Just In From The Fake Jim Steets Prayer Blog

Breaking News From Fake Jim Steets...seems he has his new Christmas Cards!

Dear God, Got My New Corporate X-Mas Cards

Dear God:

In keeping with the $pirit of the $eason, and to let the community know that we are good neighbors, I just got my Entergy Greeting Cards. I have to say, Entergy's PR folks have out done themselves this year.

The kids are really excited about the upcoming lighting of the reactor domes, and of course they always love doing their Christmas shopping in the Entergy gift catalog. The ten percent employee discount really helps save us money. I'm getting the wife that Entergy bed throw this year, and may splurge for a set of the Entergy coffee mugs.

By the way God, could you put in a word upstairs, and ask management to bring back the Christmas giveaways. The maintenance team really misses those canned hams.

Amen

GNB blogger on cover of Route 66 Pulse newspaper

Last year I took a drive down Route 66 promoting electric cars, so tourists can still drive the old road without spending $1000's worth of gas.

My trip was a big hit... Garnering the support of just about every road side attraction owner and preservation leader. Jim Conkle of Route 66 Pulse and Electrifying Times, the electric car magazine published by Bruce Meland, carved a strategic alliance.

I chronicled my two week odyssey through Americana with a Sony kindly lent to me by Wendy Brawer of Green Map. Sadly, silly me, I stuck the mini-dv video tapes in a coat pocket with my cell phone, erasing precious pixels. Dreams of a high end DVD documentary went out the window.

Despite the tear in my eye, Brian Howard of The Daily Green edited the damaged footage at Columbia University, into something way cool for Google video, with an original soundtrack by Ken Sasaki and the Tiki Boys. We named it Toaster 66, after a nickname for the Scion xB. Another nickname is The Box 66 where you can find lots of photos and contacts from the trip.

The Route 66 Pulse newspaper is distributed all along the old Route 66. They are sharing a booth with Electrifying Times at the EVS23 electric vehicle symposium in Anaheim Dec 2nd thru the 5th. Yesterday we heard from Bill Martin, the mayor of Atlanta, IL who is throwing his official support for America's first Electric Highway.

"We want to go on record as saying Atlanta is very interested in working with Remy Chevalier in helping realize his dream of establishing recharging stations along Rt. 66. Atlanta, being the midway point along Rt. 66 in Illinois, definitely wants to help locate a recharging site here in town."

I look forward to driving down Route 66 again soon with a 100% electric car, helping all the wonderful people I met along the way realize what is now become our common dream.

NRC Has MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) With Father Winter?

I know, weird question right? WRONG. Earlier this year I was on a rant, trying to force the NRC, and Westchester County to answer a simple question. If there is a significant fast moving event at Indian Point, and we are ordered to "Shelter In Place" in our homes in the middle of a snow storm with no heat, how long would we have before the effects of hypothermia start setting in. At the time it seemed like a simple enough question, but try getting and answer.

So, fast forward, and as Old Man Winter (Father Winter) settles in for a long cold snowy season, the issue started to dance again upon my mind. That's right, nine months after the fact, the NRC, FEMA and Westchester Emergency Management have refused to give us here at GNB a straight answer, but instead suggested we make sure to have extra blankets in our basement shelter area. I started doing some research, and found out a rather disturbing factoid if you well that I feel like sharing with our readers.

First, lets set the stage for everyone. There is a Nor'easter brewing, our local Channel 12 weather forecaster is warning us to stay inside and off the highways. The snow is already falling, and we are expected to get 15-18 inches of the white stuff! A few hours later, winds gusting to 70 MPH, snow drifts six feet tall in places, our cars BURIED, a reporter interrupts to bring us and important BREAKING NEWS STORY. There is an EMERGENCY at Indian Point, a LOCA (Loss of Coolant Accident).

Remember our Emergency Evacuation Plan? Seems there is some not very publicly advertised FINE PRINT that FEMA, DHS and the NRC would just as soon we as citizens not focus on:

The Emergency Evacuation time estimates do not cover severe winter storms, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommends that the adverse weather time estimate tables clearly state: 1) that they do not include [1] the time necessary to clear roads; and 2) that the time to clear roads be added to the time necessary to clear all lanes of all roads, and safely evacuation the citizens.

