Urgency of 1872 Mining Law Reform

Uranium claims are being staked all over the West. Some of these areas, particularly on Native American lands, have had unreclaimed contamination of water and soil for some 30 to 40 years. Nancy Freeman explaines the urgency of changing the 1872 mining law. Taped at Access Tucson.

Nancy Freeman
http://www.savethesantacruzaquifer.info
http://www.mining-law-reform.info
http://www.g-a-l.info
520/207-6506520/235-0256 (cell)

Uncovering NEI (Nuclear Energy Institute) Part One

By the way...could NEI Executives Explain Why They Don't Want NEPA to Include The Environmental Costs of a Terrorist Attack in Light of This Centers For Disease Control Slide
Suppose one question that should be asked here, "Has the IRS audited NEI, and if not then why not?" NEI's Federal Tax Number on their 990 is 52-1209124, and this is public information which can be found on the GUIDESTAR website. First, why the huge delays in filing? On the GUIDESTAR website, so far we only have filings for 2004 and 2005, but nothing for 2006. One must assume, that NEI is too busy lobbying on The Hill to address timely filing with the Internal Revenue Service. Which deserves pondering...at what point does a DEFACTO lobbying firm lose their right to their 501 6(C) status? More importantly, why is a lobbying firm with close to $40 million in yearly revenues given such unfettered access to the NRC, and allowed to basically write the rules by which Nuclear Reactors are regulated?

One first has to look at the major players in NEI, titans of the nuclear industry,or old crusty stalwarts of the DOD military nuclear industry such as NEI President and CEO Frank Bowman, though if you compare his lofty salary to that of Joe Calvin one has to wonder if Frank Bowman is President and CEO in title only, a figure head that gives NEI special access over at the Pentagon.

On the subject of salaries, the folks at the top of the food chain are living like sultans, the proberbial grand-pooh-bahs of the anticipated Nuclear Renaissance. In fact, a small handful of these executives earn more per year than the rest of NEI's staff salaries put together. Let's have a look shall we?

First, we have Joe Colvin, a very richly rewarded member of the NEI Dark Tower with a base salary of $3,245,843 BIG ONES! Keep in mind, that does not include his expense account, and willing to bet it's a WHOPPER.

Frank J. Bowman, with the same title almost seems like a pauper with his woeful pay of $650,094 salary...wonder if he got a significant raise in 2006 compliments of the United States rate payers by proxy. That's right, NEI is a PRIVATE CLUB with a hefty entry fee, said fee paid indirectly by us!

Coming at just under a cool half million we have Rober W. Bishop with a salary of $455,774 smackers, Angie S. Howard with $461,092 which is not exactly peanuts. Rounding out the top five is Marvin Fertel at a dissappointing $402,113 clams. So, five employees of NEI who are lobbying on behalf of the NUCLEAR INDUSTRY being paid by us to the tune of well over FIVE MILLION DOLLARS a year, and keep in mind that does not include their expense accounts, and other perks...IE, it would be interesting to see their individual SECURITY HOLDINGS!

Almost makes you feel sorry for the likes of John E. Kane at $375,953 dollars, or lowly STeve F. Floyd at $239,865....these two pikers need to DEMAND A RAISE! We have J. Scott Peterson in this third tier group at $263,567 dollars, and finally Phyllus M. Rich with $272,700 dollars under her Christmas tree.

DANG...makes me think those bloggers over on the NEI Blog must be raking in at least six figures! I guess convincing Congress to give BILLIONS OF DOLLARS of our take dollars to the nuclear industry pays handsome rewards, and in the end it is the rate payers picking up the entire tab, either in our monthly utility bills, or our yearly tax bill.

What does it mean to be an environmentalist?

It's taken me this long to recover from Wednesday... The day left me reeling, in sadness, in pain, in simmering anger... at the rudeness, the intransigence, the impolite, almost cult-like demeanor the nuclear club Entergy and the NRC have suddenly brought to these public proceedings, as if it wouldn't be Christian or religious to oppose a pristine nuclear industry with nothing to reproach itself, above scrutiny.

For decades we've experienced the corporate culture surrounding the peaceful atom, seeping into our lives as a veiled pretext for uranium enrichment and weapons development, with complete abject disregard for the earth, the environment... fueled by a cold war race that didn't seem like it would ever end... but it did, miraculously perhaps, maybe because a younger generation of Russian kids just wanted to listen to heavy metal albums, and the only way they knew where to get them was over the wall in West Berlin.

Yet, this Russian rebellion didn't really stop there... the orchestrator of Glasnost, Gorbachev, is now the chairman of an environmental organization in America which is greatly influencing Hollywood... GlobalGreenUSA... which set the stage for the Green Car Red Carpet events at film premieres and award shows... promoting the use of electric vehicles in an industry which revels in technological innovation and liberal idealism.

This doesn't sit well with a lot of people, who fear environmentalism is like a watermelon, green on the outside, red on the inside. The poor and less fortunate often latch on to a dream of luxury and wealth, living vicariously through television and tabloid personalities like Paris Hilton... the sweet notion that suddenly sharing common goods might be possible, communal living in international communities, strikes them as a threat to the American dream... even if that dream is unattainable... lets a miracle like winning the lottery or inheriting great wealth from a forgotten distant relative.

This is why Leo DiCaprio's film 11th Hour is failing at the box office... not that it's not a great testament to our wrecking the planet with wild abandon, but it's not a populist statement... perhaps had Leo allowed his then girlfriend Gisele the narration alongside him... more people would have bought a ticket... It's never been about the message... it's always been about the messenger... While one person may relate to us the truth... if their appearance, their aura, their persona falls short of what an audience expects in a leader... it will fall on deaf ears... or worse antagonize.

It's interesting that the public accepts Leo DiCaprio as an actor, yet has difficulty taking him seriously as an environmentalist... despite his best intentions, there's a dimension missing in his rhetoric and his speech that erects a wall between himself and the audience... for you see... to care and feel for the earth, you must be of the earth... you must be at one with it... and the audience subconsciously feels it... it rings like a bell in every fiber of your body... it shows in your approach to all things... this is the connection both Gaia and the Green Man demand of us to restore ecological balance in our environment.

Corporate cultures, religions or cults based on anything other than harmony with the elements... instead aspiring to an entity or an idol, fails in that respect... there's a disconnect... and it is felt... by an audience which seeks solace in the comfort that man can be of nature, from nature... and aspire to a higher order, not a new world nuclear order, but a higher spiritual order... greater awareness, sharper senses.

