Contact your Members of Congress and urge them to support a 25% Renewable Electricity Standard by 2025. Take Action!

The RES uses market mechanisms to ensure that a growing percentage of electricity is produced from renewable sources, like wind power. The RES provides a predictable, competitive market, within which renewable generators compete with each other to lower prices. RES policies currently exist in 28 U.S. states, but not at the national level.

AWEA seeks a national RES that calls for 25% of the nation's electricity to come from renewable energy by 2025. Visit this link to contact your Senators and Representative to express your support for a national RES.

http://capwiz.com/windenergy/issues/alert/?alertid=12794771&PROCESS=Take+Action 

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY COALITION
6930 Carroll Avenue, #340; Takoma Park, MD 20912
301-270-6477 x.23; fax: 301-270-4291
[email protected]; http://www.sustainableenergycoalition.org


MARK YOUR CALENDAR AND PLAN TO ATTEND!
(and please forward to your friends)

Cannon House Office Building - Caucus Room
U.S. House of Representatives
Independence Avenue and New Jersey Avenue SE
Washington, DC 20515

Thursday - May 14, 2009
9:30 am - 5:00 pm


WHAT

On May 14, the Sustainable Energy Coalition - in cooperation with Members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Caucuses - will host the 12th annual Congressional Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency EXPO + Forum.

This year's EXPO will bring together more than fifty businesses, sustainable energy industry trade associations, government agencies, and energy policy research organizations to showcase the status and near-term potential of the cross-section of renewable energy (biofuels/biomass, geothermal, solar, water, wind) and energy efficiency technologies. (A list of the participating exhibitors, to date, is provided below.)

Members of the U.S. Congress will offer welcoming remarks in the morning while afternoon speakers will discuss the role sustainable energy technologies can play in meeting America's energy needs.

As Congress, the Administration, the business community, environmental advocates, and American voters search for options to address ways to stimulate the economy, "green jobs," higher energy costs, increased reliance on energy imports, and the potential threat posed by rising levels of greenhouse gas emissions, the EXPO will help address the role that sustainable energy technologies might play.

This will include not only the technical aspects of renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies but also related issues such as economics, jobs potential, environmental benefits, current and near-term market potential, model programs in the public and private sectors, and institutional, financial and legal barriers.

The EXPO is free, open to the public, and no RSVPs are required.

March and Rally

Wednesday, April 29

Vermont Statehouse

Montpelier, VT

*A bus will be leaving from Greenfield for Montpelier the morning of 4/29.
Only $10 per person, round-trip.
Please see details below.

This is a PIVOTAL moment in the movement to close and replace the Entergy Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. We have a choice: Renewable, efficient and affordable solutions OR more nuclear waste, radiation, and the growing risk of a catastrophic accident.
* *

Before the 2009 Vermont legislative session ends (in May), we who live here in Massachusetts, downwind and down-river from the Entergy Corporation's aged, nearly obsolete, accident-plagued reactor, must join our neighbors in SW New Hampshire and throughout Vermont in telling the Vermont Legislature - this time in person! - that * we want "Vermont Yankee" shut down at the earliest possible date* rather than allowed to operate for another 20 years when its original 40-year license expires in 2012 - and, that we know that *"Vermont Yankee's" electricity CAN be replaced with a vigorous program of energy conservation and efficiency measures coupled with safe, renewable sources of power*. The technology - and the "green" jobs! - are there; it's just a matter of political will.

The Vermont Legislature is the only state legislature in the country that has given itself the authority to deny a nuclear reactor permission to continue operating after it's license expires (whether the feds re-license it or not).

Thus, a victory in closing Vermont Yankee can set a huge, inspiring precedent for citizens and legislators faced with aging reactors all over the U.S.
It's up to us to set that precedent!
So, let's tell the Vermont Legislators, with one voice, what we want our energy future to look like.

Bring your friends, bring your family, bring your colleagues. Tell everyone!

Rain or Shine!

C'mon! Get on the bus! We're gonna' have a good time !

* * *
Schedule on 4/29 :

6:30 AM: Bus leaves Home Depot parking lot (near rotary at intersection of Route 2 West and I-91) in Greenfield at 6:30 AM. Please be there 10 minutes early .

7:00 AM: Bus arrives in Brattleboro to pick up more riders.

9:30 AM: Bus arrives in Montpelier.

10:00 AM: March from City Hall to the Statehouse.

10:30 AM: Rally on Statehouse steps.

10:45 AM: 3 pm: State House Lawn: Renewable Energy Fair featuring Greenpeace's "Rolling Sunlight" Mobile Exhibit.

11:00 AM: Press Conference.

12:00 PM: "Lunch Lobby" in Statehouse.

2:00 PM: Bus departs Montpelier.

4:30 PM: Bus arrives Brattleboro.

5:00 PM: Bus arrives Greenfield.