Houston, we have a problem!

If you live close to a nuclear reactor, and want to say something like, "You have got to be f**king kidding me!" we here at GNB completely understand. Just last winter, one storm saw us not fully plowed out for two days! Sure if there was a significant NUCLEAR INCIDENT at Indian Point in the middle of a Nor'easter, that we could be trapped in our homes for a far longer period of time...however, even if we are not trapped in our homes, there is that small issue of shoveling our cars out during nuclear fallout.

OK, so evacuation is OUT, at least in the near term, so we pull out that Emergency Planning booklet and resort to plan B, sheltering in place. Follow along with me here:

1. Stay inside!
2. Make sure to CLOSE all windows and doors!
3. Turn off your heat, and shut all wood burning stove and fire place Flues!

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM.

It is the middle of FREAKING winter, we have maybe two feet of snow on the ground, no one is going anywhere, and now we HAVE NO HEAT? For those of you thinking you'll use the electric blanket, forget about it. There is a very good chance that we also will not have electricity if Indian Point blows.

So, no heat, no electric, huddled behind plastic sheeting duct taped over our basement windows, we stare at our battery powered radio, listening, hoping for any kind of news, and find ourselves asking the same question, "How long do we have before the effects of hypothermia set in?

PS...if we are snowed in, wondering how Entergy plans on getting their workers back to the plant from Dutchess County to help deal with the crisis. Maybe the NRC has and MOU with Father Winter.

A Green Christmas Shout Out To Green Home Solutions

We met the wonderful folks at Green Home Solutions back in October at a Fairfield Green Drinks event. After the event, around ten of us decided to break bread, and Bill and his wife were a part of that contingent.

Now, for most of those who know the Green Nuclear Butterfly, we are not ones to give praise easily. So, when we tell you this is a place where every Green Santa should be shopping for ways to Green up the home, it is a heartfelt recommendation. When it comes to walking the walk, Green Home Solutions is one of the leaders of the pack, bringing concerned citizens products that will help each of us do our part in solving Global Warming.

GREEN HOME SOLUTIONS

Showroom:
167 Main Street
Norwalk, CT 06851
(203) 846-6060 F (203) 849-9494

Click here for Showroom directions

Green Building Supplies 2008

Coming in 2008 a new state of the art interactive showroom and distribution center. We will update you soon as to when and where.

If you are looking for a green employment opportunity, please fax your resume to
203-849-9494 or e-mail us at
greenhomebuilders@yahoo.com

PS: They feature some great articles

The plot thickens... Robert Kennedy Jr. & Paul Newman have their eyes on the same Connecticut Theatre!!!

OK, you're not going to beleive this... Things were weird, things just got weirder.

I'm sitting here a couple of weeks ago thinking to myself, where can I host Rock The Reactors shows... Nuke Free and Clearwater only think in terms of folk music, yet I'm an old heavy metal horse, and Sherwood's been to 200 Dead shows... (OK, that explains a lot!)

See, Wetlands was a Deadhead hang out... Although I installed all the environmental activities at the club, it's never been where my musical heart was... I grew up at the feet of Black Sabbath... I'm into what they call "industrial", basically instrumental metal... which is pretty close to classical in appreciation, but to most people who haven't developed the sensibility, just sounds like noise... it's an acquired taste, it's not for everyone... it's basically where you end up once you've exhausted every other emotional avenue.

But I digress... I'm thinking, here we are, Entergy has its own theatre in Peekskill, the Paramount, where they won't allow anti-nuclear musicians. It's not uncommon. GNB has since discovered the nuclear power industry is invested in many local live music theatres, which is why a band like Phish would only donate anonymously to the New England Coalition working to shut down Vermont Yankee, because they were afraid their anti-nuclear activism would black list them from too many live venues.

So why can't the anti-nuclear forces have their own stage somewhere, where parts and proceeds of the performances could go to fund anti-nuclear efforts, like Wetlands did... except Wetlands happened prior to the anti-nuke revival, because no new nukes were being built, and everybody had given up trying to shut down all the old ones... the sea was calm, let sleeping dogs lie... until NuStart and the relicensing period... threw the whole shebang into high gear again.