But such feelings are not common... man strives for worldly power, riches, stature, standing in the community, power... these things take you away from the feeling of oneness one can have that fulfills... replenishes... makes saints out of all of us perhaps, or at least humble, reasonable caring individuals... extreme kindness can easily be mistaken for weakness... weakness is an opportunity for aggression, for superiority... over nature, over other races, creed... so where am I going with this?

The fact that yesterday I was told that a conversation I was attempting to have with a gentleman would lead nowhere was extraordinarily insulting in the context of a forum designed for just such exchange. This, not just on one or two or three, but numerous occasions from members of this same SHARE coalition, whose objective is not to learn or to listen, grasp that perhaps the 35 years I have spend studying the biological systems of this earth amount to something... that perhaps I have something I can contribute to their community in terms of understanding... but this was not to be the case. In their eyes, I was but an old fool, out of step with the times.

Rather, as you walked in the door, you were immediately imposed by two giant laminated posters, which surely cost at least $1000 a piece each... depicting a white family on one, and a black family on the other... each were identical, but for the color of both families. These posters were so large, they obstructed the view of our table as you walked in the room. They were in the path of traffic... intentionally blocking vision and access to our table.

They came to filibuster! Pure and simple. To throw the race card into the proceedings... to claim being environmentalists, while peddling non-organic t-shirts which kill thousands of women in Asia from pesticide poisoning as young as 30 years old... as if our desire to see an aging, dangerous nuclear power plant be mothballed, be an overture for more coal fired plants... when in fact, if they only took the time to listen, they would learn that already hundreds of communities all over the country are switching to Light Emitting Diode lighting, which will in a matter of just a few years, as their cost dramatically plummets in mass production, reduce electrical consumption in this country, around the world, by as much as 60%! There won't be any need to build any new power plants, in fact we'll be able to progressively shut down many of the more polluting ones, also as solar and wind becomes more affordable with all the new nano-chemistries now in production.

I was reminded today of what it's really like to be a creature of this earth, by these simple words from Betcee May, the fashion model who lent her image to our first days developing this anti-nuclear campaign: "Living in the middle of Los Angeles, it is easy to lose track of our planet, our connection with the earth and ground and our human existence." This is what happens to us living with concrete under our feet for too long... we forget the air in our lungs comes from trees and oceans, the cars and the trucks, the power plants, coal and nuke alike, contribute to the destruction of our life's breath, and we must do something.

This something comes in the form of the balance green design and green technologies bring, new systems, not stepping backward to a technology that already has us leaving as legacy to future generations the responsibility of watching over the more dangerous poison known to man... a substance, if released to the atmosphere, without proper shielding, kills everything in its path for miles around, which doesn't discriminate.

If there is a singular issue that is more important than any other today in the green movement, it is nuclear power... radioactive isotopes are the most dangerous and lethal elements released to the environment... and right now, these isotopes are leaking below Indian Point, into the rock bed, into our ground water... reason enough to immediately shut down the plant and stop this insanity. And yet, the money that the plant makes, the millions in revenue it generates, allows this industry to lavish those in need with a mission they don't understand, other than the immediate relief a few checks, and new suits, can bring.

I spent the day looking to find how many environmental groups with people of color existed in America today... there are hundreds, and I guarantee you, that the majority do not support nuclear power as a solution to global warming... you can find them all on this page.

These NRC public meetings have become parodies, three ring circus, as I expected the first day I walked in one of them... organized and orchestrated by the industry to undermine and intimidate the people in the community who have already voted for their representatives... who in every county surrounding Indian Point have Congressmen and women, each asking themselves why democracy doesn't work in regards to the nuclear power industry. Why suddenly, environmentalists asking for an end to Entergy's autocracy are being labeled "terrorists," a "security threat" prohibited from taking a public tour of the plant like other tax paying citizens! Which makes the majority of Hudson Valley residents a threat to the plant's safety, doesn't it?

Our message isn't getting out at these meetings, because it falls on deaf ears and closed hearts, our own constituency has stopped attending... nobody wants to be subjected to this type of verbal and psychological abuse. Everywhere we go in the community, members of FUSE USA get nothing but pats on the back, and words of encouragement... but people have been so beaten down they also feel it's hopeless... that we're all crazy to waste our time doing this, that we should just let it be, let it go... stop making ourselves sick over it... there will be an accident one day, every one will say we told you so... man only learns from his mistakes, reacts to disaster, over and over and over.

Well, NO! I'm here to tell you, we're not going to let ourselves be manipulated and relegated to second class citizens because our sensivitivity tells us that something is wrong, dramatically wrong, and that if there is a guiding star, and if our species wants to restore balance on this earth... so beauty and kindness, will overcome selfishness and fear... this may be the place to make a stand. Save Manhattan! I might be naive, I might be washed away in my own idealism... but I want to beleive that we have a good team of people, who now represent a National coalition... we just need money and resources... media... support... because Entergy has millions to spend, while the older Shut Down Indian Point groups are just going through the motions.

We can stop them here. But it's suddenly been made so much harder by the millions Entergy gets to spend, money our electrical bills gives them... so they can wine and dine and bus hundreds of ringers into what should instead be a forum for local residents, and folks directly concerned by the fate of this plant, who live down wind and down water from it.

I want to ask again, why are none of the local representatives, who were all elected because of their firm stance on seeing Indian Point be decommissioned, not present at these hearings? What are they all afraid of? Why won't Robert Kennedy Jr. make an appearance? The night before, Robert was at yet another high paying speaking engagement at the fancy clothing store GANT in New York... while his organization was claiming credit for our work, allowing a tired Patrick Moore to grab the local television spotlight... spreading lies for his money... lies we all know, those of us who have lived through the history of nuclear electricity, we can't live with.

Entergy Brings Out BIG GUNS Early...Patrick Moore

Perhaps smarting from yesterday's smack down when the NRC granted FUSE USA and Sherwood Martinelli's request for a 60 day extension of time to file, Entergy came out of the gate swinging at today's Environmental Scoping meeting, though few of thier punches landed with any real passion of effect. First, the Benedict Arnold of the environmental movement was in attendance at the meeting, and came up to introduce himself to Sherwood...found his question, "Do you know who I am?" rather amusing. Yes Patrick, we know who you are, now ask us if we care...from this writer's perspective, old dried up has been comes to mind, but your own mileage as relates to how you view yourself may vary.

Early on in the afternoon session Entergy trotted out a wet behind the ears employee Ron Carpino who offered to give concerned citizens TOURS of Indian Point. After his presentation and offer, Remy went and met him, and got his agreement to have FUSE USA members taken on a tour of the facility. Trust me, was not long after that James F.X. Steets, Entergy's external communications manager, made a liar of this young man when he CANCELLED our trip before it ever got off the ground claiming SECURITY CONCERNS. Reactor tours for Paul Newman and any one else, as long as you are not associated with FUSE USA, IPSEC, Riverkeeper, Clearwater, or any other grassroots group with serious concerns about Indian Point. What's the matter there Steets old boy, afraid the TRUTH WILL GET OUT.

