's largest wind farm, to be built south of Ainsworth in the Sandhills. Using "free" wind energy, the plant will use 36 wind turbines to generate enough power for 19,000 homes.

Hagel is on the right track. Let's bring the top scientific minds in the United States together. Let's ask them to come up with ways to provide abundant, affordable energy now and for years to come. It's doable. We have the brains and the resources. It's just a matter of putting our heads together and not being distracted until we accomplish our goal.

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