Beyond Nuclear honors Rose Gardner with the Judith Johnsrud "Unsung Hero" Award
May 21, 2019
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Left to right, front row -- Rose's daugther Bridget, granddaughter Aubrey, Rose Gardner, daughter Jessica; back row -- Beyond Nuclear's Linda Gunter, Paul Gunter, Kevin Kamps. Photo by Molly Johnson.Rose Gardner of Alliance for Environmental Strategies (AFES) in Eunice, New Mexico is the winner of Beyond Nuclear's 2019 Dr. Judith H. Johnsrud "Unsung Hero" Award. Judith was an activist, leader and founding board member of Beyond Nuclear and other groups. Rose was recognized "for tirelessly defending her community, in the belly of the beast, undeterred by daunting odds, with a calm, humble heart, and yet fiery determination." The honor was bestowed on May 21 on Capitol Hill, during the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability's (ANA) 31st annual D.C. Days. See the reception announcement with additional awardees here.) Rose's home is just five miles from a "low-level" radioactive waste dump which is threatening to add 40,000 metric tons of highly radioactive nuclear fuel; every one of these thousands of rail shipments passing through Eunice, en route. Rose's hometown already "hosts" a uranium enrichment facility. Just 37 miles away, Rose's home is also threatened by "temporary" storage of 173,600 MT of commercial irradiated nuclear fuel (more than twice what currently exists in the country); the site is very near a geologic disposal facility that leaked military plutonium and other trans-uranic wastes into the environment on Valentine's Day, 2014. In short, the nuclear industry is trying to turn Rose's majority Hispanic area into a "nuclear sacrifice zone." Rose joined Beyond Nuclear and other ANA member groups in educating congressional offices about these and related nuclear issues. Rose also joined Beyond Nuclear on our weekly radio show at Sputnik International. We thank and congratulate Rose for defending her New Mexico "Land of Enchantment" against such an environmental injustice, and look forward to working with her and our New Mexico and Texas grassroots allies, as well as those in transport corridor states, to stop these consolidated interim storage facilities, and the Mobile Chernobyls they would launch! More

Article originally appeared on Beyond Nuclear (https://archive.beyondnuclear.org/).
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