In the midst of Republican in-fighting in the presidential primaries and the Tea (Party)-infused stance of ‘obstruct Obama at all costs’, there is one curious issue on which Dems and Pubs seem to be united: nuclear energy.
It’s apparently the big reason there isn’t more media attention to this issue. Predominantly, neither side of the aisle has a need to stir this one up — maybe it has something to do with the strong ties so many of them have to big oil? But it’s one thing not to champion an issue; what’s going on when the Federal government actively restricts a state’s decision not to mess around with nuclear power anymore?
Last Thursday, a federal judge blocked Vermont from forcing the closure of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant when its license expires in March. According to Democracy Now!:
The Vermont Senate voted to deny the company a new operating license in 2010, but the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission extended the plant’s license, in the days following last year’s Fukushima nuclear crisis. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge J. Garvan Murtha overruled Vermont’s effort, saying only federal authorities can regulate nuclear safety. The Vermont Yankee plant is one of the oldest in the country and has had a series of radioactive tritium leaks. Vermont officials are expected to appeal the ruling.
The plant has a documented series of leaks, and yet — in the wake of a nuclear disaster the effects of which we have barely begun to understand — the federal NRC and a federal judge have ruled that the very citizens who live near, benefit from, and are most at risk should there be a significant leak or accident at this plant, have no authority over this decision.
Just to underscore how disturbing this is, here is a segment from today’s broadcast of Democracy Now! in which Amy Goodman interviews the makers of the documentary The Atomic States of America, directed by Sheena Joyce and Don Argott. The film, which is premiering at the Sundance Film Festival this week in Park City, Utah, tells the story of Shirley, Long Island, New York. It is based on the book Welcome to Shirley by a Shirley resident, Kelly McMasters.
Here’s McMasters talking to Amy Goodman:
KELLY McMASTERS: That’s true. It’s a service town to the Hamptons, and it’s on the South Shore of Long Island, a kind of little, blue-collar, hardscrabble town that is actually blessed with some beautiful landscape. We’re right along the ocean, and we have a gorgeous wildlife refuge, which I grew up right next to. I moved there when I was four, and I had a pretty bucolic childhood. The community was small and tightly knit, and we had just a really wonderful experience. What we didn’t realize, what most of us didn’t realize, is just north of us, hidden by the Pine Barrens, was the Brookhaven National Laboratory. And we—it happened to be located on top of the sole source drinking water aquifer for three million people, including the people of Shirley, and there were three nuclear reactors there, and all three leaked.
And here is McMasters describing growing up in Shirley, taken from the movie:
KELLY McMASTERS: Part of me wishes that I could go back and unwrite this story. Of course, I could unwrite my story, but I can’t unwrite the story of what happened in my home town. My family moved to Shirley, Long Island, in 1981. I had a pretty amazing childhood in a small community with a strong sense of neighborhood and solidarity. In about fourth grade, that was the first time that a neighbor got sick and wound up dying. Over the years after that, more and more people got sick, and suddenly that became more the norm.
I’m not a scientist, and I have not seen the movie, so I have no specific knowledge of the illnesses McMasters cites. What I mainly want to bring to attention is the striking agreement between Democratic and Republican ‘leaders’ that nuclear power is ‘okay’ — and the even more striking voices coming from the communities actually living near nuclear power plants.
Here’s Amy Goodman today:
AMY GOODMAN: So, for one minute, I mean, we’re not talking about a Republican president like President Bush. If he had tried to restart nuclear power after decades, a new nuclear power plant—one hasn’t been built in more than 30 years—I don’t think he could have. People would have risen up. But when President Obama announced that he would begin nuclear power plants, the rebuilding of them and the federal loan guarantees, well, he got a bipartisan—he got bipartisan applause. And that’s not something that happens very much in Washington today.
No, that’s not something that happens very much. And now it has. What will it take for the rest of us to unify in favor of energy that doesn’t threaten the health of our communities — and the entire planet — to the degree nuclear does?