** To reserve seats on the bus: *please mail a check for $10 per person, made out to "Safe & Green Campaign " to Chad Simmons, 124 High St., Apt. 4, Brattleboro, VT 05301

(Late-comers may pay their $10 when they board the bus if seats are still available.)

** For more information * : please call or email Chad Simmons at (802) 377-7403,
****

(This event is being organized by Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance, Safe and Green Campaign, Citizen's Awareness Network, and VPIRG and is being sponsored by the Safe Power Vermont Coalition.)
****

 

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY COALITION
6930 Carroll Avenue, #340; Takoma Park, MD 20912
301-270-6477 x.23; fax: 301-270-4291
[email protected]; http://www.sustainableenergycoalition.org


MARK YOUR CALENDAR AND PLAN TO ATTEND!
(and please forward to your friends)

SUSTAINABLE  ENERGY  COALITION

6930 Carroll Avenue, #340; Takoma Park, MD 20912

301-270-6477 x.23; fax: 301-270-4291

[email protected]; http://www.sustainableenergycoalition.org

 

 

MARK  YOUR  CALENDAR  AND  PLAN  TO  ATTEND!

(and please forward to your friends)

 

12^th Annual Congressional Renewable Energy + Energy Efficiency EXPO + Forum

 

Cannon House Office Building – Caucus Room

U.S. House of Representatives

Independence Avenue and New Jersey Avenue SE

Washington, DC 20515

 

Thursday – May 14, 2009

9:30 am – 5:00 pm

 

 

WHAT

 

On May 14, the Sustainable Energy Coalition - in cooperation with Members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Caucuses - will host the 12^th annual Congressional Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency EXPO + Forum. 

 

This year’s EXPO will bring together more than fifty businesses, sustainable energy industry trade associations, government agencies, and energy policy research organizations to showcase the status and near-term potential of the cross-section of renewable energy (biofuels/biomass, geothermal, solar, water, wind) and energy efficiency technologies.  (A list of the participating exhibitors, to date, is provided below.)

 

Members of the U.S. Congress will offer welcoming remarks in the morning while afternoon speakers will discuss the role sustainable energy technologies can play in meeting America’s energy needs.

 

As Congress, the Administration, the business community, environmental advocates, and American voters search for options to address ways to stimulate the economy, “green jobs,” higher energy costs, increased reliance on energy imports, and the potential threat posed by rising levels of greenhouse gas emissions, the EXPO will help address the role that sustainable energy technologies might play. 

 

This will include not only the technical aspects of renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies but also related issues such as economics, jobs potential, environmental benefits, current and near-term market potential, model programs in the public and private sectors, and institutional, financial and legal barriers.

 

The EXPO is free, open to the public, and no RSVPs are required.

 

Even if you cannot attend yourself …

 

Please Share This Information with Members of Your Congressional Delegation as well as Other Businesses, Organizations, Government Officials, Academic Contacts, Members of the Media, and Interested Individuals.

Cannon House Office Building - Caucus Room
U.S. House of Representatives
Independence Avenue and New Jersey Avenue SE
Washington, DC 20515

Thursday - May 14, 2009
9:30 am - 5:00 pm


WHAT

On May 14, the Sustainable Energy Coalition - in cooperation with Members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Caucuses - will host the 12th annual Congressional Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency EXPO + Forum.

This year's EXPO will bring together more than fifty businesses, sustainable energy industry trade associations, government agencies, and energy policy research organizations to showcase the status and near-term potential of the cross-section of renewable energy (biofuels/biomass, geothermal, solar, water, wind) and energy efficiency technologies. (A list of the participating exhibitors, to date, is provided below.)

Members of the U.S. Congress will offer welcoming remarks in the morning while afternoon speakers will discuss the role sustainable energy technologies can play in meeting America's energy needs.

As Congress, the Administration, the business community, environmental advocates, and American voters search for options to address ways to stimulate the economy, "green jobs," higher energy costs, increased reliance on energy imports, and the potential threat posed by rising levels of greenhouse gas emissions, the EXPO will help address the role that sustainable energy technologies might play.

This will include not only the technical aspects of renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies but also related issues such as economics, jobs potential, environmental benefits, current and near-term market potential, model programs in the public and private sectors, and institutional, financial and legal barriers.

The EXPO is free, open to the public, and no RSVPs are required.

Even if you cannot attend yourself ...

Please Share This Information with Members of Your Congressional Delegation as well as Other Businesses, Organizations, Government Officials, Academic Contacts, Members of the Media, and Interested Individuals.

April 13, 2009

AB 1035 is a bill that would exempt "one new 2000 MW" nuclear reactor from California oversight if an entity obtains an early site permit from the NRC; it will be heard by the Assembly Natural Resource Committee on April 20, 2009:

Letters of opposition should be faxed to Chairwoman Skinner (916) 319-2192 by end of day on April 13, 2009 to be included in Committee packet or can be emailed to [email protected] and the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility will fax in for you.

The Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility is opposed to AB 1035, Assemblyman Devore's bill which would attempt to lift California's ban on the siting of new nuclear plants within the state. AB 1035 would bypass Public Resource Code 25524 by making an exemption for "the first California entity to obtain an early site permit from the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission." For California to exempt 2000 MW nuclear reactors from approval of the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission abrogates the state's responsibility to review section 25500 of the Warren-Alquist Act:

The history of cost overruns at California's operating reactors--from estimates of under $400 million to final price tags of over $5 billion-clearly demonstrates the need for state review before a nuclear site can be approved.

California's law is clear: new owners must verify that they have a long-term plan for offsite storage of spent nuclear fuel. This is exactly the restriction that Mr. Devore's bill would lift for just the first 2000 MW nuclear reactors.

California law must not be amended to allow an entity to apply for approval of even one nuclear reactor until the intent of California's nuclear safeguard laws have been met. There is no offsite solution to the safe storage of radioactive waste, full costs of new reactors are not known and are not considered in the NRC licensing process, the water impacts to cool new reactors are not known-AB 1035 is at best premature.

Rochelle Becker, Executive Director
Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility
PO 1328
San Luis Obispo, CA 93406
[email protected]
858 337 2703

Apr 08, 2009 -- NUCLEAR
> REGULATORY COMMISSION DOCUMENTS AND PUBLICATIONS/ContentWorks
>
> Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold two public meetings
> on Thursday, April 16, in Crystal River, Fla., to discuss the agency's
> environmental review of the Crystal River Unit 3 Nuclear Generating
> Plant license renewal application.
>
> The Crystal River plant's single pressurized-water reactor is
> located approximately seven miles northwest of Crystal River. The
> current operating license expires Dec. 3, 2016. The plant's owner,
> Florida Power Corporation, submitted the license renewal application
> Dec. 16, 2008.
>
> "This is the first of several opportunities for the Crystal River
> community to let us know what issues the NRC should look at while we
> review the potential environmental impacts of renewing the license,"
> said Sam Lee, deputy director in the NRC's Division of License
> Renewal. "We'll consider all the comments and publish them in a
> 'scoping summary' as we move forward with our review."
>
> The staff will start the first session at 2 p.m., and the second
> session at 7 p.m., at the Plantation Inn Resort, 9301 West Fort Island
> Trail in Crystal River. The staff will describe the agency's process
> for reviewing license renewal applications, followed by the
> opportunity for audience members to comment on issues they feel the
> agency should consider as the Crystal River review continues. NRC
> staff will be available for informal discussions with the public
> during "open house" sessions an hour before both meetings; formal
> comments on the renewal review will only be accepted during the
> meetings.
>
> The application is available on the NRC Web site at:
> http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/
> crystal-river.html and a copy is also available at the Coastal Region
> Library, 8619 W. Crystal St. in Crystal River.
>
> Members of the public may register to present oral comments at
> this meeting by April 13 by contacting Elaine Keegan at (800)
> 368-5642, ext.
> 8517, or by email at [email protected]. Those who wish to make
> comments may also register at the meeting within 15 minutes of the
> start of each session. Individual oral comments may be limited by the
> time available, depending on the number of persons who register. Those
> with special needs should contact the telephone or e-mail address
> above no later than April 10.
>
> Members of the public may send written comments on issues to be
> considered in the Crystal River renewal environmental review by May
> 15 to:
> Chief, Rulemaking and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative
> Services, Office of Administration, Mailstop TWB 5B-01M, U.S. Nuclear
> Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, or via e-mail to
> [email protected].
>
> Additional information on the license renewal process is
> available on the NRC's Web site at:
> http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal.html.
>
>

March 31, 2009
They're at it again! And we have to act again--now!
The U.S. Senate is currently debating President Obama's FY 2010 budget on the Senate floor.
A small group of Senators, led by Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsay Graham (R-SC), is preparing to introduce a number of pro-nuclear amendments intended to support still more subsidies to the nuclear industry. Other Senators involved are Crapo, Brownback, Voinovich, and Vitter.
One amendment we've seen would allow money to be shifted around in the budget if the nuclear industry can get $50 billion in new loan guarantees later. Another would allow money to be shifted around if pro-nuclear boosters are successful in getting more R&D money for Generation IV reactors. Another would do the same if construction of a reprocessing facility were authorized. These amendments are intended to make it easier for nuclear backers to try again to boost nuclear spending once the budget bill is enacted.
Please call your Senators--NOW--and urge them to vote against any and all amendments to the budget bill that would pave the way for additional nuclear subsidies. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121.
And please send your Senators an e-mail on these amendments by clicking here.
And please help us pay for this ongoing campaign by making your donation here. Your contributions of any size are gratefully appreciated, and enable us to continue doing this work.
Spread the word--post this Alert everywhere!
Thanks for all you do,
Michael Mariotte
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
www.nirs.org
[email protected]

(PLEASE HELP US BY CONTACTING YOUR SENATORS (OR OURS IF YOU'RE OUT-OF-STATE) WITH YOUR OPPOSITION TO SENATOR DEAN'S PANDERING TO THE NUKE BOYS! PLEASE TRY TO DO SO BEFORE TUESDAY 3/31 IF AT ALL POSSIBLE!