So willy nilly, quite innocently in fact, I seek out a meeting with the new owner of the old Globe Theatre in Norwalk, via a mutual friend, a local real estate agent who has been trying to help the Environmental Library Fund find a permanent home for its collection.

I meet with co-owner Andy Kydes at his favorite Greek restaurant, Ambrosia in Norwalk... we shoot the shit about the future of the theatre... He wants to put in condos... God awful idea... I try to demonstrate to him that the building as a theatre is still a very viable formula... it just needs a little tender loving care and nurturing.

He has me draft a short proposal he could show to his partner... introduced me to the leader of the local neighborhood block association, Christien A. Ducker, the owner of the Flow of Art gallery, who seems to share my dream of seeing the theatre light up again. I start to do my homework a little bit... and guess what I find out?

Andy bought the theatre last year for 1.3 million... the place is a mess, a disaster area inside... I'm told there's asbestos needs cleaning out, bathrooms were trashed, it's being used as storage for an antique store. It's structurally sound, but years of piss poor use by unscrupulous promoters ransacked the place... no wonder the new owners don't want to be bothered, they just want to blow windows through the brick face and rent out luxury condos.

They do want to preserve the facade, that's at least something...

But this doesn't fare well with my desire to promote a few metal shows there, so I can raise money for FUSE USA, and other worthy anti-nuclear organizations, organizations that won't sell out to two-face politicians or play nice with Entergy stock holders! So I jam my foot in the door... network the locals.

This large "green" development company, Poko, plans to build 300+ low-income dwellings on the whole city block, wants to acquire the theatre... claim they want to restore it. I'm inclined to beleive their intent because the Music Theatre of Connecticut (MTC) tells me they've already spent $30.000 on a theatre feasibility study with Poko.

Get this... MTC is currently running their theatrical productions in the basement of the same building as the business office of Newman's Own in Westport, CT... it's a fair bet to assume, extrapolate, that this theatrical company wouldn't be welcome in the basement of Paul Newman's building if they weren't in his good graces. MTC claims they already have commitments of $10 million to restore, rehabilitate the Globe Theatre, so it's easy to see, after the successful reconstruction of the Westport Country Playhouse, where some of that money might be coming from.

This is where it gets really interesting... I looked up the head of PR for Poko developers... Lorraine Gimblett, and would you beleive, she's the marketing director for Keeper Springs, the bottled water company founded by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.!!! And who is partner with Robert on his venture other than John Hoving, the development director of Riverkeeper who put Riverkeeper on the map as a high powered environmental organization.

This begs the question, are Robert Kennedy Jr. & Paul Newman working to acquire the Globe Theatre together, wanting to restore this amazing old vaudeville house, to rehabilitate it as a music hall? If that's indeed the case, how do these two sit at the same table, when one claims he wants to shut down Indian Point, and the other is being paraded around as Entergy's pro-relicensing poster boy?

Interesting dynamics, don't you think? Remember, it was the metal band Heart who saved Radio City!

Marilyn Elie of IPSEC Worried About FUSE USA Fallout?

From the little bird department...it seems that Marilyn Elie is worried about the possible negative fall out surrounding the departure of Susan Shapiro from the FUSE USA board of directors. Apparently, she feels Sherwood (that would be me) has opened up another battle front by going so PUBLIC about the FUSE USA break-up. She is worried about what might happen when Entergy gets hold of this information.

For starters, Marilyn Elie can quit worrying, as Entergy already knows, which is verified in Entergy's Thanksgiving Eve Motion To Strike wherein they note the resignation from FUSE USA of Susan Shapiro. First, lets look at the meat of the motion:

As discussed below, FUSE has repeatedly flouted the Commission's Rules of Practice as well as explicit directions by the presiding Atomic Safety and Licensing Board regarding, among other things, service of its Petitions.

Hysterical accusation coming from a company with as many EXEMPTIONS from the rules as Entergy has. Now, FUSE USA obviously disagrees with Entergy's assessments of the situation, but moving on, let us see what these attorneys have to say about Susan Shapiro:

Footnote 6

It is reasonable to have expected that Ms. Shapiro, as an attorney, would have mindful of these very elemental requirements without the need for a reminder by the board.

