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

Advertisement

Indian Point’s 100% Replacement Energy in Place Now – to Power the Bronx and All of New York City

 [The following opinion article is a rebuttal to one posted by Frank Fraley that posted on February 4, 2016 in the Norwood News. ]

(Op-Ed) Indian Point’s 100% Replacement Energy in Place Now – to Power the Bronx and All of New York City

By CATHERINE SKOPIC

We applaud Governor Andrew Cuomo’s support for the closure of the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant. As he has clearly stated there is no evacuation plan and it is too close to New York City. No need to worry. New York City does not need Indian Point to keep our lights on.

New York State energy regulators have already evaluated any potential reliability issues that could occur when Indian Point is closed and created a plan to ensure they are addressed: the Indian Point Replacement Contingency Plan is already being implemented by Con Edison and the New York Power Authority.*(Nuclear Information and Resource Service http://www.nirs.org)

Is the Bronx Burning?: A Community Forum:

NUCLEAR POWER, AND THE INDIAN POINT NUCLEAR POWER PLANT: Are they PART OF THE SOLUTION OR PART OF THE PROBLEM?

Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

St. Ann’s Episcopal Church
295 St. Ann’s Avenue (at E.140th St.)
Bronx, New York 10454

Indian Point is located less than 25 miles from us, just a 30 minute drive from the Bronx. It’s an aging facility, long past its expected expiration date. There have been a number of accidents and breakdowns over the years, all of which had the potential for disaster, placing all our lives in grave danger. It’s a ticking time bomb…AND… we no longer need it to supply our electricity.

Shut Down Indian Point Now! invites you to attend a grassroots community forum where we will explore the following questions:

• Can we afford to shut down the Indian Point nuclear power plant
• Can we afford not to shut down Indian Point?
• Do we need to move towards 100% clean, green renewable energy, with livable-wage, green renewable jobs for Bronx residents, with all deliberate speed (but no later than 2030!)?
• If 100% clean, green renewable energy is the objective, is nuclear energy part of the solution…or part of the problem?

(HINT: What does clean, renewable energy have to do with asthma rates in the South Bronx? With livable-wage jobs in the South Bronx? With housing for poor and working people in the Bronx?)

A Question & Answer discussion will follow the presentation

Confirmed speakers (list in formation):

• Tim Judson (Nuclear Information & Resource Service – NIRS)
• Alfred Meyer (Physicians for Social Responsibility – PSR)
• Catherine Skopic (Shut Down Indian Point Now! -SDIPN!)

Welcome by Rev. Martha Overall (St. Ann’s Episcopal Church)

Introduction by Carl Lundgren (Chair, Shut Down Indian Point Now! -SDIPN!)

Co-sponsors (list in formation):

• 350NYC
• Bronx Climate Change North
• Bronx Greens/Verdes del Bronx
• Food and Water Watch
• Green Ecosocialist Movement
• Hudson River Sloop Clearwater
• Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition
• Manhattan Green Party Local
• New York Friends of Clearwater
• Peace Action Staten Island
• South Bronx Community Congress
• United for Action

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DIRECTIONS:

Subway: #6 train to Brook Ave. Walk East one block to St. Ann’s Ave; walk North two blocks on St. Ann’s Ave. Church is on your left; #2, 5 train to Prospect Ave. Transfer to Southbound BX17 bus and exit at the St. Ann’s Ave/E. 141st St. stop. Walk South on St. Ann’s Ave. a few yards. Church is on your right. Alternately: #2 train to W 135th St. Transfer to Eastbound Bx33 bus; exit at the Brook Ave./E. 138th St. stop. Walk East one block to St. Ann’s Ave; walk North two blocks on St. Ann’s Ave. Church is on left.

Bus: Eastbound Bx33 bus; exit at the Brook Ave./E. 138th St. stop. Walk East one block to St. Ann’s Ave; walk North two blocks on St. Ann’s Ave. Church is on your left. Southbound BX17 bus; exit at the St. Ann’s Ave./E. 141st St. stop. Walk South on St. Ann’s Ave. a few yards. Church is on your right.

Resolution to close Indian Point introduced into NYC Council

SDIPN officers Ann Eagan (l) and John Reynolds (r, holding sign) in the council chamber of City Hall witnessing introduction of resolution to close Indian Point.

Dear Friends,

Today is a day to celebrate as we turn the corner in our efforts to shut down Indian Point, our own Fukushima on the Hudson! The new Chair of the NYC Committee on Environmental Protection, Donovan Richards, introduced Resolution 0694-2015 into the City Council together with Councilmembers Stephen Levin and Helen Rosenthal. The resolution calls on the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission not to relicense  the Indian Point reactors! (click here for text). Now we have to get a whole bunch of our 51 NYC Council members to co-sponsor the resolution, to make sure it will pass successfully. Please call your NYC Council member and ask him or her to sign on as a co-sponsor. If you’re in the district of Richards, Levin or Rosenthal, call them and thank them, and ask how you can help to insure the successful passage of Resolution 0694-2015.  To look up your Council member and contact info go to: http://council.nyc.gov/html/members/members.shtml and enter your address.

On a personal note, I started working for this resolution after 911, in 2001, when the NY Times, and later the 911 Commission, reported that Al Qaeda was considering Indian Point as a target, when it decided instead to attack the World Trade towers!! Together with Code Pink, we marched around City Hall with a marching band and pink feather boas to attract attention and met with the head of the environmental committee at that time, Gennaro, who said he would put our Close Indian Point  resolution forward but nothing happened.  In 2011, after Fukushima, we tried again with Council member Mark- Viverito who also said she would move it forward but it disappeared into a black hole. Our new City Council is very progressive. They marched at the head of the 400,000 strong People’s Climate March this past fall. Donovan Richards represents the people of Far Rockaway who were underwater during hurricane Sandy. He and his new colleagues on the Council really “get it.” They know we have to move to a sustainable NYC, 100% powered by sun, wind, geothermal, small scale hydro, coupled with efficiency and conservation by 2030 as other cities are doing. We can do it too! There are already existing solutions. For example, CUNY has done a solar rooftop study that shows we can get 40% of our peak power from solar paneled rooftops in NYC.  Other studies show the huge potential of wind energy and the enormous savings from insulating our buildings properly, using magnitudes less fuel for heating and cooling—using “negawatts” as Amory Lovins has named those savings from efficiency.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION TODAY!   Call your Council member to sponsor Res. No. 0694-2015 and spread the word. Ask your friends and neighbors to call too! And look for additional action alerts coming your way, including a big sign-on letter for organizations. Thanks for your help.

Alice Slater

PS:  for some reason, Mayor DiBlasio, in issuing his report for One NYC http://www.nyc.gov/html/planyc/html/home/home.shtml, on how to move forward towards sustainability, forgot to delete Bloomberg’s touting of nuclear power and keeping Indian Point pointed like a dagger at NYC.   We have to get to DiBlasio as well and ask him to amend One NYC so that it really works for people without relying on toxic nuclear power, threatening the very survival of our city and our health and well being.