Not surprising, as they have USED THIS TRICK IN THE PAST, the meeting was barely up and running and Entergy was again playing the old BRING IN THE RINGERS TRICK. It's a simple trick...throw an organization money, then have them come in beating their drums and chests and demanding the site be renewed in the name of all that is holly. The only think missing was a motley looking dog and violins.

In the name of full disclosure, perhaps NY AREA and SHARE should divulge how much of their funding is coming from Entergy, and their assorted industry friends, including NEI. I don't pull my punches here, tell it just the way it is. No one likes this card, and no one likes a Judas selling their speeches and support for 30 pieces of silver. To see a corporation like Entergy trying to use it to gain and advantage in the License Renewal Process is, simply stated, despicable.

Here's is the long and short of it...bring in and outside community group representing a different population base, and have them state publicly for the record that the closing of Indian Point would instantly see coal plants opened and/or built in their community down river, thus seeing their people die of cancer. First, lets be real...there are SEVERAL other options. Secondly, why should our community have our people dying of cancer to supply another community with their electricity?

One speaker in favor of Entergy being relicensed first spoke about his grandmother of 80, and how he did not want to have to call her, tell her that coal plants were moving into their community...as far as I know, none of the Citizens Groups calling for closure of the plant have called for the siting of coal plants to replace Indian Point's volume or base load contributions. At the end of his presentation he pulled out his cell phone, and in his closing remarks delivered a somewhat veiled threat...close Indian Point, and his phone could reach out to 1000 fellow members of his organization. Lets do the math...21 million people living within 50 miles of Indian Point, and he is ONE OF THEM, and can reach out to 1,000 more. Unless my math is wrong, that phone call would reach significantly less than 1/10th of one percent of those that would be negatively effected if a significant nuclear event or terrorist attack occurred at Indian Point.

I said it at the meeting, and will repeat it here...using dirty tricks as and ace in the hole in Entergy's attempts to relicense these aging facilities is wrong, and those associated with its play are in my book scum. It pits one community against another, creates divisions that are unnecessary and divisive in nature. Those that take exception to my blunt statements get over it. In the effort to find the truth, perhaps those groups standing up in support of Entergy need to come clean, and divulge just how much of their funding is coming directly from Entergy, and indirectly from the Nuclear Industry...only fair that one share their bias and/or prejudice now isn't it?

Other KEY NOTES...

Patrick Moore sure got what he deserved this evening when FUSE USA President Susan Shapiro called him on a lie during his public presentation. Richard Barkley got upset, but when Susan Shapiro stuck to her guns, he allowed her to make it clear to the audience just who this man REALLY WAS/IS. By the way Patrick, care to share with us here how much you were paid for today's appearance, and who paid for your travel and accommodations? Was it Entergy, or to cloud the truth, was the tab run through CASEnergy with the tab indirectly paid for by NEI? Speaking of NEI, they really should stop their false advertising on the local airwaves here in Westchester county.

What was disturbing about this event, is that Rani Franovich and another NRC employee immediately accosted Susan, escorted her out into the other room, and briefly tried to keep her from returning to the meeting. I would like to know from Dale Klein, is it normal for NRC employees to ASSAULT citizens in our attempts to exercise our rights to involvement in the process, or is this SPECIAL TREATMENT reserved only for board members of FUSE USA? Hopefully, Geri Shapiro, Hillary Clinton's Regional Director will look into this sordid and unfortunate event, and see to it that the NRC employees involved in this ruckus are properly disciplined. Not surprisingly, we have had past problems with the female NRC employee involved in this event...it is obvious that citizens had best start documenting these events, and further, start showing up at meetings with our DIGITAL CAMERA so that we can have such attacks out on YouTube in a matter of hours.

While Geri Shapiro is looking into this issue, perhaps she can also look into the FALSE statements of Entergy employees today. After all, she was there when and OPEN INVITATION TO TOUR INDIAN POINT was made to the audience. Yet, as soon as FUSE USA availed itself of this opportunity, Steets rescinded the offer less than ten minutes after the invitation had been extended...does make one wonder what Entergy has to hide at Indian Point if they are afraid to let a knowledgeable group of local stakeholders tour the facility.

As was predicted, the Carpenters Union folks were again out in full force, paid to be in attendance as Entergy used another ace in the hole in trying to stack the deck, and present FALSE SUPPORT for relicensing. What was/is VERY INTERESTING, is just how far away these union workers are being brought in from...more interesting, Entergy is now stooping to bringing in Union Workers that have never worked at Entergy, will never work at Entergy, and know nothing about Entergy.

Be interesting to know in closing who Richard Barkley brown nosed in the industry for the set up of informational tables at this meeting. How convenient for Entergy to surround the local groups on all sides with PRO ENTERGY or agency tables, instead of putting us each in our own separated areas of the entry hall as has been the format AT ALL OTHER NRC meetings at this facility. Seemed just a bit suspicious to me, and one has to wonder who is calling the shots, Entergy or the NRC? Since we all know that NRC reads this blog, lets reiterate one important request that was made today from the State of New York...going into the process, we want any statement or issue omitted from the EIS Scoping identified, and we want to know the reason why it was turned down for consideration. Further, we want this information UPFRONT, not at the tail end of the EIS Scoping process when it is took late to seek redress.

By the way readers, if you MISSED today's free for all, you can still submit written comments on what should be in the Environmental Scoping. The deadline for submission of comments is OCtober 12, 2007. Send them to the following NRC email addresses, and send them often:

indianpointeis@nrc.gov
rsb1@nrc.gov
fxc@nrc.gov
chairman@nrc.gov

ptk@nrc.gov

Do FUSE USA a favor, and send us your comments as well at uraniumhotspot@aol.com Also, don't forget, we are always willing to accept anonymous information or concerns about Indian Point, either at this email address, or sent to our mailing address found at http://www.fuseusa.org/ As the old saying goes, DROP A DIME ON ENTERGY!

NRC Awards GNB an Extension

September 18, 2007

Mr. Sherwood Martinelli

351 Dyckman Street

Peekskill, New York 10566

Dear Mr. Martinelli:

The Commission has received your request to extend the time for filing petitions to intervene in the license renewal proceeding for Indian Point Nuclear Generating Unit Nos. 2 and 3. A Federal Register (FR) notice had set October 1, 2007, as the due date for petitions. See 72 FR 42134-42135 (August 1, 2007). In its discretion, the Commission has decided to extend that due date to November 30, 2007. A notice of this extension will be published in the Federal Register.