OUCH...talk about a sucker punch from her own colleagues! FUSE USA is in the process of correcting these issues, and will be providing adequate service to Entergy as relates to our "Non-Susan Shapiro" Petition filed in November. It is noted here in defense of Susan Shapiro, that the Federal Registry Notice is at best cloudy on the issue of "Service" stating that Petitions should provide Entergy with a copy of their filings.

As to Marilyn Elie's advice that I should remain mute should a news reporter call for a comment, she can rest assured that FUSE USA just today spoke with a reporter, though not directly related to her areas of concern. Marilyn apparently wants it to appear, that everyone is on the same game page when it comes to shutting down Indian Point.

Now, what I find amazing, is Marilyn's announcement on the IPSEC list about a slew of filings they are intending on filing with the NRC this week. Considering her private email to me last month wherein she stated IPSEC would not be filing any contentions, curious where this major change came from, and how they are planning to hit the ground running now on be a player in this game? Could it be, that they are taking FUSE USA work product, the work product of Sherwood Martinelli, and redrafting it as their own? If so, do they plan on giving CREDIT WHERE CREDIT is due? Have they obtained a release of any kind from FUSE USA for work product created by FUSE USA in preparing their contentions? Inquiring Minds want to know.

GNB Accepting Nominations For Baboon Ass Awards (BAA)

Greetings Readers:

First, we here at Green Nuclear Butterfly hope that each and every one of you had a wondrous Thanksgiving at home with your families. My wife and I sat down to dinner at around seven last night with all the trimmings that a feast should include. Turkey, stuffing, olives, mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, deviled eggs, pies and a host of other goodies. It was a great day, a fabulous meal, and we have a lot to be thankful for.

Meanwhile, Entergy tried to RUIN THE HOLIDAY with an NRC filing done very late in the day on Wednesday, wherein they moved to have all contentions filed by FUSE USA tossed out of the License Renewal process. Talk about scrapping the bottom of the barrel dirty tricks! Don't get me wrong, trying to get everything dismissed in the door is a standard nuclear industry trick...forget the fact that a contention brings up a serious public health and safety issue, if they can get it dismissed on a technicality, they are HAPPY CAMPERS. But to serve legal filings on the day before Thanksgiving! Talk about SCROOGE!

This low life timing on the part of Entergy and their attorney (Morgan, Lewis & Bockus, LLP) is simply Baboon Ass Ugly, the lowest of the low. Just goes to show you, that life in the nuclear industry is like a baboon's ass, colorful and full of shit. So, in the spirit of generosity, we here at Green Nuclear Butterfly are launching the Nuclear Industry Baboon Ass Awards (NIBAA or BAA). If you would like to nominate a company, or individual involved in the nuclear industry for a BAA (Baboon Ass Award) send us your nominee, along with a brief explanation of why they are deserving of such an honor to uraniumhotspot@aol.com no later than December 26th,2007 (our one year anniversary). We will announce our BAA Top 10 List on New Year's Day.

Happy Thanksgiving...

Little Atomic Bomb

Little Atomic Bomb
Animation of Charles Bukowski Poem
by Stephano Picco

AllGreen is All Right

I have just seen the new premiere edition of “AllGreen,” the winter edition, and have to say that this is a welcome addition to the environmental community, and a concept that I hope to see spread to other states, or turn into a national publication.

We need publications that can steer people towards Green Solutions to living their own lives, and in doing so, helping families in making a contribution towards solving Global Warming, and healing our Mother Earth. AllGreen helps to provide that conduit.

I myself am thinking about doing some extensive renovation of my 100 year old home here in Peekskill, New York. The magazine has led me to reach out already to two of the advertisers, Green Home Solutions, and Green Demolitions as I figure out how to make me and my wife’s house our dream home, while leaving a smaller foot print on the environment. Another’s discarded kitchen cabinetry may become the foundation of our new kitchen. A green builder may be able to see that the new roof and siding on our home help us to conserve energy.

