Can you be Green & Pro-Nuke?

Robert Prol on the RockNet list asked the question:

"Is it a requirement to be against the nuclear power plant in order to be considered an environmentalist?"

I posted this reply below to the list, here it is again on Green Nuclear Butterfly, for good measure!

~ Yes!

Now's the time to remove this threat from the Hudson river...

FUSE USA has the experts, the whistleblowers, the inside track, this plant is a disaster waiting to happen.

At one NRC meeting a few weeks ago, which hundreds of union workers attend to strong arm and intimidate, one of them came to me in confidence, to say that the only reason he worked at the plant, was because his sister was terrified something might happen, and that if it did, he'd be right there, would be able to call her on his cell phone, tell her to get out of town...

That's what you have in your back yard... a time bomb. Don't wait till the rest of the world tells you we told you so... Indian Point is a complete rust bucket.

Please support FUSE USA and the work we are doing.

We have a chance right now because of the relicensing period to mothball and dismantle this horror. Imagine how beautiful the view would be from the Monteverde Inn if Indian Point wasn't there anymore!

When I asked the Yoga center there how they could medidate with such a monstrosity behind them, they said: "People come here to relax, not think about negative environmental issues."

You are all being lied to about the consequences of constant exposure to leaks released from this plant! The still birth rate around Indian Point is 25% higher the National average... Go ask the doctors at the Peekskill hospital, who are terrified to speak out because Entergy afforded them their emergency wing!

LED bulbs in mass production would cost less than either fluorescent or incandescent... it's been calculated that if we switch all lighting to LEDs, which is now preferred by interior designers for aesthetic reasons, we could reduce our electrical consumption by as much as 60%.

Isn't that a more worthwhile effort?

Rem

http://www.rockthereactors.com

The photo is from a great new UK rock band which you can find here:
http://www.myspace.com/wfanfc

Riverkeeper’s opposition to the development at Monteverde

From:
August E-Letter from Riverkeeper

Monteverde Success Story

Riverkeeper’s opposition to the development at Monteverde in the Town of Cortlandt has been successful.

Members of an informal coalition consisting of Riverkeeper, Scenic Hudson, Hudson Highlands Trust and Palisades Interstate Park Commission each wrote separately to the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Region 3 Director Willie Janeway, and the Town of Cortlandt, (cc’ing NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Grannis), expressing strong opposition to the developement at Monteverde.

The coalition requested that the DEC act as lead agent in the SEQRA (State Environmental Quality Review Act) review of the large development. The development was to consist of a 39-room hotel (an area of 67,400 square feet including 20 spa treatment rooms) 50 separate hotel villas (each with 2 units and separate car port) and a 286-foot slip marina. The site is on an unusually beautiful and intimate stretch of the Hudson River and would have impacts on important scenic, historic and environmentally sensitive areas.

First, the DEC responded by writing to the Town of Cortlandt instructing it not to proceed as lead agency as the Town had already stated it planned to do. Then, at the next Planning Board meeting, the Town’s Planning Board told the developer it had decided it would not consider the developer's Petition to Rezone (which is needed for the project), and was putting together a resolution of “No Interest” -- further efforts on the plans submitted would be “futile.”

Benny Zable Climbs Monteverde

I picked up Australian anti-nuclear performance artist Benny Zable at the Peekskill train station on Sunday morning. We headed off to the Bear Mountain Powwow in Harriman State Park to deliver a message from Harold One Feather who is attending the Southeast Convergence for Climate Action before coming up North to join the new FUSA USA coalition.

Benny took his peaceful earth flag inside the prayer circle... while I met some wonderful people, like Tchin and Sealy... and discovered the book Indian Tribes of the Hudson's River published by Hope Farm Press & Bookshop in Saugerties, NY.

We got lost a few times on the way there and back... all these tall trees, all these winding roads... but we made it back in time to meet up with an artist/documentary film maker who has asked for anonymity and Heyoka magazine publisher John LeKay at the Peekskill Coffeehouse. Sherwood Martinelli, of Green Nuclear Butterfly, joined us.

The Rock The Reactors poster I had placed in the window earlier in the day had been pulled down, and the flyers I had left by the door were all gone. We suspect friends of Entergy go around Peekskill systematically removing anti-nuclear literature from public view.

We headed off to Indian Point hoping to find an appropriate place for a vigil... a few people in Buchanan saw our short caravan drive towards the plant with bumper stickers clearly stating our point of view. By the time we got to the guard house, they knew we were coming.

What I did not realize, since I had not physically been to the plant since April 2006 when I photographed Betcee May... I try to stay as far away from Indian Point as possible... is they extended the perimeter with brand new barbwire fencing, Guantanamo Bay deja vu, the domes barely visible from the road. There was no place to shoot with a good view in the background, so we decided to look for another vantage point.

Someone suggested this restaurant on the hill which I did not know called Monteverde, meaning green mountain, in the Town of Cortlandt. I couldn't beleive the vista... the eerie sense of pending doom in the valley below, the irrepressible noise of freight trains... and yet... Monteverde is the home of a Yoga and Spa center, which won Best of Westchester award for "Most Transcendental Facial."

The next day I called and asked the receptionist, how does it feel to do yoga on this beautiful lawn, with a nuclear power plant in the background? She said: "People who come here to do yoga really don't want to think about negative environmental issues." So I contacted Yoga and Global Activism to see if perhaps they'd be interested in hosting an event on Monteverde at Oldstone Manor's grounds.

A recent review of the restaurant put it this way: "The carefully positioned trees on the left of the property hide a view of the Indian Point nuclear power plant on this side of the river. The land would be great if Amtrak didn’t run right next to it every few minutes. On the other side of the river there is a freight train line that runs less often, but is usually even louder."

We weren't allowed to enjoy the view for very long... The managing director asked us to leave... so we regrouped at a kayak landing for a wonderful sunset... finished the evening in Peekskill at Ruben's Cafe, Governor Pataki's favorite Mexican restaurant.

But not everybody loves living in Peekskill, as expressed by this, if somewhat funny, rather depressing video on YouTube. Seems there's always an underbelly... Despite this, looking through the official Peekskill website, I see a warm and thriving community, doing its best while living in the constant specter of impending doom. It's interesting to note that I could not find a single mention of Entergy or Indian Point on the website, in either the press releases or the 145 pages of photographs. The elephant is in the room, and yet nobody pays attention to it.

I left Benny in Sherwood's good care and bid everybody farewell... On Monday morning, when Benny called to check in with the EcoFest office in New York, he was told they had received an anonymous threatening phone call... All the caller said, in an intimidating tone, was: "So, EcoFest is involved with Indian Point now, hey?" and hung up.

Nothing like hundreds of Union Workers standing guard around Peekskill and Buchanan making sure nobody gets out of line... Little do they know, their families, their children, their friends, are all suffering the effects of low dose radiation... every new day that goes by, we are all at great risk for allowing Entergy, NRC and the political leaders in the state of New York to take such risk and liberty with the lives of millions, for just the sake of a few electrons more we can easily make up with conservation and Light Emitting Diode bulbs.

Shame on you Hudson Valley, for failing to shut down Indian Point over so many years... It takes a man from Australia to ring your wake up bell? Get it together for Pete sake. Shut that sucker down! Screw the independent safety assessment and the relicensing period. Just demand the plant closed... now, before we're all sorry... The USA is still a democracy... use it before you lose it... what are you waiting for... Isn't that what you all elected John Hall for?