Tournament: Kentucky  | Round: Round 2 | Opponent:  | Judge: 

Romney’s gained momentum, but Obama still wins

China Post 10/5/12 (http:~/~/www.chinapost.com.tw/international/americas/2012/10/05/356628/htm)

The more centrist Washington Post largely agreed, saying Romney had regained momentum after weeks

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.S. voting system — will likely decide the winner in November.

SMRs unpopular – the public doesn’t differentiate the risk based on size.

Locatelli and Mancini, ‘10

(Giorgio and Mauro, Politecnico di Milano, Dept. Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, “The role of the reactor size for an investment in the nuclear sector: An evaluation

of not-financial parameters”, Progress in Nuclear Energy 53, 2011, RSR)

This is because, in the public’s mind, a system with small probability of

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. Considering near-term technologies, overall population’s attitude is not differential.

Approval Rating is key, lines up perfectly with reelection
 Silver ’11

Nate directs five thirty eight and is a statistician, “Approval Ratings and Reelection Odds,” http:~/~/fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/approval-ratings-and-re-election-odds/http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/approval-ratings-and-re-election-odds/

Earlier this month, we posted the simple version of a finding, based on

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— and that would not have been true a couple of months ago.

Romney will destroy US-Russian relations – hardline and won’t compromise

Larison 6-27

Columnist for the American Conservative Daniel Larison “U.S.-Russian Relations Would Get Much Worse Under Romney” http:~/~/www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/u-s-russian-relations-would-get-much-worse-under-romney/http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/u-s-russian-relations-would-get-much-worse-under-romney/

Putin doesn’t actually want a “hard-line conservative in the White House.”

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Russian relations will deteriorate much more than they have in the last year.

Nuclear war

ALLISON  11 

Director @ Belfer Center for Science and Int’l Affairs @ Harvard’s Kennedy School, Former Assistant Secretary of Defense, Robert D. Blackwill, Senior Fellow – Council on Foreign Relations   Graham Allison, “10 Reasons Why Russia Still Matters”, Politico -- October 31 -- http:~/~/dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=161EF282-72F9-4D48-8B9C-cfm?uuid=161EF282-72F9-4D48-8B9C-C5B3396CA0E6

That central point is that Russia matters a great deal to a U.S

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Security Council, as well as a member of the G-8 and

Tournament: Kentucky | Round: 2 | Opponent:  | Judge: 

Attempts to manage the world render Earth and its inhabitants as objects, awaiting the subjective United States’ federal government’s action.  This form of dualism renders everything a self-circulating resource at humanity’s disposal, revealing one way of better relating to the world, all the while eclipsing other modes of thought.

McWhorter 92 (Ladelle, Professor of Philosophy and Women’s Studies at Richmond, Heidegger and the earth: Essays in environmental philosophy, Thomas Jefferson University Press, pp. 6)

The danger of a managerial approach to the world lies not, then, in

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which we have not yet dreamed, directions of which we may never dream

There is no end to technological thought and rationale – it will continue to find more destructive ways to control life and death.

Beckman 2k Tad: Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Humanities and Social Sciences at Harvey Mudd College, “Martin Heidegger and Environmental Ethics,” http://www2.hmc.edu/~tbeckman/personal/Heidart.html.

The threat of nuclear annihilation is, currently, the most dramatic and ironic sign

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can we look for the concepts that we need to fabricate convincing arguments?

The standing reserve and the ontological damnation that comes from it outweighs nuclear war--life has no meaning in a framework that sustains the standing reserve and denies us an authentic relationship with being.

Zimmerman 94 Michael: Professor of Philosophy at Tulane. Contesting the Earth’s Future, p.104.

Heidegger asserted that human self-assertion, combined with the eclipse of being,

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species are somehow lessened because they were never "disclosed" by humanity.

Our alternative is to detach and release. We must learn to let things be what they are – this does not mean a retreat from technology or surrender to the inevitable, rather, it means a reorientation of how we relate to the world and the beings within it.

Sabatino 07 Charles J.: professor of philosophy at Daemen College “A Heideggerian Reflection on the Prospects of Technology” reprinted in Janus Head 10(1) www.janushead.org/10-1/sabatino.pdf p. 72-73.

The point of seeing the danger is not that we then retreat from the

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and sustains us as all belonging together within the shared gift of world?

Tournament: Kentucky | Round: 2 | Opponent:  | Judge: 

States CP

The 50 state governments and relevant subnational governments should require that regulated utilities meet 20 percent of net electricity demand from renewable energy and Small Modular Reactors and establish renewable energy credits that can be applied across state lines to facilitate this goal. The 50 states and relevant subnational actors should pass appropriate policies allowing utilities to pass the cost of construction of Small Modular Reactors to customer rates. We’ll clarify.

Solves the Aff.

Lisa Janairo Senior policy analyst at The council of State Governments, Jan 09 (“Nuclear Power May Make a Comeback, csg.org)

Nuclear energy does appear to be reliable, generally clean and safe. The affordability

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, such as California and Wisconsin, but has not yet been adopted.

