National and Local Environmental Press 9.14.2002

Save Our Groundwater

The control, sale and export of New Hampshire groundwater will be the focus of a public forum on Thursday, Sept. 19 in Durham, NH. Denise Hart and Pat Hutchins Hutchings of Save Our Groundwater (SOG) will discuss the plans of U.S.A. Springs, Inc., to pump 439,000 gallons of water a day from New Hampshire groundwater for sale in Europe. Ruth Caplan, co-chair of the Campaign on Corporate Globalization and Positive Alternatives for the Alliance for Democracy, will put the local issue into a national and global context, including what it means in light of new and pending world trade agreements.

Where/When: Thur Sept 19th from 7-9pm at the Community Church of Durham, 17 Main St., Durham, NH

Media Advisory - Water ownership and control is topic of Durham forum, Sept. 19

Happy Summer!

SAPL's July Update:

Upcoming Events

September:

1st Annual SAPL Watchdog Benefit Raffle -
Enter and you will have 2 chances to win $5000.00 and help SAPL create a solid financial foundation to ensure the continuation of our critical work. Tickets are $100 and only 300 will be sold. Tickets will be for sale August 5 and the deadline to enter the raffle is September 30. Contact the SAPL office (603) 431-5089 or e-mail at: sapl99@aol.com for more information and to buy your ticket!

October:
Public Forum: Can we Evacuate if there is a Radiological Release at Seabrook?- Panelists will be invited to speak to the issue of safe and effective evacuation or the lack there of on the Seacoast. A public discussion and action plan will follow. We are looking for volunteers to be on the forum planning committee. Please contact the SAPL office if you can help (603) 431-5089 or e-mail at: sapl99@aol.com

Yucca Mt. Veto Repealed in the Senate
Well the big news (if you haven't already heard) is that the US Senate voted to repeal Nevada's veto of the approval of the development of Yucca Mt. high-level nuclear waste repository 60-39 on July 9. For the record NH Senators Bob Smith & Judd Gregg voted for the repeal, MA Senators Kennedy and Kerry voted no, and ME Senators Snowe and Collins voted yes.

Though this is another step closer to a dangerously inadequate fix to our nuclear waste problem, it will be a long time before we start seeing any
construction and any waste moving west. At this point the US Depart. of Energy (DOE) does not have a formal plan to submit to the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, which they must do 60 days after the Senate approval as one of the requirements to receive a license for this project. Also, they still have
yet to complete over 250 tests to determine Yucca Mt.'s suitability as the nation's 1st high-level nuclear waste repository.

SAPL believes that the process to determine Yucca Mt. as an appropriate site has been questionable at best, and that the public is receiving virtually no
information about this enormous undertaking in managing our nuclear waste. SAPL demands that we stop generating nuclear waste until we know how to
SAFELY and SECURELY manage it so not to endanger future generations indefinitely.

SAPL will continue to stay informed of this issue and will send periodic updates as they develop.

If you want to read a great article about this issue, check out the July 2002 edition of National Geographic. It lays out information really well complemented by unbelievable pictures.

Seabrook Sale continues on its Fast Track

SAPL has been a party in Public Utilities Commission docket 02-075 entitled "Proceeding to Approve the Sale of Seabrook Station Interests". SAPL board member, Mary Metcalf, has been representing SAPL in this and many, many other dockets of the PUC related to Seabrook. In this particular docket we were seeking information and assurances of the history of Florida Power and Light as an operator of nuclear power plants and were also seeking assurances of plant safety and security under their management in this age of terrorism . Finally, we were also seeking assurances that the new owners would continue to fund the decommissioning of Seabrook under any circumstances. At this point this docket has closed but not without heated discussions.

SAPL's lawyer, Bob Backus cross-examined the Florida Power and Light CFO about their commitment to the funding of the plant's decommission fund (the money used to properly close the plant once their license has expired) under any circumstances (early closure of the plant, the dissolving of FPL, etc.). From that, we were able to get a written guarantee from FPL that they would not violate their decommissioning funding responsibility.

Also, there were questions about FPL's position as the owner of over 88% of Seabrook shares and concerns from the owners of the remaining 12% about being essentially "left with the bag" if FPL finds themselves financially troubled (not an unrealistic concern these days!!!).

