by Linda A. DeStefano
The Atlantic Chapter is part of a coalition to achieve a nuclear-free, carbon-free New York by 2050. The Alliance for a Green Economy (AGREE) petitioned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to immediately suspend the license of the Fitzpatrick nuclear power plant in upstate New York due to its safety problems.
The facility has the same dangerous design as the plants which exploded in Fukushima, Japan. Further, it is the only facility of this design in the U.S. which has not accepted the advice of the NRC to install a retrofit which is intended to mitigate the consequences of a serious accident.
Although the reality is that the original design is so faulty that the retrofit is unlikely to work, the failure of Entergy (the owner of Fitzpatrick) to attempt any reasonable accommodation indicates disregard for public safety. (For details see the Spring 2012 issue of the Sierra Atlantic.)
While some spoke in person before the NRC’s Petition Review Board, I spoke on behalf of the Atlantic Chapter on a conference call, as did a member of the Syracuse Common Council and others. The good news is that AGREE and Beyond Nuclear (a national organization) received a decision from the board that accepts part of our argument.
The bad news is that the NRC will hold any action to correct the situation in abeyance—indefinitely, even though Syracuse residents live 36 miles from a potential disaster and, of course, other communities are even closer.
Meantime, we have initiated a postcard campaign to convince the state legislature to fund a study of how New York could become nuclear-free and carbon-free by 2050. We were hoping to collect 1,000 postcards by the end of 2012. After that, we’ll determine our next numeric goal. We plan to take the postcards to Albany to present to the relevant legislator(s).
Many studies indicate that energy conservation, energy efficiency, solar, wind and other renewables could replace nuclear, coal, oil and gas. However, we’d like a study specifically analyzing the situation in our state.
If you would like to help by signing a postcard (and maybe taking extras to distribute to others), contact me at (315)488-2140 (8 a.m. - 10 p.m.) or LDESTEFANO@ twcny.rr.com, or 5031 Onondaga Rd., Syracuse 13215-1403. Alternatively, you can sign online at allianceforagreeneconomy.org, and we will transfer your information to a physical postcard.
You can download informative leaflets to hand out with the postcards at allianceforagreeneconomy.org—or ask me for hard copies.
AGREE members include Citizens Awareness Network of Central N.Y. (C.A.N. in Vermont has mounted an impressive campaign to close Vermont Yankee); Citizens Environmental Coalition; Center for Health, Environment and Justice (the national organization started by Lois Gibbs of Love Canal fame); Peace Action of C.N.Y.; Peace Action of N.Y.S., and the Syracuse Peace Council.
Linda DeStefano is a member of the Chapter Energy Committee and the Chapter’s representative to AGREE.