Sincerely,

Original signed by:

Annette L. Vietti-Cook

NRC

Comment from RemyC.

"Riverkeeper got the same letter. But this was the result of a processs started by Green Nuclear Butterfly to allow documents Sherwood Martinelli had requested from the DOE via a FOIA the time necessary to be included in the legal exploratory process. It was after Sherwood's initial request for an extension filed with the NRC, that Riverkeeper and other groups duplicated the effort.

This extention will allow Sherwood and Susan Shapiro, with their expert Ulrich Witte the opportunity to fully assemble our case within the 60 day extension period.

We here at Green Nuclear Butterfly will give credit where credit is due, and hope that Riverkeeper does the same. The hard work and timely filings of Sherwood Martinelli, Susan Shapiro and FUSE USA played a major role in this HUGE VICTORY, as did similiar filings from Riverkeeper, the State Attorney General, and four members of Congress led by Congressman John Hall. Kudos to all who played a part in making this victory possible."

click images to enlarge

Robert F. Kennedy at GANT tonight!

GANT flagship store
645 5th Ave
New York, NY 10022
212-813-9170

6PM

PR Doug Geller
212-230-1949

http://www.gant.com/newyork

Gant's Patterns of Green Company launches environmental guest lecture series.

(NEW YORK) Gant has eschewed a traditional grand opening party as part of its launch initiative celebrating its newly renovated Fifth Avenue flagship, designed by Annabelle Selldorf of Selldorf Architects to serve partly as a modern-day social and cultural center for eco-friendly enlightenment. Instead, the company is embracing its decade-long focus of environmentalism and raising awareness of living a more eco-friendly lifestyle by introducing "Patterns of Green," an environmental guest lecture series with the goal of helping consumers incorporate eco-friendly practices into everyday life.

Robert F. Kennedy will launch the series, which is open to the public with space limitations, on the evening of September 18 and will speak on behalf of Waterkeeper Alliance; Laurie David will lend her support to StopGlobalWarming.org on Sept. 20, and Heather Graham will lecture on Global Cool, with an introduction from the organization's chief executive officer Julian Knight. Jean-Michel Cousteau will serve as the series finale on behalf of the Ocean Futures Society. On the day each guest speaker is scheduled to appear, a portion of the store's sales will benefit their respective organizations.

"Given the current climate, it became clear that Gant should continue to invest further in education, rather than a traditional store opening," said Ari Hoffman, president and CEO of Gant Corp. "The brand stands for truth and authenticity and we will continue to support those who take action."

Tuesday, September 18 2007

Event Title: "Patterns of Green" Speaker Series - Robert F. Kennedy benefiting Waterkeeper Alliance.

Event Description: Forgoing a traditional launch celebration for their newly renovated global flagship, GANT announces “Patterns of Green”, an upcoming environmental guest lecture series that provides a premiere platform for some of today’s most influential “green” pioneers to engage in a public conversation on environmental responsibility and education. The goal of this program is to educate consumers as to the simple things they can do to help incorporate earth friendly practices into their everyday lifestyles. The guest lecture series will promote organizations that are making positive in-roads in protecting our waters as well as in the fight against global warming. On the day that each guest speaker is scheduled to appear, a percentage of store sales will go to each individual’s organization of choice.

Next will be:

Thursday, September 20 2007

Event Title: "Patterns of Green" Speaker Series - Laurie David benefiting http://www.stopglobalwarming.org.

Event Description:

Forgoing a traditional launch celebration for their newly renovated global flagship, GANT announces “Patterns of Green”, an upcoming environmental guest lecture series that provides a premiere platform for some of today’s most influential “green” pioneers to engage in a public conversation on environmental responsibility and education. The goal of this program is to educate consumers as to the simple things they can do to help incorporate earth friendly practices into their everyday lifestyles. The guest lecture series will promote organizations that are making positive in-roads in protecting our waters as well as in the fight against global warming. On the day that each guest speaker is scheduled to appear, a percentage of store sales will go to each individual’s organization of choice.

Time: 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm.

Location: GANT, 645 Fifth Avenue between 51st and 52nd, New York City.

Ticket Price: Although open to the public, there will be a strict RSVP policy, as space is limited.

Phone: 212.230.1961

Trackback:
http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com
http://www.fashionweekdaily.com

Get your "No more nukes" on in San Francisco

That’s right, break out the picket signs -- your favorite apocalypse is on the reprise. Irvine Rep. Assemblyman Chuck DeVore has introduced legislation to repeal the 31-year ban on new nuclear power plants and launched a ballot initiative.

On Sept. 12, the state’s Republican party unanimously voted to support the bill for more nuclear power, which is being touted as safe, clean, reliable, and affordable -- all adjectives the industry has yet to merit.

It's also being called “emissions-free,” a handy moniker for a power source in our globally-warmed future. It's being promoted by pro-clearcutting, pro-GMO "environmentalists" that happen to pull paychecks from the nuclear industry.

Pro-nukes fans are now gathering the 433,000 signatures needed to put the bill on California's June 2008 ballot.

A 1976 California state law banned new nuclear plants until a permanent storage facility for the radioactive waste was established. Meanwhile, said permanent facility – Nevada’s Yucca Mt. -- suffered another setback on Sept. 4 when a federal judge ruled the state could suspend water permits for drilling at the site – further delaying a project that is already seven years overdue.

Spent-fuel nuclear waste is currently stored on the sites of nuclear power plants – which has raised concerns about safety from terrorist attacks. CA Attorney General Jerry Brown recently filed a petition with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, arguing that its waste confidence ruling is inadequate – meaning, we don’t have much faith in your determination that the pools of water where used up nuclear fuel rods bob like swimming pool toys are safe.

Track back:
http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/politics/2007/09/get_your_no_more_nukes_on.html

Comment from Green Nuclear Butterfly correspondent Harold One Feather, on site now reporting from San Francisco:

I feel that if we can expose the nuclear mythos here in California, we have an excellent chance at stopping on the East Coast.

The crux of their initiative is that they need cheap sources of uranium which they know is on Indian land; hence the nuclear industry's focus on the waste and safety issues, rather than on the eventual forced mining on Indian land.

My current theory is that, prior to the nuclear renaissance, the mining industry sought and obtained increased tariffs and other charges on african uranium mining imports since their bottom lines were being negatively affected, not realizing that on the horizon their dreams were becoming a reality.

