By Ace Hoffman: Resolution

The enclosed Resolution Against the Use of New Nuclear Power Plants to Solve
America's Energy Problems passed this weekend (Feb. 20-21, 2009) at a meeting of the California-Pacific Conference of the United Methodist Church,
Conference Board of Church and Society. The Resolution was presented by
Peter Moore-Kochlacs. Peter then took the document to Washington, where he
is right now, presented it to 25 people from various interfaith groups, and
plans to present it to Congressional aides this Monday (February 23, 2009).

I am deeply honored to have had a part in the creation of the Resolution,
along with many other people, and I hope it will be widely distributed and
endorsed. If you, or any group you are associated with, endorses this
Resolution, please contact Peter and let him know:

"Peter Moore-Kochlacs"
PeterEco@ aol.com

Sincerely,

Ace Hoffman
Carlsbad, CA

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Resolution against the use of new nuclear power plants to solve America's
energy problems
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Whereas the Bible is clear that we are not to pollute our neighborhoods, the
planet, and the poor, but are to be good stewards of all (Genesis 2:15,
Isaiah 24, Jeremiah 4:2&7,Micah 6:6-8 & Matthew 22:36-40), and

Whereas the building of nuclear power plants, the gen eration of nuclear
power and the plant's radiation byproducts have been proven to be very
unhealthy to life, and

Whereas, every step in the nuclear process is fossil-fuel intensive,
including mining, milling, fuel fabrication, building the power plants, and
even operating them -- let alone the fossil fuel and other resources which
will be needed to care for the used reactor cores after they have been
irradiated inside the reactor, and

Whereas, the only safe nuclear power plant is one that does not exist, since
no human structure (e.g. underground storage facilities, kick and roll
burial of "low level" radioactive materials) can withstand the forces of
nature, and

Whereas, every step in the nuclear process is not only fossil-fuel
intensive, but terribly polluting in its own right, starting with leakages
of radioactive radon gas from the mine tailings, to the radioactive "shine"
which emanates from the spent fuel casks, despite several feet of co ncrete
and several inches of steel, and

Whereas, our children are 100 to 1000 times more susceptible to radiation
poison damage than adults, and

Whereas, thousands of diseases which are caused or enhanced or exacerbated
by radiation are so much worse for children who have no voice or vote, and

Whereas, there is a very sound scientific reason why nearly $100 billion
dollars in research funding so far has produced nothing in the way of safe
containments for nuclear waste (the scientific reason being that radioactive
decay is far stronger than any chemical bond in nature -- known or
postulated), and

Whereas, money spent on nuclear power will buy, at most, half the number of
jobs that money spent in developing and building cleaner energy sources,
such as wind power, would buy, and the new energy would be delivered as much
as ten years sooner, and

Whereas, the nuclear industry is in capable of purchasing insurance on the
open market, because the size of a catastrophe would bankrupt any and all
insurance agencies, and

Whereas, the Government does not provide adequate insurance (the
Price-Anderson Act is a hollow shell which would hardly compensate any one
after an accident); those few who would receive anything, would get
fractions of a penny on the dollar, and

Whereas, every operating nuclear power plant produces isotopes of plutonium
and hydrogen and other elements which are the raw materials of nuclear
bombs, and

Whereas, every operating nuclear power plant has a list of security and
safety violations, which if fully known and understood by the public, would
create such an outcry that all current nuclear power plants would likely be
shut down, and

Therefore, be it resolved that the California Pacific Conference Board of
Church and Society of the United Methodist Church insist that the United0
States Federal Government provide that no government money be invested in
any nuclear power technology, except as maybe necessary to pay for shutting
down the current nuclear power plants as quickly as possible and caring for
their waste in as safe as possible a manner, and

Therefore, be it further resolved that we oppose the building of any new
nuclear power plants, their funding, or their approval and that the
currently operating plants be closed as soon as feasible, and

Therefore, be it further resolved that people who have already been harmed
by nuclear power be both identified and compensated as best as possible, and

Therefore, be it further resolved that cleaner energy alternatives such as
solar, wind, geo-thermal (atmospheric vortex engines, ocean thermal energy
conversion, low flow rate undersea turbines) and other workable and
sustainable clean energy solutions be invested in by our Federal Government,
instead of Nuclear Power Plants, and

Therefore, be it finally resolved that this resolution be presented to
members of the US Congress, other government bodies, public policy
organizations, religious bodies and congregations of faith across the United
States and World for their information and hopeful affirmation of it.