Nuclear Power is Dead. Time for a Just Transition: A Left Forum Panel

SDIPN will once again be hosting a Left Forum panel. The theme for 2017 is “The Resistance.” Our panel  is entitled, “Nuclear Power is Dead. Time for a Just Transition.” The panel is scheduled for Sunday, June 4th 12 Noon — 1:50PM, in room 1.65. Our scheduled panelists will be Estela Vazquez, Exec. VP of 1199 SEIU, and Alfred Meyer, Co-Chair of the Radiation and Health Committee of Physicians for Social Responsibility. SDIPN Co-Chairs Catherine Skopic and Carl Lundgren will facilitate and make presentations.

Visit www.leftforum.org to register.

Here is the panel abstract from the Left Forum website:

“Nuclear power has come to the end of it’s long, destructive road. The industry itself acknowledges this in it’s own publications and analyses but the public is still being conned — through editorials, op-eds, and propaganda — into believing it’s still necessary as a bridge to clean, green alternative energy sources. One of the tactics they use repeatedly is to shift the discussion to the “devastating” impact closures would have on workers, their families and communities, pitting labor against potential allies among activists for social, economic, political and environmental change. The issue has become even more contentious with states such as NY spending billions on bailing out aging, failing nukes instead of developing programs for a “Just Transition.” Our panel will discuss what a program for a genuine Just Transition would look like; one that would ensure employment for workers, security for their families, and stability for affected communities. We will encourage participants to offer their suggestions and ideas. Using the Indian Point nuclear facility as an example, we’ll provide the verifiable facts and figures that counter the misinformation we’re being fed, and explain how the money being misused for bailouts would be put to better use in the transition to a nuclear and fossil-fuel free future.”

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Rally: Indian Point Tritium Leaks

Media Advisory – 2/23/16

What – Rally: Indian Point Tritium Leaks – Close Indian Point

Question – “Mayor de Blasio – Is Our Water Safe?”

When – Thursday, March 3, 2016,         12:00 Noon – 1:00 PM

Where – Chambers & Centre St; NE of City Hall; #4, #5, #6, E, A, #1-3 Trains

Sponsoring Organization – Shut Down Indian Point Now   www.sdipn.net / 347-640-3660 / www.facebook.com/sdipn / @sdipn

SDIPN Report on paper.li (http://bit.ly/1i2RY7j)

Stay informed about the problems and issues surrounding nuclear power and energy in one place with SDIPN Report, the on line journal from paper.li.

Sources include Coalition Against Nukes (C.A.N.), Enformable, the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), Stop the Algonquin Pipeline Expansion (S.A.P.E.), as well as postings from Shut Down Indian Point Now.

Did We Almost Lose New York?

by Harvey Wasserman

Smoke seen rising from the Indian Point Energy Center on Saturday, May 9.       (Photo: Ricky Flores/AP)

For the third time in a decade a major fire/explosion has ripped apart a transformer at the Indian Point reactor complex.

News reports have taken great care to emphasize that the accident happened in the “non nuclear” segment of the plant.

Ironically, the disaster spewed oil into the Hudson River, infecting it with a toxic sheen that carried downstream for miles. Entergy, the nuke’s owner, denies there were PCBs in this transformer.

It also denies numerous studies showing serious radioactive health impacts on people throughout the region.

You can choose whether you want to believe the company in either case.

But PCBs were definitely spread by the last IP transformer fire. They re-poisoned a precious liquid lifeline where activists have spent decades dealing with PCBs previously dumped in by General Electric, which designed the reactors at Fukushima.

Meanwhile, as always, the nuclear industry hit the automatic play button to assure us all that that there was “no danger” to the public and “no harmful release” of radiation.

But what do we really know about what happened and could have happened this time around?

Explosion, Fire, Oil Spill at Indian Point Nuclear Power Facility

Around 6:00 pm Saturday evening, a transformer at the Indian Point nuclear power facility in Buchanan NY – just 25 miles from the NYC border – exploded and burst into flame. No injuries were reported but independent monitors recorded a spike in radioactive emissions of 2 -3 times the normal rate. Emergency crews initially put out the fire but it burst into flames again later on. The explosion ruptured the transformer causing a leak of the oil used to cool it, which went into a holding tank that then overflowed, discharging  thousands of gallons of the oil into the Hudson River. The explosion also initiated a shut down of the #3 reactor as a precaution. There’s no word yet when it will go back on line.  More information is provided in the articles and reports linked below.

An incident like this only adds to our argument for the complete shutdown and decommissioning of Indian Point.  A number of concerns and issues need to be restated at this time:

SDIPN at the 2015 Left Forum

SDIPN will be presenting a panel at this year’s Left Forum from May 29 – 31, hosted by John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The theme this year is “No Justice, No Peace: Confronting the Crises of Capitalism and Democracy.”

We’ll make the connection between the Black Lives Matter Movement and groups like SDIPN that are fighting for environmental justice by confronting the lies and distortions that  corporations like Entergy are distributing in communities of color in their effort to promote nuclear energy as a “clean and green” alternative to fossil fuels.

The date and time of our panel has not yet been announced. Check back for further information as we receive it.

Fukushima + 4 Event at Goddard-Riverside Center

Video courtesy of Joe Friendly

SDIPN General Meeting – Feb. 25, 2015

There will be an important general meeting, Wednesday, Feb 25 from 7-9 PM at the Goddard-Riverside Center on the NE corner of Columbus Ave. and W. 88th Street. Take the 1, C or B subway to West 86th St. or the M104, M7, M10 or M11 bus to West 88th Street or the M86 bus to Columbus Ave.

The agenda will include nominations and election of new officers, the adoption of by-laws, an update on the NYC Council Resolution to close Indian Point and upcoming activities.
Tom Siracuse
Chair

RSVP on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/342260529302852