The nuclear renaissance caught all sides unaware! The anti-nuclear movement didn't see it coming nor did the pro-nuclear faction...no one was prepared for its implications. Now as all sides are coming to grips with the potentials, it is our turn to place our names and legacy to forefront of the upcoming opposition to the nuclear renaissance.

If California falls, so does Indian Point, Calvert Cliffs, USEC, Y-12, SRS/MOX, LES and Yucca MT.

Entergy Events from our Friends in Vermont!

New England Coalition
VT . NH . ME . MA . RI . CT . NY -
POST OFFICE BOX 545, BRATTLEBORO, VERMONT 05302
on Nuclear Pollution
New England Coalition e-bulletin

Important meetings coming up: all NEC members urged to participate NOW and let the state know we've had enough of Entergy's shoddy management and NRC's blind and toothless watchdogging.

1)Thursday, October 4, 2007, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., at Vernon Elementary School:

The Vermont State Nuclear Advisory Panel will hold a public meeting on Vermont Yankee's recent "problems."

2) State seeks help with energy planning--workshops for Vermonters only. NEC members from Vermont urged to attend. REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. http://www.raabassociates.org/WebComponents/vtsignup/welcome.htm

The regional workshops will be held on the following dates in the followinglocations. All workshops will begin at 5:30 p.m. with light dinner fare and a prompt startat 6 p.m. and end around 10.

Oct. 3, 2007

St. Johnsbury Elementary School

Oct. 17, 2007

South Burlington High School

Oct. 18, 2007

Montpelier Elks Club, Montpelier, VT

Oct. 29, 2007

Dean Technical Center, Springfield, VT

Oct. 30, 2007

Rutland Intermediate School, Rutland, VT

Please register and attend the workshop closest to you. Read below for more information.

State seeks input on Vermont's Energy Future - Only Vermonters may register and vote. Vermont wants your help in shaping the future mix of electricity sources for the state.

Five evening public workshops will be held in locations throughout the state this fall. You can attend the workshop closest to you. These workshops were authorized by the Vermont Legislature, endorsed by the Governor, and spearheaded by the Department of Public Service.

The Workshops are free but REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.

The goal of the workshops is to gather informed and thoughtful citizen and ratepayer input for the State and its electric utilities as they make decisions about how and where Vermont obtains its electric power for the coming decades.

In 2012, contracts providing for two-thirds of the state's electric power begin to expire. This leaves the future source of Vermont's electricity open for discussion and examination.

Choices about the future will have to be made and will weigh trade-offs among cost, reliability, environmental impact, large and small scale generation, andin versus out-of-state sources

During the workshops there will be a brief presentation, small group facilitated discussions, a chance to ask questions to a panel of experts, keypad polling to register your preferences and opinions, and an open mike atthe end to record any additional thoughts you might have.

To ensure broad and diverse participation from across the state, participants may only register for one workshop. Please click on the link to register for one workshop. Only 150 people per workshop may vote.

This workshop is very important to attend and register to vote. We need to make sure that there are a number of people present who are informed about Vermont Yankee and want to help shape the energy future of Vermont!!

New England Coalition (NEC) has advocated for safe energy alternatives to nuclear power since 1971. In service of that mission we utilize email correspondence from time to time.

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that really matter." ~MLK

NEI taken to task once before for false advertising?

[This is from Sherwood, aka Royce Penstinger, who is buried under 50,000 pages of NRC documents and can't surface for air right this second... RemyC]

Wasn't NEI taken to task once before for false advertising? With Entergy trying to relicense Indian Point, they are at it again as NEI is running commercials locally claiming nuclear does not pollute the air...a quick scan of the few pollutants they still track shows that is and out and out lie.

As to contributing to Global Warming, maybe the world should rethink this...Indian Point on a daily basis sucks in 2.4 Billion gallons of water, and discharges it back into the Hudson at 103 degrees...multiply that times 443 reactors worldwide. Couple that with the most carbon intensive mining and processing that is uranium extraction, and I would suggest that nuclear contribute more too global warming that other forms of producing electricity. As for the burning of coal in the nuclear process...let's ask the DOE to come clean and admit how much carbon was put into the air at the Portsmouth Ohio and Paducah Kentucky plants.

Also, as part of Bush's Global 2010, GNEP plan to revitalize the nuclear industry, a part of that 50 billion this year alone, is a new fuel reprocessing plant to be built on technology that has yet to be proven, which will supposedly reprocess all those spent fuel pools sitting on site...WAKE UP...The plan is too built over 100 new AP1000 reactors here in America. In short, this new generation of GE reactors are not even capable of burning this new reprocessed fuel. Further, said AP1000's are in capable of bringing us the Hydrogen Economy that is being TOUTED as a benefit of these new reactors!

One last suggestion...everyone should call the NRC today, and ask them if it is true that the Industry, EPRI and NEI have done a feasibility study to keep spent fuel right where it sits (on the Hudson River) for at least another 100 years...in short, despite the fact that each and every one of us has been paying a monthly fee to Entergy to dispose of this waste OFF SITE, the industry and NRC now want to turn Indian Point into a defacto low and how level radioactive waste dump. IE...how many are aware of the fact the steam turbines that were replaced are just sitting in a metal storage building at Indian Point. How many realize with Barnwell closing, that the Low Level Radioactive Waste streams from Entergy's Indian Point will now start piling up at the site...just like the 22,000 55 gallons drums at the Japan site hit by and Earthquake.

If the community is wise, Wednesday meeting should be a vipers pit of angry citizens.

FUSE USA has a website!

FUSE USA has a placement page on the web:
http://www.fuseusa.org

Please give this address to anyone wishing to donate $$$ to our efforts or get in touch with our organization.

All of Rockland County is within 17 miles of Indian Point

Susan Shapiro, FUSE USA, writes on RockNet:

I agree that changes in our neighborhood affect us, but it is short sighted to think that if there is a radiological event at Indian Point you won't be affected, especially if you are living with in 10 -20 -50 miles.

All of Rockland County is within 17 miles of Indian Point, the peak FATALITY ZONE.

The truth is that the thyroid cancer rates in Rockland County are 50% higher then the rest of the state. The only way you can get thryoid cancer is from exposure to radiation. The areas of Stony Point, Haverstraw and West Haverstraw are the highest.

The reality is if , God forbid, there is an accident at Indian Point, you will be much more affected than if next door to you they build a million houses, because no one has insurance against a radiological events, check out our home owners insurance.... read the fine print. That's right the insurance companies decided a long time ago the risk was just too great to insure. So if something happens, and we are all evacuated (not just for a few days, but forever) and we'd still have to pay our mortgages, and quite possible lose our health.

