Idaho isn’t simply among the leaders in renewable energy nationwide, it’s among the top four states in the country.  The state didn’t get there on the shoulders of wind turbines or solar panels.  Check out this link.  Hydropower is responsible.  For three-quarters of our electricity!  Yet, there are people who would remove dams from our waterways and tell us the planet would be better off.  They don’t suggest we would be better off.  I guess the dam busters will tell us turbines are the answer.  Judging by the furor caused by plans for wind farms across the Magic Valley, someone is doing a poor marketing job.

Hydropower and Nuclear are the Future

Remove wind and solar from the equation and replace them with small nuclear reactors.  First, reactors could cover all of our needs when it comes to electricity.  Second, building them at Idaho National Laboratories would be good for the state economy.  In fact, we could build them and sell them all around the world.  If the greenies could remove the scales from their eyes, we could transform the energy industry and the economy in record time.

Some Dams Will Still be Needed

But the dams need to stay.  At least in some places.  Our agricultural sector still needs the efficiency of shipping from the Port of Lewiston.

Oh, and one other argument for reactors.  I was reading the letters to the editor at the Wall Street Journal.  A guy in the energy industry says we don’t have the transmission system to move electricity around the country from wind and solar.  This isn’t an issue for miniature nuclear reactors.  Because of the compact size, they can be set up wherever power is needed.

LOOK: Here are the best lake towns to live in

Many of the included towns jump out at the casual observer as popular summer-rental spots--the Ozarks' Branson, Missouri, or Arizona's Lake Havasu--it might surprise you to dive deeper into some quality-of-life offerings beyond the beach and vacation homes. You'll likely pick up some knowledge from a wide range of Americana: one of the last remaining 1950s-style drive-ins in the Midwest; a Florida town that started as a Civil War veteran retirement area; an island boasting some of the country's top public schools and wealth-earners right in the middle of a lake between Seattle and Bellevue; and even a California town containing much more than Johnny Cash's prison blues.

RANKED: Here are the most popular national parks

To determine the most popular national parks in the United States, Stacker compiled data from the National Park Service on the number of recreational visits each site had in 2020. Keep reading to discover the 50 most popular national parks in the United States, in reverse order from #50 to #1. And be sure to check with individuals parks before you visit to find out about ongoing, pandemic-related safety precautions at www.nps.gov/coronavirus.

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