The commission, after hearing all of the discussions and the testimony, vigorously questioned both the CFO and the Chief Nuclear Officer about the company's capability to stay financially solvent and to continue funding the decommissioning of the plant. They inquired about FPL's negative credit rating from Moody's Investor Service since they announced their intent to buy Seabrook, something that SAPL will follow closely.

FPL has spent a lot of time and money to calm concerns anyone might have about their operating history, and financial history. SAPL wants FPL to agree to pay for independent low level radiation monitoring and increase security at the plant. We are skeptical that they would voluntarily comply, so we have been trying to involve the Director of the NH Office of Emergency Management, Don Bliss, without much success.

If you would like to work with us to continue applying the pressure on FPL to consider our demands, please contact Jenn Hicks at SAPL (603) 431-5089 or or e-mail at: sapl99@aol.com. We need people from around the coastal area to help!

"Stop the Energy Bill"
Nuclear Information and Resource Service www.nirs.org has sent out an action alert asking people to contact their reps about the energy bill creeping through congress. Stop Congress from Using our Taxes to Build More Reactors and Make even More Radioactive Waste

Many of you have asked what you can do after the Yucca vote. Well, here are two things!

1. Call (202-224-3121; ask for your Congressperson) OR FAX your Senators and Representatives on the energy bill conference committee. Ask them to
   oppose any subsidies or tax breaks for the nuclear industry. Tell them you don't want more reactors and more deadly radioactive waste. Please see
   www.senate.gov for fax numbers or direct phone lines.


2. Sign onto the Letter Below.
   
   Please e-mail your name, organization (if one), city and state to cindyf@nirs.org or fax to 202-462-2183. But please take step number one first!

If the Bush Administration builds more reactors, that waste will also have no repository and will also remain on-site until they shove another dump site down the throat of an unwilling state. Since the choice of Yucca Mountain is being made based on politics rather than science and against the will of Nevadans, this precedent has been set. The next dump site choice will be made on the same shaky bedrock and with the same disregard for public wishes. Despite the official recognition of nuclear waste and reactors as terrorist targets, Bush wants to build more. President Bush promised an energy policy full of tax breaks and subsidies to oil, gas and nuclear energy and with callow disregard for sustainable energy and efficiency. The House and the Senate gave him his wish.

Stop the Energy Bill in Conference Committee.

Since both Houses of Congress passed different pieces of energy legislation, they must make both of the bills match. Right now they are discussing nuclear
issues like Price-Anderson, tax breaks for decommissioning nuclear reactors, subsidies for new nuclear reactors and
new irradiated waste generation, subsidies for reprocessing.

House Conference Committee Members from Maine, NH, Mass., VT Markey (MA)

Senate Conference Committee Members from Maine, NH, Mass, VT Jeffords (VT) Kerry (MA)

If you don't have a rep in the committee, please contact them anyways to let them know how you feel about this bill,they will have to vote on it.

SIGN-ON LETTER

We are writing to express our opposition to controversial nuclear power tax breaks and subsidies in the energy bills before your conference committee.
These bills would reauthorize the Price-Anderson Act; give federal land, money and aid to the nuclear industry for construction of more nuclear reactors and more radioactive waste; and start a dangerous flirtation with banned nuclear waste reprocessing.

These bills would give tax breaks for decommissioning current nuclear reactors. This gives robber-baron corporations additional incentive to walk away with ratepayer money while the companies avoid cleaning up contaminated nuclear reactor sites. While many across the country would like reactors shut down as soon as possible, they would also like the sites cleaned up and the leftover money returned to the ratepayers; not lining the already deep pockets of CEO's.

There is no justification for creating more nuclear waste when we cannot safely isolate what we've already made. Yucca Mountain, under current law, cannot hold all irradiated waste from the current reactor generation. This waste will remain on-site even if Yucca actually opens. If more reactors are built, that waste would also have no repository and would also remain on-site.

