-Caveat Lector- From: marylia <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: 4 time-critical alerts Date: Friday, October 08, 1999 8:21 PM Action Alerts Dear Tri-Valley CAREs members and friends: Here are four extremely important and time-critical issues. Your action today can make a difference. If each of you reading this takes a few minutes to complete one or more of the actions below -- collectively we will create a huge chorus of voices that will be heard. Please do your part. And, if you want further information on any issue, just call our office at (925) 443-7148. 1. TELL THE SENATE: RATIFY THE COMPREHENSIVE TEST BAN TREATY AND CUT NEXT YEAR'S FUNDING FOR "STOCKPILE STEWARDSHIP" The full U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote on the CTBT on Tuesday, Oct. 12. President Clinton signed the CTBT on Sept. 24, 1996 but it has yet to be ratified by the Senate. That ratification vote will take place Oct. 12. Forty four nations with nuclear capability must sign and ratify the treaty before it can fully enter into force globally. The U.S. is one of those 44 countries. What message does it send the world if we fail to ratify the treaty? Tri-Valley CAREs has worked to end nuclear weapons testing since the group was founded in 1983. Numerous national polls show overwhelming public support for ending nuclear testing. Most recently, polls conducted by the Mellman Group and Wirthlin Worldwide showed that 82% of the American people want the CTBT ratified. Ratifying the CTBT and stopping so-called "Stockpile Stewardship" are two key parts of truly ending all nuclear testing. Moreover, these two parts are related in many ways. For example, other nations have complained that the "Stockpile Stewardship" program allows the U.S. to continue designing nuclear weapons, and that it impairs global acceptance of the test ban. ACTION: One phone call to each of your U.S. Senators today can help ratify the CTBT and cut next year's funding for "Stockpile Stewardship." Call the Congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Our California Senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, are on record supporting the CTBT. Ask them to work hard on the floor of the Senate to ensure its ratification. Neither Senator has yet been willing to cut funding for "Stockpile Stewardship." Tell them you are disappointed, and that you expect them to cut its budget in the future. 2. TELL THE SENATE: STOP BAD NUCLEAR WASTE POLICY The U.S. Senate is poised to vote on bill (S1287) called the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1999. This bill takes the nation's already shortsighted approach to nuclear waste and makes it worse. S1287 would allow the nuclear industry to ship "high-level" nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain in Nevada or to another, unnamed "temporary" site before any final decision is made regarding the permanent storage of radioactive waste. S1287 could mean that waste from 77 sites would move through 43 states, and then, at least potentially, move again when a final determination about a waste site is made. S1287 would also prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from setting "radiation safety standards"-- specifying that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) would set the standards. Then, S1287 disallows even the NRC from setting any standards (even weak ones) regarding release limits for the nuclear waste or to specifically protect groundwater resources around the dump site. S1287 also sets up a special "Office of Spent Nuclear Fuel Research" to conduct R&D on plutonium reprocessing technologies. This flies in the face of U.S. nuclear nonproliferation goals. ACTION: One phone call to your Senator can help stop this waste bill. Call (202) 224-3121. Tell your Senator S1287 has too many bad ideas. Tell him/her that we need a nuclear waste policy that is scientifically sound and has public input and credibility. Tell your Sen. to vote against this bail out for the nuclear industry. 3. TELL THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: SAVE THE SUPERFUND CLEANUP LAW Superfund is a federal law mandating cleanup of many heavily contaminated toxic and radioactive waste sites; there are over 1,200 Superfund cleanup sites in the nation, including the Livermore Lab's main site and site 300 high explosives testing range. The U.S. House of Representatives is considering a bill (HR1300) that will weaken the Superfund law. The vote on HR 1300 may come as early as mid-October. HR1300 would change the liability provision in the current Superfund law (called "joint and several liability") in such a way it could let polluters off the hook. Further, HR1300 relaxes the standard for what is deemed clean. This could result in federal Superfund cleanup sites being called "finished," even though hazardous pollutants remain in the soil and water in violation of state standards. ACTION: One phone call to your Congressional Representative can help save Superfund. Call the Congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Ask your Rep. to oppose HR1300 and any other future bill that could weaken the Superfund law. 4. TELL GE VALLECITOS: WE DON'T WANT YOU TO BRING MORE NUCLEAR WASTE TO THE TRI-VALLEY Tri-Valley CAREs has obtained a report from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) showing all shipments of irradiated nuclear fuel rods around the country during the years 1993-1996. Would it surprise you to learn that more than half of all shipments in the U.S. during that time have involved the General Electric Vallecitos nuclear center, located in the Tri-Valley along highway 84 at the edges of Livermore, Pleasanton and Sunol? During the 4 year period covered in the report, there were a total of 137 cross-country shipments -- and 70 have been to or from the GE Vallecitos nuclear center. Sixty (60) shipments of irradiated -- also called "spent" -- nuclear fuel rods came into the GE plant and 10 shipments left the plant. Just what is going on at GE Vallecitos? Following the January 1980 5.5 magnitude earthquake in Livermore, the second of three reactors was shut down at GE Vallecitos. The main reactor had been shut down in 1997 amid controversy because it sat atop the Verona fault. Folks thought GE had closed, except for a much smaller reactor that produces medical isotopes. Not quite. Now we learn that GE has some 56 nuclear fuel rods on site that have been secretly shipped and stored. This Nov., at a date that remains secret, ten more irradiated nuclear fuel rods are scheduled to arrive via truck from the Limerick nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. This is the same shipment that got delayed last year due to problems that occurred when the Limerick facility tried to load the rods into their shipping casks. An NRC internal report said that there were "irregularities, so the operation was halted." Now they will try again. ACTION: Participate in an important public meeting, to be held at 7 PM on Wed., Oct. 20 at the Shrine Event Center, 170 Lindbergh Ave., near the Livermore airport. We will have an information table and fact sheets, e.g. on spent nuclear fuel (which is high level nuclear waste containing plutonium and other deadly fission products) along with "talking points" and questions for GE Vallecitos and the NRC. If you live in the Tri-Valley area or along the transportation route, this meeting's for you! Tri-Valley CAREs, 2582 Old First Street, Livermore, CA 94550 Note: Thanks to Citizen's Mass Energy Project for information on S 1287 and Desert Citizens Against Pollution for information on HR 1300. end Marylia Kelley Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) 2582 Old First Street Livermore, CA USA 94550 <http://www.igc.org/tvc/> - is our web site, please visit us there! (925) 443-7148 - is our phone (925) 443-0177 - is our fax Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear weapons. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
