Mich. voters back offshore drilling, nukes

Discouraged Michiganians, who believe the sputtering U.S. economy is worsening, say gas prices are cutting into their lifestyles and they're willing to embrace a broad array of solutions, including offshore drilling, to bring fuel costs down, according to a Detroit News/WXYZ-Action News poll.
Seven in 10 voters said soaring fuel costs -- at $4.09 a gallon for regular this week -- are having a significant or major impact on their lives and are swaying two-thirds of residents to back offshore drilling in Florida, California and other states with ocean shorelines.
Nearly half said they'd even favor drilling for oil and gas along the Great Lakes.

"Offshore oil drilling is something that should be done. We should have gone into that small area of Alaska to get the oil there," said survey participant Pat McGoldrick, 44, a robotics engineer from Waterford.
Also, 60 percent of poll respondents support additional nuclear plants to provide electricity. The U.S. hasn't licensed a new nuclear power plant in three decades.
John Sally, a 53-year-old Internal Revenue Service agent from Wyandotte, agrees that the nation has to think nuclear.
"Nuclear power is comparatively safe and should be considered as an alternative. It's nice to say let's stick with coal, but look at the hazards associated with coal," said Sally, whose father, uncle and grandfather died of black lung disease after working in the coal mines in Pennsylvania.

Read the article at DetNews.