My Turn: Hattie Nestel

October 20, 2006

Monday October 16th saw the largest demonstration of recent years to Revoke the Operating License of Vermont Yankee in Brattleboro. Over 200 people paraded five miles through Brattleboro's Main Street with ingenious puppets from Bread and Puppet Theatre depicting the lethal nature of nuclear power.

After walking through Brattleboro all gathered at the Entergy headquarters in Brattleboro where 28 crossed over onto Entergy's property and were immediately arrested, taken to the police station, booked and released pending arraignment November 28. Alarmed by the dangers posed by this thirty-four year old reactor, people had traveled from Massachusetts and Vermont in a joint effort initiated by Citizens Awareness Network and the Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance.

In addition to its age, the 20% increase in power outage allowed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Vermont Public Safety Board, will cause 25 to 30 percent more radiation to be released, (see Rutland Herald 3/3/06) and increase water temperature emptied into the Connecticut River.

Vermont Yankee is a serious threat to the health and safety of residents in and around Franklin County who live less than 20 miles from the plant in Vernon, Vermont. (Radioactive emissions do not stop at the state line.)

Three Massachusetts State Representatives, Chris Donelan, Stephen Kulik and Denis Guyer joined Congressman John Olver in writing letter of support that were included in the press packets. Congressman John Olver stated, "I believe that reinvigorating the nuclear industry without solving safety issues and the nuclear waste storage problem risks creating a new environmental calamity. We should not rely on nuclear power before we discover how to safely store nuclear waste for the long term and protect Americans from the side effects. Radiation poisoning and the threat of cancer are health problems that have been clearly linked to exposure to nuclear waste." Representative Steve Kulik stated, "The people of Franklin County, Massachusetts bear a huge burden of both environmental degradation and the risk of catastrophic accident at this plant. I hope that the voices of so many concerned citizens taking part in this demonstration will be clearly heard in Washington, Montpelier, and Boston. Your education and advocacy is important, and I will continue to support your efforts to revoke Vermont Yankee's license to operate". Representative Chris Donelan stated, "We have asked about emergency preparedness, or lack of same, in Massachusetts. there are no funds, no plans and there is no effective way to safely respond to a catastrophic event if you live in southern Vermont, New Hampshire or Western Massachusetts."(Full statements from each are on the www.nukebusters.org website).

Two large signature ads were placed in the Recorder announcing this parade and action, and all the statements by our State and Federal officials were sent to the yet the Recorder. However, the Recorder did not see fit to report on this major event, except in one sentence on Wednesday, October 18 at the end of an article entitled "Vermont Yankee fights anti-nukes group complaints".

One must question the Recorder's motives for failing to report on this important citizens initiative.


For more information on how to get involved contact CAN@nukebusters.org

Hattie Nestel
Athol
Hattieshalom@verizon.net
978-249-6224