A battle between clean energy and renewable energy is about to ensue in the state Legislature.

Sen. Lee Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs, has introduced Senate Bill 2490, a measure requiring that 20 percent of the power provided by Florida electric utilities be made with renewable resources such as wind and solar. The standard is supported by Gov. Charlie Crist and recommended by the Florida Public Service Commission.

Sen. Charlie Dean, R-Inverness, recently introduced an alternative measure, SB 2328, that would require utilities to get 20 percent of their power from clean energy sources, including nuclear, by 2020. Progress Energy and Florida Power & Light, the state's largest producers of nuclear power, have lobbied hard for a clean standard.

Already, nuclear power accounts for 18 percent of the electricity produced by Progress Energy. FPL produces about 19 percent of its power from nuclear plants.

Environmental groups say Dean's bill in essence would enable Progress Energy and FPL to avoid securing additional renewable power.

By RUSSELL RAY
[email protected]
Published: March 26, 2009
Reporter Russell Ray can be reached at (813) 259-7870.

30th Anniversary Release • Nationally Broadcast on Public Radio
A Two-Hour Oral History Documentary
Listen on the Web at: www.turningtide.com
Also Available on Two Audio CDs or as a Free MP3 Audio Download for Individuals and Radio Stations
"Robbie Leppzer's chilling, powerful and amazingly thorough compilation of interviews from Three Mile Island pierces the veil of secrecy that has surrounded this disaster for thirty years. What Leppzer's devastating series of first-person interviews tells us is what really happened, from the people it really happened to. And they spell it out in horrifying detail that we as a nation and a species can ignore only at our direst peril. These voices from Three Mile Island make for harrowing but utterly compelling listening."
- Harvey Wasserman, co-author KILLING OUR OWN, editor of NukeFree.org
For account of the health affects from Three Mile Island - thirty years later, read Wasserman's article "People Died At Three Mile Island." (http://www.nukefree.org/news/peoplediedatthreemileisland)

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OVER TWO DECADES THE STATE IS HOLDING HEARINGS ON HOW TO ADDRESS THE IMPACTS OF EARTHQUAKE AND THE IMPACTS OF WATER POLLUTION AT CALIFORNIA'S AGING NUCLEAR PLANTS - PLEASE WEIGH IN.
Both the Assembly and Senate are hearing bills relating to the impacts of nuclear reactors on California's coast. On Monday, AB 42 http://a4nr.org/library/03.2009-blakelyab42/view Blakeslee [R-San Luis Obispo] has introduced a bill requiring additional state-of the-art studies and mapping at Diablo Canyon. The bill resulted from a recommendation by the California Energy Commission that that Pacific Gas and Electric Company should use three-dimensional geophysical seismic reflection mapping and other advanced techniques to explore fault zones near Diablo Canyon. The CEC made the same recommendation for San Onofre. The CEC recommendation was strengthened after PG&E's disclosure that a second earthquake fault had been discovered 1800 feet offshore of Diablo.
The 2007 earthquake in Japan shutdown 8000 MW of nuclear generation in ninety seconds and energy production has dropped to 58%%. California cannot afford to ignore the Japanese lesson, especially in light of new seismic information at Diablo. http://a4nr.org/library/failures/07.16.2007-japanquake/03..21.2009-compa...
The Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility's support letter can be copied at http://a4nr.org/letters/03.21.09-renewfaultline/view and sent to the Chair of the Assembly Committee, Felipe Fuentes [email protected]. If you have time to a cc a copy to Assemblyman Blakeslee and the Alliance ([email protected]) it would be appreciated.
BUT WAIT THERE'S ANOTHER NUCLEAR BILL
The biggest "emission" of a nuclear plant is thermal pollution. California's nuclear plants use one million gallons of sea water a minute to cool the reactors. The Alliance has produced a six minute clip to highlight the impacts to our ocean from the daily operation of nuclear plants. The film not only highlights the impacts, but the solution, and can be seen on the web at http://www.everythingnuclear.org/emissions.html
The Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility's support letter for SB 42 http://a4nr.org/library/03.21.09-sb42/view [Corbett D. San Leandro] can be copied at http://a4nr.org/letters/03.21.2009-sb42supportltr/view and sent to the Chair of the Senate Energy Committee, Alex Padilla and Chair of the Natural Resources Committee, Fran Pavley http://legplcms01.lc.ca.gov/PublicLCMS/ContactPopup.aspx?district=SD23. Again a cc to the Alliance would be greatly appreciated.
We now have the opportunity to have a voice - support our comments, file your own, send email, phone, and if you can support the Alliance who is the only statewide organization monitoring these bills and "walking the halls" for support. For more information: www.a4nr.org

