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The Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, with seven member groups and allies, officially asked Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen to support a lawsuit that New York, Vermont, and Conneticut States are bringing against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, for its violations of federal law in regards to nuclear waste storage.
The NRC has allowed toxic nuclear waste to remain at Wisconsin facilities without prior studies on the waste sites. The Attorney General must intervene to protect the residents and businesses of Wisconsin, the groups argue. The NRC must conduct site-by-site studies to ensure that the integrity of the waste storage structures remains intact and necessary repairs are made. An especially important concern is groundwater contamination.
The groups' letter to Van Hollen is below.
Two hundred environmental, peace, consumer, religious organizations and small businesses -- including WNPJ and eight other Wisconsin groups -- have joined together to blast the newly introduced Kerry-Lieberman “climate” bill, called the American Power Act, as a taxpayer bailout of the nuclear power industry and other dirty energy interests that would be ineffective at addressing the climate crisis. The groups pledged to oppose the bill unless substantial changes are made, including removing all support for nuclear power.
Two hundred environmental, peace, consumer, religious organizations and small businesses -- including WNPJ and eight other Wisconsin groups -- have joined together to blast the newly introduced Kerry-Lieberman “climate” bill, called the American Power Act, as a taxpayer bailout of the nuclear power industry and other dirty energy interests that would be ineffective at addressing the climate crisis. The groups pledged to oppose the bill unless substantial changes are made, including removing all support for nuclear power.
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| Photo: Charlie Reidel, Associated Press |
If we cut our national oil consumption by just 10%, we could eliminate the need for any offshore oil drilling in U.S. waters. How could we reach this goal? How about driving slower, even when the drive is really, really boring? Read and comment here...
Phil Montgomery will be the new head of Wisconsin's Public Service Commission, which regulates energy, water and telecommunications utilities.
As a state legislator, Montgomery supported a complete repeal of the radioactive waste and cost safeguards on new nuclear power plants.
"Consumer advocates would naturally have concerns about somebody who seemed so supportive of industry now being in a position of overseeing those industries," Mike McCabe of Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a WNPJ member group, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Until recently, Montgomery also served on the Board of Directors for ALEC, a corporate-funded group notorious for pushing regressive state policies.
Montgomery's executive assistant at the PSC will be R.J. Pirlot, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce's top lobbyist.
March 27 was the day for "Earth Hour", when people all over the world turned out the lights to demonstrate support for action to address the threat of climate change. The rolling blackout started in the Pacific ( the Sydney Opera House went dark) and moved westward, reaching Wisconsin at 8:30 pm local time.
According to the Earth Hour website, "Wisconsin is an official Earth Hour state and will turn off the lights at the Governor's residence and state capitol building." Think of it as a solar eclipse you don't have to fly to China to see. Photo by Brian Gardner
Legislation that would have weakened nuclear safeguards in Wisconsin has been dealt a serious blow by the disaster at Japan's Fukishima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. Pam Kleiss, executive director of WNPJ member group Physicians for Social Responsibility, says, "We feel the current state law speaks directly to the concerns that people in Wisconsin have about nuclear power. What the Fukushima Dai-ichi incident is showing us is that there are things that are happening that are beyond what the owners and operators perceived to be the highest level of risk." Charlie Higley of the Citizens Utility Board says, "Even if you have all the best defenses you can think of, there are times when nature still wins." Higley is also concerned about the fact that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has cited Wisconsin nuclear plants for 22 safety violations since 1996. Read more... (Photo: Point Beach Nuclear plant on the shore of Lake Michigan.)
"After the passage of Act 1 [the Bad River Watershed Destruction Act], one of the last protections for ecologically critical watersheds in gold and base metal exploration areas in Oneida, Taylor and Marathon counties is the Mining Moratorium Law," write Al Gedicks of WNPJ member group Wisconsin Resources Protection Council (and former WNPJ Board member) and Dave Blouin of the Sierra Club in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Yet mining companies have said their top priority is repealing Wisconsin's mining moratorium - also called the "prove it first" law.
"That the North American mining industry cannot meet the Moratorium Law is a problem of its own making and purely reflects the fact that mining metallic sulfide ores remains proven to be unsafe," add Gedicks and Blouin. "Our clean air and drinking water and the critical habitats and healthy environment we all depend on are threatened by the mining industry's so-called reforms."
Almost 20% of Wisconsin's 70 operating frac sand mines and processing plants were cited for environmental violations in 2012, according to data obtained by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. 80 to 90 percent of sand industry operators were issued letters of noncompliance, a reversal of the typical statistics for a regulated industry, according to DNR air management engineer Marty Sellers.
608-250-9240, Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, 122 State Street, Suite 405A, Madison, WI 53703, Send an email to the office diane@wnpj.org.
WNPJ is a member of the Community Shares of Wisconsin.
