Lower US Dependency on Oil Imports

It is heartening to see President Clinton support one of the most important energy resources the nation has - nuclear energy - in the front-page article ``Despite a Pledge of `No Increase,' Clinton Backs a New Generation of Nuclear Plants,'' Sept. 29.

With coal appearing less and less environmentally acceptable as a fuel, new power plants will burn natural gas and oil. This should be alarming, since we obtain almost half our oil from overseas and nearly one-quarter of that from the Persian Gulf.

Is it not time that we finally learn from the embargoes and the Gulf war and begin to make investments to eliminate the use of imported oil? Mr. Clinton is simply being practical in supporting the development of nuclear plants. Frank R. Bruce, Oak Ridge, Tenn.

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