"Popular Reactions to the Accident at Three Mile Island"
Co-Curated by Heidi N. Abbey, Benjamin Hoover,
Alan Mays, and Fay Youngmark
16 March - 30 April 2009
Penn State Harrisburg Library (First Floor), Middletown, PA
This event is free and open to the public during normal library hours.
This exhibit features an eclectic mix of books, newspapers, rare and unusual ephemera, and everyday popular culture items that illustrate local and contemporary reactions to the TMI crisis from March 28, 1979, through 2004. The objects displayed, several of which were produced aroundMiddletown or within Pennsylvania, range from a board game and pinback buttons to T-shirts and postcards. Many of the items reflect the psychological anxiety and anguish that the accident created locally and worldwide while other objects, such as the "Original Canned Radiation," "React-or" board game, and vinyl records containing songs about Three Mile Island, provide a glimpse into the various ways that people tried to cope with and make sense of the worst nuclear power accident in U.S. history. In commemoration of the thirtieth anniversary of the TMI crisis, this archival exhibit is comprised of thirty objects on loan from several private collections, and also includes materials from a collection recently donated by People Against Nuclear Energy (PANE) to the Penn State Harrisburg Library's Archives and Special Collections.

Located on the first floor of the library, the exhibit is available for viewing during normal library hours: Monday through Thursday (7:45 a.m. to 11 p.m.), Friday (7:45 a.m. to 9 p.m.), Saturday (9 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.), and Sunday (1 p.m. to 11 p.m.).

PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT
"Three Mile Island: Sights and Insights" by Robert Del Tredici
16 March - 30 April 2009
Penn State Harrisburg Library (First Floor), Middletown, PA
This event is free and open to the public during normal library hours.
This exhibit of thirty black-and-white prints commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Three Mile Island nuclear accident. The photos were taken by documentary photographer Robert Del Tredici during the turbulent first year following the event. Del Tredici photographed the land and people around the crippled TMI plant and interviewed plant personnel, townspeople, farmers, children, mayors, scientists, and government officials in an attempt to piece together the elusive big picture of what this accident was, what it meant, and what it still means for us today.

The exhibit is located on the first floor of the library and is available for viewing during regular hours of operation: Monday through Thursday (7:45 a.m. to 11 p.m.), Friday (7:45 a.m. to 9 p.m.), Saturday (9 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.), and Sunday (1 p.m. to 11 p.m.). This exhibit has been funded by the Penn State Harrisburg Library.



SLIDE PRESENTATION & LECTURE
"Three Mile Island and Beyond" by Robert Del Tredici
Monday, 23 March 2009 (6:15-9:00 PM)
Penn State Harrisburg, Capital Area Union Building (CUB), Student Center (Second Floor),Middletown, PA
This event is free and open to the public.

Documentary photographer and author of The People of Three Mile Island, Robert Del Tredici will offer a slide presentation and lecture on photographs that he took during the first year following the accident at Three Mile Island in 1979. He will integrate these pictures with images that he took documenting the nuclear age in Russia,Canada, Japan, and the United States. Mr. Del Tredici's exhibit has been funded by the Penn State Harrisburg Library. His visit to Penn State Harrisburg and lecture has been generously supported by Three Mile Island Alert (TMIA), the Penn State Harrisburg School of Humanities, and the Penn State Harrisburg School of Behavioral Sciences and Education.
About Robert Del Tredici
Robert Del Tredici is an artist, photographer, and teacher with a B.A. in philosophy, an M.A. in comparative literature, and an abiding interest in the dynamic between image and text. His first artwork was a series of illustrations to Herman Melville'sMoby-Dick, done in the early 1960s. He began documenting the nuclear age in 1979 with his photographs and interviews on the TMI accident, The People of Three Mile Island (Sierra Club Books, 1980). His second book, At Work in the Fields of the Bomb(Harper & Row, 1987), documented the U.S. nuclear weapons complex and won the 1987 Olive Branch Book Award for its contribution to world peace. In 1987 he founded the Atomic Photographers Guild, a collective of photographers dedicated to making culturally visible all aspects of the nuclear age. In 1991 he began photographing the nuclear weapons industry in the former Soviet Union. During theClinton years, Del Tredici became principal photographer and designer for three government reports on the present, past, and future of the radioactive cleanup of theU.S. nuclear weapons complex. He teaches photography and the history of animated film in Montreal, where he lives with his son Felix, who plays the bass trombone.



COMMUNITY LECTURE
"Melting Down the Elements: Questioning the Re-licensing of Three Mile Island and Proposals to Build New Nuclear Reactors in the U.S." by Dr. Marci Culley
Monday, 30 March 2009 (6:30-8:30 PM)
Penn State Harrisburg, Olmsted Building, Gallery Lounge (First Floor),
Middletown, PA
This event is free and open to the public.