Tournament: Kentucky | Round: 2 | Opponent:  | Judge: 

Plan’s energy transition kills the shale gas industry – Natural gas fill-in for coal will save the industry from low prices now.

Roger Conrad 8/8/12 (http://www.trefis.com/stock/ge/articles/137730/natural-gas-prices-tick-up-on-hot-weather-but-investors-shouldnt-expect-much-more-upside/2012-08-08)

Four months ago, natural gas bottomed out at a 10-year low of

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return to even last summer’s price range of $4 to $5.

Shale industry crucial to growth, competitiveness, heg, and stops wars globally.

Gary Hunt 12, President, Scalable Growth Strategy Advisors, an independent energy technology and information services adviser and a partner in Tech and Creative Labs, a disruptive innovation software collaborative of high tech companies focused on the energy vertical. He served as VP-Global Analytics and Data at IHS/CERA; global Division President at Ventyx, now an ABB company; and Assistant City Manager-Austin Texas responsible for Austin Energy and Austin Water, Feb 15, http://oilprice.com/Energy/Natural-Gas/How-the-US-Shale-Boom-Will-Change-the-World.html

A funny thing is happening on the way to the clean energy future–reality

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their economies rather than growing their militaries to insure themselves against resource scarcity.

Tournament: Kentucky | Round: 7 | Opponent:  | Judge: 

Text: The United States federal government should submit that the United States Department of Defense should increase procurement contracts for small modular nuclear reactors for domestic military installations to the Environmental Impact Statement process of the National Environmental Policy Act. The United States federal government should implement the alternative identified in the Environmental Impact Statement with the environmental impact that is as low as is reasonably achievable.

Contention One – Competition – any perm severs certainty and immediacy; and violates the word “resolved,” which means “to make a firm decision about.” CP also tests the word “should” which is “used to express obligation or duty” – both from American Heritage Dictionary 2k. Perms must be topical, and counterplans that test the resolution are key to predictable neg ground.

Contention Two – Solvency

An EIS enables the government and the public to evaluate and choose alternatives to the plan that will accomplish the SAME OBJECTIVE with less environmental harm

Yap ‘4 (Julie, JD Fordham Law, 73 Fordham L. Rev. 1289, lexis)

NEPA was enacted "to declare a national policy which will encourage productive and enjoyable

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action as well as measures to mitigate the damage of the action. 58url:http://www.lexis.com/research/retrieve?_m=94081dfd183690054ce06f8ffe077e1aandcsvc=leandcform=byCitationand_fmtstr=FULLanddocnum=1and_startdoc=1andwchp=dGLbVzb-zSkAWand_md5=d7861921872c6eda0ffa6a5952ceb492#n58||target="_self"

Contention Three – Net Benefit

Military will refuse to avoid environmental problems with nuclear waste disposal unless NEPA is applied

Applegate ’99 (John, law prof at Indiana Univ. School of Law, 26 Ecology L.Q. 350, Book Review of Stephen Dycus’ National Defense and the Environment, lexis)

Dycus asserts that "with rare exceptions, we can maintain a strong, effective

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well known, 52url:http://www.lexis.com/research/retrieve?_m=d0ac405a40abd80125ecb6f7a7f6b25bandcsvc=blandcform=searchFormand_fmtstr=FULLanddocnum=1and_startdoc=1andwchp=dGLbVtb-zSkAband_md5=ddf1fd1dee8902ce677c2d230107dee5#n52||target="_self" yet Dycus' approach replicates NEPA's qualified substantive mandate 53url:http://www.lexis.com/research/retrieve?_m=d0ac405a40abd80125ecb6f7a7f6b25bandcsvc=blandcform=searchFormand_fmtstr=FULLanddocnum=1and_startdoc=1andwchp=dGLbVtb-zSkAband_md5=ddf1fd1dee8902ce677c2d230107dee5#n53||target="_self" :

If environmental trade-offs must be made in the interest of national security, or if the environment is to be placed at risk, we want to be informed in advance. We want to be able to say that the environmental harm was unavoidable, that there were no viable alternatives, and that we planned it that way (p. 11).

CP’s use of the “as low as is reasonably achievable” standard provides a framework for balancing that solves health and environmental risks and prevents prolif—CP causes a comparison of alternative policies and an OBLIGATION to adopt the least environmentally harmful policy

Applegate ’99 (John, law prof at Indiana Univ. School of Law, 26 Ecology L.Q. 350, Book Review of Stephen Dycus’ National Defense and the Environment, lexis)

The current debate over the management of excess plutonium poses a similar problem (pp

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to be hoped that it will stimulate others to undertake this important task.

Even a small nuclear waste leak means 25 million people die from cancer

Churchill ’99 (Ward, “A Breach of Trust” American Indian Cultural and Research Journal p.44)

Such facilities as now exist to accommodate warhead and reactor wastes  are all temporary installations

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, and its willingness to do so was quickly overridden by the state.