These energy bills would reduce the public voice in nuclear reactor issues and nationalize nuclear power by giving the nuclear industry public money and
lands to research, develop and deploy these new terrorist targets-without so much as a public referendum. The Bush Administration has recognized that civilian nuclear power reactors are prime terrorist targets for mass destruction. When President Bush addressed the nation on January 29, 2002 he warned "We have found diagrams of American nuclear power plants" among Al Qaeda's war plans.

Through the Price-Anderson Act, which this legislation would unnecessarily reauthorize, the public could end up covering a large part of the cost for a catastrophic nuclear accident; estimates of such costs range as high as 600 billion dollars. Price-Anderson offers an insurance subsidy of about 3.4 billion dollars per year for all operating nuclear reactors. This masks the true costs of nuclear power and gives polluting nuclear electricity an undeserved competitive edge over environmentally friendly energy sources.

The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), the lobbying group for the nuclear industry had contact with Cheney/Bush's energy task force 19 times, more than any other energy interest or lobbying group. NEI contributed $437,404 to political candidates from 1999 to 2002. Is it any wonder we face an energy policy that favors the nuclear industry over Americans?

The proposed legislation would reverse a long-standing U.S. policy against reprocessing irradiated nuclear fuel. Reprocessing facilitates stealing of nuclear bomb material and has proven a health hazard to nuclear industry workers and the public. The ban on reprocessing technology must remain. Nuclear waste must be regarded as a hazard, not a commodity.

Americans overwhelmingly want renewable energy and energy efficiency measures to take center stage in any energy policy. After 9/11, this is especially
true. In a November 2001, Gallup Poll people were asked whether they favor or oppose investment in solar, wind and fuel cells: 91% said they favor. Conversely, a majority rejected the idea of using nuclear reactors to wean us off foreign oil.

The people expect Congress to represent their wishes by standing up to energy interests that have consistently shown disdain for both public participation
and scrutiny. The energy bills before this committee were written largely by energy industries and do not have the best interests of the American people in mind. The people of this country deserve better. We need a new energy policy: one that emphasizes energy conservation, efficiency and renewable technology as not just a "sign of personal virtue," but as a necessary basis for a sound, comprehensive energy plan.

The Union Leader & New Hampshire Sunday News - 05-Feb-02 - View Article New Hampshire officials are reviewing their policy on radiation-blocking potassium iodide in light of the federal government’s offer to give KI tablets to states willing to stockpile the drug near nuclear power plants.
Up to now the state has refused to be involved in the stockpiling of potassium iodide for distribution to the public in the event that radiation leaking from Seabrook Station or Vermont Yankee required evacuation from communities near those nuclear power plants. State officials have advised people interested in having the non-prescription drug on hand to buy it themselves.


National and Local Environmental Press 3.21.2001

The Union Leader & New Hampshire Sunday News - 21-Mar-01 - Water8 EPA and MtBE New Hampshire's official hackles are up over the Environmental Protection Agency's refusal to take the water-polluting oxygenate MtBE out of gasoline.
The federal agency has refused to exempt New Hampshire's four southern counties from using gasoline formulated with MtBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether) to reduce toxic tailpipe emissions. Instead, the EPA suggested the state could minimize spillage of the suspected carcinogen by taking such measures as replacing underground storage tanks, increasing testing for MtBE and banning motor-powered craft from drinking water sources — like lakes Winnipesaukee and Manchester's Massabesic.
If this bothers you, and you live in NH. Call, e-mail or write the EPA and request, no more MBTE in NH!
Environmental Protection Agency
Ariel Rios Building
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20004
Main Number: 202-260-2090
Fax: 202-260-0279

Telephone: 202-260-5922
E-mail: Public-Access@epa.gov


National and Local Environmental Press

CWA: Maine & New Hampshire Fossil-fuel power plants in Bow, Newington, and Portsmouth are among New England's most polluting. Following a well publicized summer forum on the subject, the Portsmouth City Council adopted a resolution supporting CWA's Clean Power Campaign and urging Gov. Jeanne Shaheen to take action. The state convenes hearings in March on whether towns may set their own, stronger standards State officials have finally admitted to significant in-state mercury emissions problems and will be forming a Mercury Task Force. Contact CWA's Doug Bogen for details at dbogen@cleanwater.org