Assistant Professor of Community Psychology at Georgia State University (GSU) inAtlanta, GA, Dr. Marci Culley will visit Penn State Harrisburg to discuss her most current research which focuses on two nuclear cities: Middletown, PA, andWaynesboro, GA. Culley, who holds a master's degree in Community Psychology and Social Change from Penn State Harrisburg, will discuss the situations in each of these towns, one with a question of relicensing an existing nuclear power plant and the other that faces the expansion of an existing facility. Dr. Culley's scholarly interests in community psychology are grounded in community organizing, power and empowerment, and public policy related to environmental issues. She is interested in the links between individual transformation and larger community and social change processes. In particular, she is interested in individual, community and institutional responses to environmental disputes (particularly around environmental health disputes) and how public participation processes are shaped by social power dynamics.


NEED ADDITIONAL INFORMATION?
Questions or comments from the media about these events should be directed to Steve Hevner, Manager of Public Information, Penn State Harrisburg (Tel. 717.948.6029 or [email protected]). Other inquiries from the public about the exhibits or Robert Del Tredici's lecture may be directed to Heidi N. Abbey, Humanities Reference Librarian and Archivist (Tel. 717.948.6056 and [email protected]). Inquiries about Dr. Marci Culley's lecture may be directed to Dr. Holly Angelique, Associate Professor of Community Psychology and Social Change (Tel. 717.948.6047 or [email protected]).

Dear Friend of NIRS,
If you are like us at NIRS, the only thing you have confidence about radioactive waste is that we need to STOP MAKING IT! Then we need to do everything we can to prevent its release into the cycles of Earth's air, water and soil. Building NEW nuclear power reactors that will make even more radioactive waste is like running off a cliff. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking our comments on its plan to "update" a key rule on radioactive waste known as the "Waste Confidence Decision." Your comments are needed! Click here to send an e-mail to the NRC, or read on to make your own comment.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has, for the last 40+ years, licensed the production of the most radioactive waste in the USA--with no real solution. When it comes to the high-level radioactive waste (a category in which NRC includes so-called "spent" or irradiated fuel rods and also the left-overs from the reprocessing of those rods), NRC has been resting its approval of continuous production of this waste on something it calls the "waste confidence decision." Now NRC is proposing to change the wording of this self-fulfilling lack of a real waste solution that is used to "allow" more waste to be made, minute by minute, every time we "flip the switch." (to see the full Federal Register Notice see: http://frwebgate5.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/PDFgate.cgi?WAISdocID=320270141...)

Originated in 1984, the "decision" said that NRC was "confident" that making irradiated fuel was not a problem because, although no off-site disposal capacity was available, NRC was comfortable affirming that the waste could remain on the site where it was generated for the interim period--projected at that time to be at most 30 years after the expiration of the waste generation license. In 1984 NRC affirmed that there would be "at least one' mined geologic repository ready between 2007--2009. (This IS now 2009; there is no repository, therefore NRC is revisiting its "decision.")

Now NRC wants to change the rule's language to:

Finding 2: The Commission finds reasonable assurance that sufficient
mined geologic repository capacity can reasonably be expected to be available
within 50-60 years beyond the licensed life for operation (which may include
the term of a revised or renewed license) of any reactor to dispose of the
commercial high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel originating in such
reactor and generated up to that time.

Finding 4: The Commission finds reasonable assurance that, if necessary,
spent fuel generated in any reactor can be stored safely without significant
environmental impacts for at least 60 years beyond the licensed life for
operation (which may include the term of a revised or renewed license) of that
reactor in a combination of storage in its spent fuel storage basin and either
onsite or offsite independent spent fuel storage installations.

Does this make you more confident? We don't think so. In fact, we feel downright anxious about the piles of waste sitting at nuclear power sites today -- and see the addition of new nuclear reactors to the US fleet when there is still no "solution" to the waste problem as the reason to declare no confidence!

Click this link to send a short comment to the US NRC
If you prefer to send your own comments -- send them to: [email protected]
Include reference to the Federal Register Notice: 73 FR 197-- 10/09/2008 Docket ID-2008-0482 and Docket ID-2008-0404

Comment deadline is February 6, 2009

Questions for NIRS? Contact: Diane D'Arrigo, Director Radioactive Waste Project [email protected] or 301-270-6477

House Bill 84, sponsored by Patricia A. Lundstrom, creates a uranium legacy clean-up fund using revenues from the taxable value of new uranium extracted. While this bill sounds friendly, it is a pro-industry "greenwash" bill because:
1. It puts communities in the position of having to accept new uranium mining in order to get money to clean-up legacy waste;
2. It will not generate any revenue for clean-up for at least five years, the earliest that new mining could get permitted;
3. It will not generate nearly enough money to address the problem.
This bill not only affects communities in northwestern New Mexico but communities in Santa Fe County as well. The NM Bureau of Mines has identified Santa Fe County as one of the counties in New Mexico that could contain significant uranium deposits, and uranium mining has already occurred on La Bajada mesa.
WE URGE YOU TO ACT NOW!
Please call and e-mail the four key members of the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee, who are leaning towards supporting the Uranium Legacy Cleanup Act.
James Roger Madalena, Jemez Pueblo; 505-986-4417