Our government has cap nuclear plant liabilty to 200 million dollar, even though estimates for an nuclear accident are approx $313 billion.An accident or terrorist attack at Indian Point would affect every single person in Rockland County. Our health, our homes and lives would be changed forever and this area would become uninhabitable for thousands of years.

(Read Rockland County's 17th District Congressman Eliot Engel's views on Indian Point)

New York Post Page 6 low-blow at Riverkeeper

Today's Page 6 wrote:

[[ Environmentalists at Riverkeeper have major egg on their faces. The watchdog group, which keeps an eye on Hudson River polluters, tried to fax a one-page press release to news outlets the other week, but a "technical glitch" had them sending 150 pages of unread able gobbledygook, which wasted reams of paper. "As an environmental organization, we were horrified," read a mass apology that wasted even more paper. ]]

That's too easy... How about last week when we were standing outside News Corp to deliver a letter from Helen Caldicott to Rupert Murdoch, and nobody, but nobody from the New York Post would bother to come down and accept it in person... we had to walk around the back, deliver it at the service window, while getting yelled at, intimidated and threatened with bodily harm by their security force!

The "only" reason they're making a story out of this silly fax business, is they KNOW were gaining on them, that sooner or later, they're going to have to mention Indian Point on Page 6, cause that's all 7th Avenue is talking about at this point... how a bunch of renegate green fashionistas have roped in the industry into grand opposition to relicensing...

It's a bitch hey, Richard, when a story gets so hot, management won't let you touch it, you have to resort to such low-blow tactics? Boo! Yeah, that's right... Richard... Boo... you'll know what that means soon enough... you won't resist it!

Write Page 6, let them know how ridiculous this swipe is, only camouflage for deeper woes.

Paula Froelich: pfroelich@nypost.com
Bill Hoffmann: bhoffmann@nypost.com
Richard Johnson: richard.johnson@nypost.com

Harvey Wasserman's Mourns The Passing of Dr. Gofman

Published on Friday, September 7, 2007 by CommonDreams.org

The Genius Doctor Who Diagnosed Nuke Power’s Deadly Disease
by Harvey Wasserman

The nuke power industry now wants $50 billion and more in loan guarantees to build new atomic reactors. As it strong-arms Congress, the warnings of the great Dr. John Gofman, who passed away last week at 88, loom ever larger.

One of history’s most respected and revered medical and nuclear pioneers, Gofman’s research showed as early as 1969 that “normal” radioactive reactor emissions could kill 32,000 Americans per year.

At the time, Gofman was the chief medical researcher for the Atomic Energy Commission. He told the AEC that reactor emissions must be radically reduced. The AEC demanded he change his findings, then forced him out when he refused.

Since then, reactor backers have ceaselessly and erroneously attacked Gofman and his findings. But they could hardly have picked a more brilliant, committed opponent. Gofman was both relentless and uncorrupted. His findings should have doomed from the start an industry he called “insane.”

In addition to being a world-class nuclear chemist, Dr. John William Gofman was one of history’s most important heart specialists. His pioneer research helped define our modern understanding about cholesterol, distinguishing “good” fatty acids from bad. Gofman’s astonishing medical discoveries remain at the core of today’s common wisdom about diet and heart disease.

For that work alone, Gofman was a towering figure. Throughout his life, he was friend and peer to Nobel Laureates such as Linus Pauling and George Wald.

But Gofman was also a nuclear chemist. As part of the Manhattan Project that built the first atomic bombs, his pioneer work helped lead to the discoveries of plutonium and certain isotopes of uranium.

Yet his career suffered from an inconvenient truth: when he discovered that atomic power plants kill people in large numbers, he refused to shut up about it.

As a full professor at the University of California, Gofman’s combined medical and nuclear credentials made him an obvious choice to manage health research for the Atomic Energy Commission, which both regulated and promoted the young nuclear power industry. When public questions were raised about the health impacts of radioactive reactor emissions, Gofman was dispatched to prove the industry safe.

But his findings showed that reactors are serious killers. So even Gofman’s towering resume could not protect him from the wrath of an industry determined to build all the power plants it could. He and co-researcher Arthur Tamplin were driven from their jobs.

When their POISONED POWER detailed the killing potential of atomic energy, Gofman and Tamplin were attacked mercilessly by an industry with immense investments to protect. The experience showed that no matter how impeccable their credentials, and no matter how thorough their research, any scientists whose findings might indicate problems with atomic power would be automatically “discredited” by industry flacks to who did no comparable research.

Even at his passing, the tired attacks on Gofman’s findings have resurfaced.

But his research remains the gold standard on the health impacts of radiation. And as a gentle but firm advocate, mentor and friend, his integrity was matched only by his willingness to step outside traditional boundaries for what he believed.

One of Gofman’s most powerful and influential moments came in 1974, when he agreed to defend a civil disobedient named Sam Lovejoy in the small town of Montague, Massachusetts. A member of a communal organic farm, Lovejoy had manually knocked over a 500-foot weather tower erected as a precursor to the building of a large twin reactor complex.

Gofman agreed to testify in Lovejoy’s defense, arguing that building two nuke reactors constituted a lethal threat to the health and safety of the community. In a monumental moment for the rise of the anti-nuclear movement, Lovejoy was acquitted.

Gofman’s pivotal pronouncements appear in the award-winning LOVEJOY’S NUCLEAR WAR (http://www.gmpfilms.com), which has been shown all over the world. As a pivotal struggle over a “bailout in advance” for new reactor construction rages in Congress, Gofman’s words resonate with a renewed critical importance:

“The decision to build nuclear power plants,” he said, “may very well be, for the first time, a decision that can result in the desecration of the Earth with respect for life for all future generations.

“Why do we want to put every city and hamlet of the United States at risk by building a thousand of these plants? We can get the power from sunshine, very easily and economically.

“When we’re talking about a mass of a hundred tons or so of material, melting 5,000 degrees Farenheit, with water around, with hydrogen being generated and burning explosively, melting through concrete into soil, when someone tells me that we’re sure it isn’t going to go far away, I say that I’ve heard various forms of insanity, but hardly this form.

“Even if this hazard of a meltdown were securely answered, it doesn’t alter for one second my opposition to nuclear power, because I’m concerned about the fact that whether it melts down or doesn’t melt down, you ‘ve created an astronomical amount of radioactive garbage which you must contain and isolate better than 99.99 percent perfectly, in peace and war, with human error and human malice, guerilla activity, psychotics, malfunction of equipment do you believe that there’s anything you’d like to guarantee will be done 99.99 percent perfectly for a hundred thousand years?

