Editorial: How ‘green’ is their talk?

Friday, Aug. 25, 2006 | 7:23 a.m.

The president of Toyota North America, Jim Press, told a National Press Club gathering last week that automakers should work with Congress to set reasonable goals for boosting fuel efficiency to curb greenhouse gases, according to a San Francisco Chronicle report.

"It's time for us to stop being the 'against' industry and to come out strong for something important, like a better Earth and a better quality of life," Press was quoted as saying.

It is refreshing to hear such a comment from an auto industry executive. Maybe General Motors and Ford could be loosened from their financial binds if they would adopt the same attitude. Toyota and other foreign car makers that years ago accurately predicted the demand for more fuel-efficient vehicles are now highly profitable.

The newspaper also reported that executives of the American electric power industry are acknowledging, in contrast to their previous stances, that greenhouse gases emitted from their plants are contributing to global warming. The executives are preparing to accept the fact that stricter federal regulations governing power-plant emissions are coming and are necessary.

We are heartened by the emerging "green" attitude expressed by executives of industries that historically have been among those most associated with pollution. We're wary of power industry executives, though, because for many of them their solution to greenhouse-gas reduction is more electricity generated by nuclear plants.

In our view, renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and geothermal are the only viable alternatives to standard coal-fired power plants. Nuclear plants produce deadly waste, and as we know in Nevada, there are no "green" solutions for disposing of it.