Brian Egolf, Santa Fe County; 505-986-4211;
[email protected]

Benjamin Rodefer, Corrales; 505-986-4211; [email protected]

Nick Salazar, Ohkay Owingeh, 505-986-4433
Tell them to oppose HB 84 for the reasons listed above and because there are
SEVERAL OTHER OPTIONS
for funding cleanup of abandoned uranium mines in New Mexico!
These Options Include:
• Economic Recovery Bills - U.S. Senate and House economic recovery bills contain nearly $1 billion in funds for BLM, Forest Service and National Park Service "construction projects" that must include "remediation of abandoned mine sites"
• OSM Abandoned Mine Lands Funds - The federal Office of Surface Mining should amend its rules to permit states like NM to use abandoned mine land funds to reclaim non-coal mines. This is a $3 million opportunity for NM now, with potentially another $20 million in the next 2 years.
• DOE Surplus Uranium Sales - SJM-15 urges Congress to (1) authorize DOE to use revenues from the sale of surplus government uranium for AUM reclamation, and (2) undo OSM's restrictions of the use of AML funds for uranium-mine cleanups.
• State Enforcement Authorities - The state could authorize enforcement actions against companies that abandoned mines before 1971. This would place clean-up requirements on the companies who created the wastes and abandoned them.
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Thank you for your support,
Douglas Meiklejohn, Executive Director
New Mexico Environmental Law Center
[email protected]
http://www.nmelc.org

Just before leaving office, the Bush Administration approved new Protective Action Guides (PAGs) for radiation releases that dramatically weaken public protections. In particular, the new PAGs would permit radioactivity in drinking water hundreds to millions of times higher than longstanding EPA standards.

The PAGs weren't able to published in the Federal Register before Inauguration, but unless the new Obama Administration pulls them
back immediately, they could be published in the next few days.

The Order issued by Rahm Emanuel Tuesday to suspend all rulemaking activities until the new Administration can review them might be interpreted by Bush holdovers at EPA as strictly only covering formal rulemaking. In order to avoid rulemaking legal requirements, the Bush Administration issued these new standards as Protective Action Guides instead. So it is critical to get EPA to immediately pull the PAGs back from the Federal Register.

Please NOW call the EPA Administrator's office at 202-564-4700 and leave a message, asking that the Radiation Protective Action Guides be withdrawn immediately from publication in the Federal Register.

For more information, see http://www.committeetobridgethegap.org/pdf/radiation012109.pdf

NIRS set up a meeting for DC-based safe energy groups and the Obama energy transition team that was held on Monday, December 15. The role of the transition team is to learn about the issues the new administration will face, and especially those issues that the outgoing Bush administration is not likely to tell them about or is likely to distort.

Joining NIRS in the meeting were representatives from Physicans for Social Responsibility, Natural Resources Defense Council, Environment America, Taxpayers for Common Sense, Beyond Nuclear, and Alliance for Nuclear Accountability. Representatives from Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, Friends of the Earth and Public Citizen were unable to attend for various reasons.

We talked to six transition team leaders about a variety of issues Obama will face early in his administration, including loan guarantees for new reactors; Yucca Mountain, reprocessing and the GNEP program, the disarray in the NRC's reactor licensing process and nuclear power and climate issues, among others.

The meeting went well, the transition team was interested in everything we had to say and took copious notes, and hopefully we've opened the door for future meaningful communication with the Obama administration.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: let the Obama administration know what you think about these and other important issues. Go to change.gov (or use this link: http://change.gov/agenda/energy_and_environment_agenda /) and tell them your energy and environmental priorities. Many of you have written long, thoughtful comments on our various online petitions. Now go straight to the administration and leave your comments there too. So far, not a lot of people have commented on nuclear-related issues--let's change that now!

Below is a group letter to be sent to the leadership of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives as well as the Members of the appropriations committees in both
branches of Congress.

The letter urges support for "shovel-ready" energy efficiency and
renewable energy projects as part of the anticipated "stimulus bill"
and also opposes providing stimulus funds for either nuclear power or
fossil fuel programs.

Your organizational or individual sign-on is invited.

SIGN-ON DEADLINE: TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 8:00 pm (eastern time)

ORGANIZATIONAL SIGN-ONS: If you would like to add the name of your organization or business to this statement, please provide:

Your Name + Title
Organization/Business Name
City, State

INDIVIDUAL SIGN-ONS: If you would like to sign this letter as an individual, please
clearly state that you are signing as an individual and not an organization and
provide:

Your Name
City, State

If you wish to include your organizational affiliation "for
identification purposes only," please include that as well.