Thanks, Amanda. How sick we are. How much sicker do we have to get? Hurrah for Amy Goodman (and those like you who continue to trumpet her notes). Rachel Carson affected the world as a lone voice many years ago–May Amy be the new Rachel.
Ive been watching this issue unfold as I am “local” to this story.
What I notice is that in the 50’s and 60’s when many of these nuclear laws and regulations were created the general public was fearful but felt powerless and intimidated by nuclear power because they didn’t understand the consequences and the Nuclear Regulatory Agency did a damn good job at promoting nuclear power as safe, progressive and visionary. For the most part, the public bought it.
Then there was 3 Mile Island and we woke up…for a minute…but soon we all went back to sleep dreaming that our beloved daddy-government knew best and was going to keep us safe.
Then there was Chernobyl and we woke up again…for several minutes perhaps…but then we (I mean the collective “we”, not the tribe here at PW) forgot about it, mainly because it happened far away in “crumbling” Russia and also because there is something in us, as good little citizens of the Patriarchy that we so WANT to believe that OUR plants were indeed as advertised to us: safe, secure, etc etc. So again, we dozed off…as a collective.
When Fukishima happened, our country woke up again. Japan is a high tech country, perhaps even more advance in some ways than our own (or so we wanted to believe)…if THEY were having problems maybe we were not so safe after all. And so a few more people woke up and got interested in what was happening in their state, in their region under those big mysterious buildings. But the reality is, most of us have no clue how disastrous these failures have been for the local regions and for the ecosystems connected to them.
Additionally, we now had some time and track records with various local plants, like the one in Vermont and we’ve learned first hand how the companies that own and operate these things regularly lie (even under oath!), bend the truth, obfuscate, and generally are NOT to be trusted.
A second thing has happened: as a citizenry we have become better educated and more empowered…and we have come to realize that it is the government and corporations that reap the rewards in ventures like these but it is the lowly citizen who live next door, or downwind who will pay the price, and there WILL be a price one way or another…if not from radioactive leaks in water, soil or air, then in having to pay for and deal with all the incredibly toxic waste that this industry generates.
Vermonters have really begun to mobilize over this one. The plant in Fukishima is just like the one in Vermont and when the earthquake happened in Japan, another one happened here in Vermont that has helped galvanize the general public to rise up and say “No more” to this toxic madness.
I’ve been listening to some of the discussions on the local news about this ruling. A lot of people are disappointed with it and they are seeing a lot of parallels to this and Citizens United. At some point both of these rulings will need to get challenged but it is going to take lots of people staying awake, staying on message and pushing back HARD to keep us all very uncomfortable… perhaps THEN we can find the means to shut these things down…but once again, it is bigbiz against the general population… if we don’t get loud and organized, it will all go off the radar of the collective till the next big news story. Nuclear power is unacceptable. Period.
Amanda and Len – simply stunning information – beauty in truth? – only if Orwell is your god.
well, i am standing on the shoulders of giants to be sure — playing relay for those who are doing the real investigating, like amy goodman and company.
Amanda,
Thank you for this post. You have truly put your finger on a vital issue. It is an issue that takes the evolving Occupy movement beyond economics. By noticing the bipartisan support of an industry that is literally and consciously killing people for profit (just like the military – another bipartisan favorite), you are doing a public service that the mainstream media no longer performs – opening a substantial can of worms.
Here’s the gist, 99 percent of us are at risk of our lives. Those who place us at risk know what they are doing and do it anyway. That’s a felony. The participants in that crime have control – control of the government, control of the legal system, control of the economy, control of the media, and now they are trying to get control of the internet so you cannot make these posts, so i cannot make this comment, and (most importantly) so others who are not aware cannot be made aware by reading about it. That is a real problem and the possible solutions are fast closing off. You have taken the first step at solving the problem by getting the word out there. You may not feel like a hero, but you are.