Moving forward, I hope to see AllGreen include some articles on important issues facing all of us, hope to see them publish articles that make us think, even debate important issues and choices as we move to seek solutions to Global Warming. All and all though, their first issue was a great read.

AllGreen is widely distributed throughout the state of Connecticut. You can also visit their new website, www.allgreen.com, where the entire content of the allGreen premiere issue is available as a Flash file.

Why We Should Give Edwards A Closer Look

There are a whole lot of important issues in the upcoming 2008 election cycle, but none more important than Global Warming, and how we go about trying to solve it. That makes energy perhaps the most important issue in the campaign. That being said, we need to take a look at the three front runners for the Democratic Ticket (Clinton, Obama and Edwards). Of the three, both Clinton and Obama are hedging their bets publicly, riding the proverbial fence in a non committal way. Privately, they are lapping up the generosity of the Pro-Nuclear donors, with Hillary even taking money from Entergy attorneys.

Edwards on the other hand has come out and stated in no uncertain terms that he is OPPOSED to nuclear energy as a solution to Global Warming. That in and of itself makes him a candidate that we need to give a second look too, and perhaps even a third or fourth look. Unless Hillary Clinton is willing to return ALL NUCLEAR TAINTED Campaign Funds, and stand up on the Anti Nuclear side of the equation, the citizens of Connecticut, New Jersey, Vermont and New York should REJECT HER.

Why The Nuclear Industry Is Pushing Carbon Trading, Why We Should Be Leery of It.

Green Nuclear Butterfly Has a Better Idea, and It Is NOT NUCLEAR.

A big issue for debate lately has been the issue of carbon trading, or at least a carbon-pricing framework in the name of reducing Global Warming. It is no accident that the Nuclear Industry is one of the largest proponents of this program, and for their own good reason. Without carbon trading, or at least a carbon penalty placed on other energy sectors (primary among them coal, oil and gas) the nuclear industry simply cannot compete in the market place, their hoped for Nuclear Renaissance dwindling away to maybe 10 new reactor builds here in America.

Some might say such a claim is heresy, state that carbon trading would be good for the environment. That may, or may not be true...what is true, and this according to the Chief Executive of GE, Jeffrey Immelt, is that nuclear CANNOT COMPETE without strong financial incentives (loan guarantees). He goes further to state, that large-scale nuclear construction would go ahead only if a high enough cost was placed on carbon-dioxide emissions.

One of the supposed SELLING POINTS of nuclear, is CHEAP ENERGY. Carbon Trading or carbon penalties will do nothing but put more profit in rich corporate hands, and drive up the average American family's monthly electric bills. That you can bank on. So, when NEI and your local nuclear power company such as Entergy, Exelon, or First Energy (just to name a few) tries to sell you on the wonders of nuclear energy, you had best listen to them with your hand on your wallet.

Going further, it is the hope of George Bush, and the nuclear industry to put us into a very precarious position where we have no choice but to travel their nuclear highway. Samuel Bodman, US energy secretary while in Rome told the World Energy Congress (speaking about just America), "We don’t need 30 of these additional units, we need 130 or 230. We are going to need a substantial increase in nuclear power if we are to deal with generating electricity on the one hand and protecting the environment on the other.” This would double the current number of reactors we now have in America, triple that number if his suggested 230 reactors is added to the 104 currently in operation. This raises two significant questions:

1. Are you prepared to have a nuclear reactor sitting in your own back yard? It is easy to embrace nuclear when your community is not being asked to make the sacrifices, your community is not the one faced with elevated cancer risks. What happens when it is your community? Do your views change?

2. In nuclears first fifty years, not one ounce of high level nuclear waste has been safely disposed of, we still do not have a viable disposal means for the waste from nuclear reactors. Are we as a nation really comfortable doubling or tripling the number of reactors in America before the DOE and the nuclear industry have a PROVEN means with which to deal with these deadly waste streams?