January 7, 2009

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer
House Minority Leader John Boehner

Dear ...

We, the undersigned sustainable energy and environmental organizations, businesses, and individual advocates, are writing to urge that you support provisions in the proposed stimulus bill that will promote sustainable energy technologies and create "green jobs."

More specifically, funding should be targeted at those energy efficiency and renewable energy projects that can be brought on line quickly, will maximize job creation, will curb greenhouse gases and energy imports, and have the least adverse social and environmental impacts.

Nuclear power and fossil fuel technologies should not be included among those supported by the stimulus bill. These technologies cannot be brought on line quickly, entail unacceptable environmental hazards, and produce far fewer jobs per dollar invested.

Rather, emphasis should be given to "shovel-ready" projects that can be deployed in the very near term (i.e., preferably within 6-24 months) either to reduce wasteful energy use or to produce renewable energy as well as create jobs. Longer-term investments in sustainable energy research and development merit federal support but should be addressed in the regular annual appropriations bills rather than in this stimulus legislation.

The most attractive investments in terms of cost-effectiveness, jobs creation, carbon-reduction, and time-frame may well be those designed to reduce energy use in residential, commercial, public and other buildings. Accordingly, a high priority should be funding aimed at the permanent weatherization of older buildings and the replacement energy-inefficient lighting, appliances, and HVAC systems. Likewise, investments in advanced meter and demand-response programs are warranted.

In the transportation sector, emphasis should be given to lower-carbon options such as expansion of bike trails and pedestrian walkways, acquisition of more energy-efficient government vehicles including municipal buses, construction or expansion of light-rail and other mass transit systems, and repair of existing roads, tunnels, and bridges. However, funding the construction of new roads would tend - in many, if not most, instances - to encourage increased fuel use and oil imports and result in greater greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, such proposals should be closely scrutinized and probably given very low priority.

Investments in renewable energy projects should support the broad range of technologies (i.e., wind, water, solar, geothermal, biomass/biofuels) with funding directed at smaller, distributed, and off-grid systems as well as larger, grid-connected, central station projects. Investments to upgrade existing transmission systems or create new "intelligent" ones to bring renewable electricity from remote locations to urban areas may also be justified. However, priority should be given to those projects and technologies that can be brought on line most quickly, have the lowest environmental or social impacts, create the largest number of jobs, are most cost-effective, and produce the most energy.

We appreciate your consideration of these views.

Sincerely,

cc. Members, Senate Committee on Appropriations
Members, House Committee on Appropriations

Due to a dire family health emergency, Bonnie Raitt has had to reschedule her March 21, 2009 benefit concert in Columbia, SC. The new date for the concert is October 11th.

We wanted to let you know that Bonnie Raitt has been so wonderfully kind to schedule a benefit concert in Columbia, South Carolina on October 11th in memory of a beloved friend and anti-nuclear activist Becky Hardee. The concert is to benefit the work of the South Carolina Chapter of the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, Nuclear Information & Resource Service and Nuclear Watch South. We are hopeful that the concert will draw attention to the proposed new reactors here, the promise of conservation & efficiency & renewables, as well as the threat of reprocessing at the Savannah River Site. If you want to attend be sure to buy tickets as soon as they go on sale as it looks like her southern tour is selling out fast. (See http://www.guacfund.org/ and Bonnie's website for concert & tour info: http://www.bonnieraitt.com/ontour.php) Thanks for passing this on to friends in the region who might be interested in what will prove to be a fun event.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today announced the opportunity to participate in the hearing on a Combined License (COL) application for two new reactors at the Levy County site near Crystal River, Fla.  Progress Energy submitted the application and associated information on July 30. The application, minus proprietary or security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/levy.html.

A petition to intervene must be electronically submitted in a timely manner to the NRC's Electronic Information Exchange (EIE) system. The petition to intervene must be filed in accordance with the NRC's E- Filing Rule that appeared in the Federal Register on Aug. 28, 2007. Additional guidance and instructions regarding electronic submissions to the NRC EIE system is available on the NRC web pages at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html.

A new campaign has formed to take on UniStar Nuclear and its plans to build giant new atomic reactors in New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Missouri. UniStar Nuclear is half-owned by Constellation Energy and half by Electricite de France. It was created solely to build new reactors in the U.S. These reactors, called the EPR, are designed by the French company Areva and are 1600 Megawatts each, or nearly twice the size of the current average U.S. reactor. It might be worth noting that both Electricite de France and Areva are essentially arms of the French government, which owns more than 80% of each company.

For more information and to sign the petition, please visit: http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5502/t/2834/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=150

 

Contact your Public Utility Commission (PUC) and Elected Officials:

http://www.fcc.gov/wcb/iatd/state_puc.html

http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml