While energy lobbies such as big oil and big coal have taken turns in the spotlight, big nuke flies largely under the radar. Alex Flint, the NEI’s chief lobbyist, summed up the strategy last year at a luncheon with utility officials from Southeastern states: “Quiet.” He likes to let surrogates make the case.

For instance, Patrick Moore, who played a leading role in Greenpeace during the 1970s, now helps lead the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, known as CASEnergy Coalition. His partner is Christine Todd Whitman, a former New Jersey governor and Environmental Protection Agency administrator. Both have touted nuclear power at gatherings of members of Congress and on national television.

Left unmentioned in these settings is that the NEI paid a public relations company to create CASEnergy, an example of “Astroturfing” techniques that many industries have adopted to give the appearance of grass-roots support.

Moore, who runs a consulting company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, acknowledged the ties in an interview, referring to NEI as “my biggest client.” He declined to divulge his fees. Whitman’s firm, the Whitman Strategy Group, says on its site that it was hired by CASEnergy, but the coalition’s Web site doesn’t mention the financial relationship. Neither does NEI’s site, where Whitman and Moore are quoted on the merits of a nuclear future.

Labor is another new ally. NEI and 20 unions co-sponsored a “Welcome Back, Congress” bash in a House of Representatives office building last January. In March, Mark Ayers of the AFL-CIO arranged a meeting between NEI’s president and House Energy and Commerce Chair Henry Waxman to talk about the climate bill. The liberal California Democrat is leading the effort to pass the measure.

The full report from Pasternak is a must read and deserves significant attention, especially as Obama’s proposed budget moves forward. Regardless of where you stand on nuclear energy (I happen to support increased investment), the report is a leading case study on the strategies that leverage influence in policy debates.

The report itself is also a leading example of a new model for producing quality public affairs journalism. The Investigative Reporting Workshop, an initiative of the School of Communication at American University, brings faculty, veteran journalists, and students together to work collaboratively on investigative journalism projects, partnering with major news organizations such as McClatchy, PBS Frontline, and the Associated Press to engage and inform audiences.