Just for the sake of alternatives, since the nuclear industry always claims the anti-nuclear forces never offer up other options. What if we made converting the houses in our communities to renewable energy public works projects, much like sidewalks and sewers. The town appraiser comes to your home, prices out what it will cost to put your solar systems and things on your home, and does the same for every other house in the town. Much like paying for say new sidewalks, you would pay for making your home a shining green example through increased property taxes over a period of say 15-20 years. There is a very good likelihood that your savings on your monthly ELECTRIC bill would offset the increase in your yearly property taxes. Can you imagine a town like Peekskill converting every home over to renewable energy?

Looking at my own electric bill, we would be looking at say a $200 a month savings per home on average. Times lets say 4,000 homes in the area. Do the math, and that is $800,000 a month. The big electric utilities would be HOWLING. In an earlier article, it was pointed out that some 2.5 million homes could be converted to renewable energy for the $50 Billion the nuclear industry wants in just the next two years in the form of Loan Guarantees. Again, at $200 a month per home for electric usage, we are suddenly talking $500 MILLION per month, or $6 BILLION a year that would not be going to companies like Entergy, Exelon, and First Energy. In less than nine years, citizens could REPAY that $50 Billion in loan guarantees, all the while, taking care of most of their own home energy needs themselves.

Now, there is another HUGE ADVANTAGE to this plan. It would free up that proverbial BASE LOAD that nuclear utility companies are always waving in our faces. How much BASE LOAD could be freed up if suddenly 2.5 million homes were put on self generated renewable energy? More importantly, with that kind of CASH INFLUX into the renewable energy industry, how much more affordable would the equipment be? With volume production comes price drops as renewable energy finally becomes available to the masses. Imagine using this same basic premise to put energy efficient appliances in every American Home, or too properly insulate older homes, or put in energy saving windows. The energy SAVINGS would be tremendous, and we could jump start a stalled construction sector in the process.

Just something to think about. Call me crazy, but how much environmental healing would be done with this idea? How much could we reduce the effects of Global Warming with such thinking? Living Green requires we explore new ways of living our lives, and new ways of conducting our business. and perhaps it is time to start, by rethinking how we get our energy to run our homes?

Susan Shapiro Strategy for Shutting Down Indian Point?

This past Monday, PHASE held a news conference in New York that got ambushed by Entergy and their PR people. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then what is one propaganda video worth to Entergy? You be the judge...does the shut down Indian Point movement look good in this video found on a Norris McDonald blog?

Now Hugo Chavez Wants a Nuclear Program

So, the thought of Iran having the nuclear bomb SCARES people...well, hold on to your seats, as now Hugo Chavez wants his own nuclear program, and rest assured, he will want more than just a few reactors.

Chavez Says Venezuela To Develop Nuclear Energy Programme

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has said his country will develop a domestic nuclear power programme to “enable us to deal with the future energy crisis”.

In an interview with the international television news channel ‘France 24’, Mr Chavez said Venezuela will follow its neighbours Brazil and Argentina in developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

Deadly Plutonium Lost in Himalayan Avalanche

Four decades ago, the CIA planted a nuclear-powered spy camera at the top of a Himalayan mountain. Although it stopped functioning a long time ago, the device has never been recovered.

Four pounds of plutonium, enough to kill every person on the planet, could be moving inexorably toward the Ganges River.

At some point during the inhumanly cold Himalayan winter straddling 1965 and 1966, a peculiar collection of box-shaped objects — one sprouting a six-foot, insect-like antenna — plummets nine thousand feet down the sheer flanks of a remote peak.

Ripped from its moorings by an avalanche, the jumbled apparatus slides down a funnel-shaped hourglass of hard snow and shoots over a black cliff band, careening a vertical distance six times the height of the Empire State building. The boxes come to rest on the glacier at the mountain's base.

One, an olive-drab casing the size of a personal computer, begins to sink. Then, trailing a robotic dogtail of torn wires, it slowly burns through the snow, melting into solid blue glacial ice, eventually disappearing beneath the surface, and never seen again.

No one actually witnessed this event. But as you read these words, nearly four pounds of plutonium — locked in the glacier's dark unknowable heart — are almost certainly moving ever closer to the source of the Ganges River.

Eye at the Top of the World, provides a harrowing present-day account of Takeda’s expedition to solve the mystery of Nanda Devi.

Read large sections of this story on Google Books