After fifty years of proven failure, the nuke power industry is demanding still more taxpayer handouts to create still more of this waste.

The great and good Dr. John W. Gofman warned us all against this insanity. His words and spirit remain at the core of what must be done to save this planet.

Harvey Wasserman is senior advisor to Greenpeace USA and the Nuclear Information & Resource Service, and Senior Editor of http://www.solartopia.org and http://www.freepress.org, where this article first appeared. For a fuller account of the amazing life of Dr. John Gofman, see http://www.beyondnuclear.org.

© 2007 The Free Press

Mitzi Bowman Laments The Economist

Mitzi Bowman wrote this in reply to reading the current The Economist magazine issue dedicated to new nukes.

Note how they all ignore the fact that the entire nuclear fuel cycle depends at every stage of uranium extraction, processing, fabrication, construction and maintenance, on carbon-based energy - mostly coal - until the reactor fissions, adding heat to water and air in order to turn a turbine and make electricity.

Then, at every stage, radioactive, chemical and heavy metal wastes are created which must be dealt with. Gasoline and diesel transportation between each stage of production also adds to global warming.

Indeed, nuclear technology IS a global warming technology. Oh, and I forgot to mention the military connection ie nuclear weapons production and testing and radioactive weapons as well. Of course who knows the price tag on the human and societal impact?

Well, stop worrying and love global warming. Think of the new oil resources to be found in the north and south pole areas as the ice melts. King CONG's corporations (Coal, Oil, Nuclear and Gas) must be looking forward to renewed sources for profit, their tongues hanging out in anticipation.

Mitzi Bowman, Coordinator
Don't Waste Connecticut (or the world)
97 Longhill Terrace
New Haven, CT 06515
(203) 389-2067
upthesun@cshore.com

Thoughts on Lovelock!

From:
Dave Kraft
neis@neis.org

Hi All --I get frustrated with this selective hero-worship coat-tailing that the industry trots out regarding Lovelock -- especially Lovelock.

Einstein it may be recalled deserves high praise for relativity (among other things); but he got it totally wrong about quantum theory. He was a lousy spouse and parent in his first marriage, and even had erasers on his pencils!

Lovelock it should be recalled was the one who advised the British government that, while yes, CFCs can chew up ozone, the government should give the okay to use them because they would have a negligible effect on the atmosphere and ozone layer. ooops.

Every scientist has his/her brain-farts. And the good ones would be the first to say, "Judge my ideas on the data and the arguments, not on my previous reputation or achievements." That's the difference between science and marketing.

--Dave Kraft, NEIS--

(comments posted to no-new-nukes-yall list serv)

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

Sierra Club Indian Point Talk - Sep 11 - Nyack, NY

From:
pkurtz3@optonline.net
via: [RockNet]

Please Forward!

Indian Point: Re-licensing, Leaks, & Global Warming

Sierra Club of Rockland County presents talk by Maureen Ritter & Susan Shapiro of Rockland FUSE (Friends United for Sustainable Energy), followed by Q & A discussion.

When: September 11, 2007- Tuesday, 7 PM
Where: Nyack Library Meeting Room

Indian Point's owner, Entergy, has just applied to re-license the nuclear power plant for an additional twenty years. Yet, the plant has already leaked Strontium 90 into the groundwater and the Hudson River from corroded pipes.

What's the inside story on the leaks?
What's the process of re-licensing all about?
Is nuclear power a safe, environmentally sound answer to global warming?
What alternatives are there?

For more info, contact:

Peggy :: pkurtz3@optonline.net
or
Steve :: safran41@gmail.com

For all list information and functions, see:
http://npogroups.org/lists/info/rocknet

Indian Point Scoping Meeting September 19

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 requires the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to explain the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) portion of the relicensing process and to accept comments from the public, both oral and written, on what should be included in EIS that the NRC must prepare for Indian Point.

This will be done at a scoping meeting to be held Wednesday, September 19 at The Colonial Terrace in Cortlandt Manor.

There will be two identical sessions from 1:30-4:30pm and from 7-10pm.

Each will be preceded by an informal open house one hour prior to the session. The public will have the opportunity to tell the NRC what they’re concerned about in terms of Indian Point’s impacts on the environment such as the spent fuel leaks, once-through cooling impacts on fish populations, public health impacts, etc.

The NRC must consider these comments and formally respond to them in the draft EIS, due to come out in approximately one year.

People may register to attend the meeting or present oral comments at the meetings by contacting NRC’s Senior Project Manager Mr. Bo Pham at (800) 368-5642 x 8450 or by emailing indianpointeis@nrc.gov no later than September 10.

Members of the public can also register to speak at the meetings within 15 minutes before each session. The Colonial Terrace is located at 119 Oregon Road in Cortlandt Manor, NY. (914) 737-0400

Benny Zable Takes Manhattan

Sept 7th, 2007 - Australian anti-nuclear performance artist Benny Zable delivers letter from Dr. Helen Caldicott to Rupert Murdoch at News Corp. opposing the relicensing of the Indian Point nuclear power plant.

I had a security guard yell at me for 5 minutes, three inches from my face, because I wouldn't erase the video I shot of him inside the building... He threatened me, my friends, my family... so much for freedom of the press at the Fox Channel!

See the video HERE

Walt Patterson On Nuclear Energy

Born in Canada in 1936, I came to the UK in 1960, married my English wife Cleone in 1966 and have been here ever since. Trained as a nuclear physicist, I have spent my life teaching, writing and troublemaking.

My first published byline appeared in June 1970, on an article about radioactive waste. Nuclear issues thereafter took up two decades of my life. Four books, countless articles, speeches, letters and testimony rehearsed and refined the analysis. By the beginning of the 1990s I thought that rational argument and cumulative confirmation of our skeptical prognoses had finally carried the day. I was overjoyed to move on to less troubling, more positive topics.

Alas, nuclear proponents have now found a new generation of the gullible. The claims of the proponents, nevertheless, have long since been tested and found wanting. Those interested can find ample historical evidence on this website, and yet more in the Patterson Nuclear Collection.

Beginning in the 1960s I collected popular and semi-popular books on nuclear energy for more than three decades, eventually acquiring some 500 titles. I also accumulated many nuclear ephemera - brochures, posters, pamphlets, badges and other material - from nuclear issues and campaigns around the world. I was delighted when the Science Museum/Imperial College Library in London agreed to accept my collection and keep it together as what must be a unique historical resource.

If you wish to consult the Patterson Nuclear Collection, you can email
smlinfo@nmsi.ac.uk
or telephone +44 (0) 20 7942 4242.

