Sherwood Martinelli on Green Living Guy Talk Radio

Interview starts about 3 minutes in after the music...

Lafayette, here we come!!!

The Network ‘SORTIR DU NUCLEAIRE’ is currently the main French anti-nuclear coalition, with a membership of over 700 organizations and more than 14,000 individual subscribers.

It is completely independent, entirely funded by donations and the subscriptions from its members.

Their mission is to unite everyone concerned with phasing out nuclear power, convince France to phase out nuclear power generation by rethinking its energy policy, improving the efficiency of electricity use, developing alternative and sustainable generation scenarios.

GNB spoke with press representative Stéphane Lhomme to learn that the unified media front presented by new French president Sarkozy, allied with French Greens, is deceptive.

The world press reported a French moratorium on new nuke construction, when it fact it's a moratorium on the siting of new construction. Since there are already over 100 sitings in France, this means nothing, allowing EDF to go forward with the construction of new nukes.

The 58 (most of them Westinghouse) reactors in France are rapidly aging and need to be decommissioned. Sherwood Martinelli discovered that no monies have been set aside by the French utility EDF for this decommissioning period, and therefor, without the profits generated from new construction, the French nuclear industry will quickly go bankrupt, facing billions in decommissioning costs. Sherwood is preparing a full report on the French situation.

GNB also learned from Stéphane Lhomme that during the very violent storm that blew through France a couple years ago, the nuclear power plant near Bordeaux, was completely flooded, much like the two Entergy nuclear power plants in New Orleans during Katrina, except in this case, the situation became so critical, it is believed that Bordeaux nearly escaped a major nuclear disaster.

GNB and Rock The Reactors will remain in close touch with "Sortir Du Nucleaire" to keep each other abreast of our activities. Stéphane Lhomme understands that to stop nuclear up the Hudson, also means stopping nuclear in his country, as the two are so closely inter-related.

EDF plays a big part in the funding of NuStart here in the USA, the organization beating the drum for a wave of new nuke construction to fuel the hydrogen economy.

There will be a large anti-nuclear demonstration in Marseille on November 10th.

For more information:
www.sortirdunucleaire.org

NYC Wants Say on Indian Point

NYC Asks to Intervene in Indian Point Relicensing

October 16, 2007

(Associated Press) - New York City, which counts on the electricity provided by the Indian Point nuclear power plants but could be vulnerable in a reactor attack or accident, wants a say in whether the plants can stay open for 20 more years.

Without taking a position, but stating that the decision "will affect the welfare of all New Yorkers," the city has filed a request to intervene in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's relicensing process.

"The city has a clear interest in potential public health and safety issues associated with the issue of relicensure, notably in ensuring the safety of its food and water supplies," says the petition, signed by Vice President Michael Delaney of the city's Economic Development Corp.

"In addition, there is a continued need for the provision of lower-cost electric power to residential and commercial customers in New York City."

The public safety argument is often used by opponents of the Indian Point plants; the cheap electricity argument is often used by supporters. The petition was dated Oct. 1 and made public Tuesday by the NRC.

A call to Delaney was not immediately answered.

Entergy Nuclear, owner of the two Indian Point plants in Buchanan, 35 miles north of midtown Manhattan, has applied for new licenses that would allow the plants to run until 2033 and 2035.

Many of the groups that have been trying to close Indian Point since the 2001 terrorist attacks are now trying to block the relicensing.

The nuclear plants have been plagued with recent problems ranging from radioactive water leaks to balky emergency sirens to a guard caught sleeping. Opponents have long believed that the densely populated suburbs around the plants could not be quickly evacuated.

Entergy spokesman Jim Steets said, "It's sensible for New York City to take an interest, since their public buildings and infrastructure _ subways, schools, firehouses, streetlights, airports _ rely on Indian Point power."

NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said the city's request would be forwarded to the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, a quasi-judicial body which will assess the city's standing.

He said intervention is ordinarily granted only to those who take a position against relicensing, but sometimes a government agency "can be a party to proceeding without being an active participant."

Others who have asked to intervene include an anti-Indian Point group, Friends United for Sustainable Energy, and a pro-Indian Point industry group, the New York Affordable Reliable Electricity Alliance.

Michael J. Delaney, Esq.
Vice President – Energy Regulatory Affairs
New York City Economic Development Corporation
110 William Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10038
(212) 312-3787
mdelaney@nycedc.com

Top of page http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/apwire/bf93ba551df592a17644407bc44853be.htm

(Thanks to Lisa Rainwater, PhD, Policy Director Riverkeeper, Inc. for the head's up on this article. Lisa can be reached at 914-478-4501 http://www.riverkeeper.org)

Comments from Sherwood Martinelli:

I am actually very disturbed about what else was included in the article about the city of New York's filing for intervener status. Tucked in, almost as an after thought was the information that NY AREA has also asked to be accepted in as an intervener...further, it states that USUALLY only those who OPPOSE relicensing are granted such status.

This is a very alarming industry move that MUST BE OPPOSED. NY AREA is a super PRO-NUCLEAR group that was actually started and funded by Entergy...if they get status, every other group that Entergy has out there who supports Nuclear and/or Entergy is going to come in through that same door.