Walt Patterson
Associate Fellow Chatham House
Little Rushmoor
High Bois Lane
Chesham Bois
Amersham Bucks HP66DQ UK
Tel +44 (0) 1494 726748
Mobile +44 (0) 7971 840036
walt@waltpatterson.org

Keeping The Lights On available from Brookings in the USA

The PRO-nuclear agenda of PowerShift2007?

Yesterday I put this question to PowerShift2007 via their MySpace page:
www.myspace.com/235046812

"What's your group's position on nuclear power?"

This is the answer I got:

"Our group is actually a coalition of about 40+ of the nation's leading environmentalist organizations. So we actually do not take a position on nuclear power because the position differs depending on the coalition member. Our main purpose is that global warming needs to be addressed by our government and we need legislation to reduce our carbon emissions."

To which I replied:

PowerShift2007 is affiliated with 2020 Vision which is funded by:
The Energy Foundation
The Ford Foundation
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund
The Rockefeller Family Fund
Rockefeller Financial Services

Who all serve a pro-nuclear agenda.

David Rockefeller owns and operates a 100 acres organic farm in Tarrytown, NY, just a couple of miles from Indian Point. He's been more than a little silent on the issue.

Nuclear is the key defining issue central to the global warming debate. Which is ALL about centralization of energy generation, gross corporate profiteering, has been for over 30 years, ever since the first Earth Day! Everybody is going to have to take a side, sooner or later.

Because we're not going to let anyone sit on the fence. You're either pro-nuclear, or anti-nuclear. You can't be a little pregnant!

To which THEY replied!!!

The 2020 Vision webpage is
www.2020vision.org/powershiftTour.cfm

Our webpage is
www.powershift07.org

I'm sorry but 2020 Vision is a separate organization that does hold conferences called powershift which are about energy security.

However, our organization is the Energy Action Coalition, and our conference is called Power Shift 2007 and is about global warming. You can read more about the coalition at: www.energyaction.net/main

(Well, at least I put the issue on the table! rc)

+++

Sharing this with a colleague I received this interesting comment:

"In general, there does seem to be a very strong anti-coal statement amongst various activist groups and individuals, but no similar anti-nuclear one which I find disturbing. I think the task for us concerned about resurgent nuclear is to look hard at the alleged green groups who are legitimizing this agenda and discredit them. I think the matter of resurgent nuclear would find sympathetic concern amongst the IFG climate conference attendees and for the most part most of the speakers."

INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON GLOBALIZATION
www.ifg.org meeting re climate in DC Sept 14-16

NRC Commissioner Dies of CANCER

The NRC's front page has posted a eulogy for long time Commissioner Edward McGaffigan Junior...in reading it, seems they like to avoid the use of the word CANCER...perhaps because so many cancers are caused by NUCLEAR POWER. Seems almost fitting for their longest serving Commissioner to have died, only 58 years old, succumbed to a cancer that was quite possibly caused by his involvements with the nuclear industry.

Sydney, Australia is in APEC lock-down!

Sydney is in lock-down and hospitals are on standby for a terrorist attack as Australia prepares for the arrival of the world's most powerful leaders.

APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United States and Vietnam.

New Zealand is preparing to carve out a separate position on nuclear energy, and, as one of the few Apec countries to commit to emissions reductions under the Kyoto protocol, will push for an acknowledgment of Kyoto's binding targets in the leaders' final statement.

The agreement does not push for binding cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and its promotion of nuclear energy as a form of clean energy is controversial.

Green groups have accused Australian Prime Minister John Howard of using it in an attempt to derail the Kyoto protocol - an international agreement with binding targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions - after 2012.

Join Benny Zable, Green Nuclear Butterfly, Rock The Reactors, Wetlands Activism Collective & other members of the newly formed FUSE USA coalition in solidarity & protest with the Australian people this Friday in Manhattan.

For detailed information on the rally, download this flyer.

(Compiled from numerous online news sources)

Australia Fights Back U.S. One World Nuclear Order

Part 1



Part 2

Astonishing tower collapse screams "No New Nukes!!"

Astonishing tower collapse screams "No New Nukes!!"
by Harvey Wasserman

August 27, 2007

A cooling tower at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power plant has collapsed.

A broken 54" pipe there has spewed 350,000 gallons per minute of contaminated, overheated water into the Earth. "The river water piping and the series of screens and supports failed," said a company spokesman. They "fell to the ground."

The public and media were barred from viewing the wreckage for three days. But when a Congressional Energy Bill conference committee takes up Senate-approved loan guarantees for building new nukes this fall, what will reactor backers say about this latest pile of radioactive rubble?

This kind of event can make even hardened nuke opponents pinch themselves and read the descriptions twice. Who could make this up?

Vermont Yankee has been in operation---more or less---since the early 1970s. Its owner is Entergy, a multi-reactor "McNuke" operator that last year got approval to up VY's output by 20%.

Required inspections revealed worrisome cracks and other structural problems. Entergy dismissed all that, but was forced to issue a "ratepayer protection policy" against incidents caused by the power increase. The guarantee expired earlier this month, not long before the collapse.

The tower came down amidst angry negotiations between Entergy and plant workers. A strike was barely averted, but VY's labor troubles are by no means over.

The reactor's output has now been slashed 50%. A public battle is raging over whether it can dump water even hotter than usual into the Connecticut River. Reactors in Alabama, France and elsewhere have been forced shut because the rivers that cool them have exceeded 90 degrees.

Yankee's cooling system, vintage 1972, centers on 22 (now 21) wood, fiberglass and metal towers that stretch for 300 feet, and are 50 feet high and 40 feet wide. The company calls this giant rig a "rain forest."

Operators admit to hearing "strange sounds" coming from its fans last week, but say Tuesday's collapse was unexpected.

Nuclear opponents who warned about such an event have been scorned by Entergy and its supporters. That something as apparently absurd as the spontaneous collapse of an entire cooling tower could actually occur underlines America's Keystone Kops reality of atomic operation and regulation. "We need to understand what happened," explains the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Diane Screnci.

So does Congress. A definitive Conference Committee battle will be fought after Labor Day over an Energy Bill that includes taxpayer guarantees for $50 billion and more to build new nukes.
Meanwhile Vermonters will pay for this latest pile of radioactive reactor rubble. Maybe a "fall foliage" field trip to the Green Mountain State would do the Congress some good.

--Harvey Wasserman's SOLARTOPIA: OUR GREEN-POWERED EARTH, A.D. 2030, is available at www.solartopia.org. He is senior advisor to Greenpeace USA and the Nuclear Information & Resource Service, and senior editor of Freepress.org, where this article first appeared.