Sherwood
(914) 293 7458 or 734 1955

Green Nuclear Butterfly Up for a Blogger Choice Award!

Join Royce Penstinger and Remy Chevalier as they take on the entire nuclear industry. Watch them do battle with Entergy as they try to shut down the aging nuclear facility known as Indian Point that is leaking tritium and strontium into the Hudson River, killing men, women and children.

Please VOTE for US!

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?

Getting Entergy out of Dodge!

Remember the plot of the Magnificent Seven, not to be confused with the Chicago Seven?

It just started with Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen... and a small village under the thumb of an evil gang (cough! Entergy...) which owned everything, the bar, the goods and supplies store, the mayor, the sheriff, the church, the whore house even!

The local town's people were so afraid they couldn't move a muscle, crippled by fear, terrified. So they went to get a gun fighter, who couldn't do it alone, went and got another... and that wasn't enough... so they looked for more. And then they were Seven.

Right now it's more like the Good, The Bad & The Ugly... We know who we are... As a matter of fact Eli Wallach played in both films. We're not nice guys. We're gun fighters, we shoot from the hip, we're fast, we're cool, we're ruthless, we're dudes, we fight amongst ourselves, and your women fall in love with us, cause we're bad boys, we don't bathe, we don't shave, because we're here to get the job done.

Get Entergy out of Dodge!

As a kid I dreamed of being two things, Abbie Hoffman and James Coburn. I once saw a movie where James Coburn played a pirate, A High Wind in Jamaica, and I said to myself, that's me... That's who I want to be. Tall, slim, twisted, inscrutable, sexy, mean, wonderful... and I became that man... and soon, in a few months, I will be leaving environmental activism behind, after 30 years, to join the ranks of Hollywood actors, because I freakin' deserve it after doing their dirty green work for so many years... I want to be the new Vincent Price... I want to play super-villains... I want to relish in my persona.

So you see, Indian Point, for me, it's just honing my chops, a peice of cake really, frosting on it... I haven't even gotten started yet, because after we chase Entergy out of town, we'll track'em down, all the way down, to Bayou country... and like Swamp Thing, we'll bog'em down, drown'em in their own folly.

I'm being accused of driving a poor young woman crazy right now... with my antics... and for the first time in my life, I'm not apologizing for it, because she signed on, we toasted stout over it, and she's in till the bitter end, kicking and screaming if we have to. Sergio Leone once said, "The best characters are the sinners who look like saints."

That's a western. That's a real western... Just ask the Peekskill historian!

What Channel 12 Did Not Want You To See...

Grateful Dead's Bob Weir in Peekskill Tuesday!!!

BOB WEIR & RATDOG

Tuesday Mar 6 - 7:30pm

$51-71

The Paramount Center for the Arts

www.paramountcenter.org

1008 Brown Street

Peekskill, NY 10566

914.739.2333 fax 914.736.9674

Presented by PKM Presents/Premier Concerts (Waterbury, CT)

RatDog's music represents Bob Weir's complete repertoire, from blues like "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" and "Little Red Rooster" to the psychedelic stylings of his Grateful Dead classics like "Playing in the Band," "The Other One," and "Throwing Stones," to his own Dead rockers like "Cassidy," "One More Saturday Night," and "Sugar Magnolia."

www.rat-dog.com

A few months ago, the Paramount Center refused to host a fundraiser for then Congressional candidate John Hall with Bonnie Raitt, fellow founding member of Musicians for Safe Energy (MUSE), organizers of the 1980 NoNukes concert.

Did Bob Weir know when he and his band RatDog book the Paramount Center in Peekskill, NY that a major portion of the center's financial support comes from Entergy, the company owning the Indian Point nuclear power plant down the hill on the Hudson River?

The Grateful Dead had a long history of environmental activism, campaigning to protect the rainforest.

Please write to Bob Weir to make him aware of the Paramount Center's financial ties to the Indian Point nuclear power plant...encourage Bob to make a statement about the issue during RatDog's performance.

webnerd@rat-dog.com

www.greennuclearbutterfly.com & www.rockthereactors.com will be available outside the Paramount Center on March 6th to discuss Indian Point. We welcome anyone advocating the immediate shut down of Indian Point to join us in this peaceful protest.

Rock The Reactors founder, Remy Chevalier, was the first environmental director of the Wetlands Preserve nightclub in Manhattan (1989-2001). Wetlands became a home away from home for fans of the Greatful Dead and Rainbow tribes in the 90s. The club's activism is chronicled in the documentary www.wetlandspreserved.com.

Wetlands gave birth to a direct action organization, the Wetlands Activism Collective - www.wetlands-preserve.org - which recently helped www.forestethics.org in swaying the Victoria's Secret catalog to switch over to recycled paper for its catalog. It is also working on a campaign to bring tree-free paper awareness to the comic book industry.

Wetlands founder Larry Bloch owns www.savethecorporations.com in Brattleboro, VT. Wetlands owner Peter Shapiro's brother Andrew is the founder and CEO www.greenorder.com which conceived and developed the Eco-magination campaign for General Electric.

Additional history about Wetlands can be read here:

www.eco-saloon.com

Join Green Nuclear Butterfly and Rock The Reactors Tuesday evening in front of the Paramount Center in Peekskill.