Noel Marquez, Presente!

A sweeping historic mural by Noel Marquez, including a panel about WIPP (lower left)It is with a very heavy heart that we share the news of the passing on of a dear friend and colleague, Noel Marquez, from Lake Arthur, New Mexico. Noel passed on on Dec. 23, 2020, after a long illness. He is survived by his wife Madeleine, their 14-year old daughter Paikea (Pai), and their extended families in this country and overseas.

Donations for Noel's family can be sent to: Southwest Research Information Center, P.O. Box 4524, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87196-4524. Please put "Noel Family Fund" in the memo line of the check. Or donations can be sent directly to Madelene Aguinaldo, 635 N. 13th, Lake Arthur, NM 88253.

Sympathy cards can be sent to: Madelene Aguinaldo and Pai Marquez, P.O.Box 564, Artesia, NM 88211-0564.

Noel was a co-founder of Alliance for Environmental Strategies (AFES), a southeastern New Mexico environmental justice group opposed to two high-level radioactive waste dumps targeted at their local area. His activism was so trailblazing, that it led to the Lake Arthur, NM resolution against Holtec's dump in Sept. 2017; it was the very first, inspiring many more to follow, over a wider and wider multi-state region. Noel had also actively opposed the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, a military plutonium waste dump, in his local area, for decades. Noel was truly an inspiring leader in the anti-nuclear movement of New Mexico, and his passing on is felt nationwide, as among the coalition fighting high-level nuke waste dumps targeted at Noel's beloved home, southeastern NM. READ MORE.

A QUIET HERO OF OUR TIME: COVID takes life of young Russian anti-nuker

Photo of Rashid Alimov, taken from his own Facebook Page.Rashid Alimov, a 40-year old Greenpeace Russia campaigner and journalist, has died due to covid-19, shocking and saddening the Russian anti-nuclear movement and colleagues across the world.

Alimov had faced arrests and harassment while protesting in St. Petersburg and against nuclear waste transports from Germany, and was an inveterate champion for the victims of the Mayak disaster. When authorities planned to fuel floating reactors at a port close to the 5 million living in St. Petersburg, it was Alimov’s efforts that got the operation moved to Murmansk. “It’s not often that an entire Russian region owes a debt of gratitude to a single reporter, but in Rashid’s case, it’s true”, wrote Bellona’s Charles Digges in a tribute.

READ MORE.

ANTI-NUKE VICTORIES IN OHIO! Pro-nuke legislation thwarted for now

The flag of Ohio, superimposed on a map of the state.House Bill 104, the "ANTHEM Act" ("Advanced Nuclear Technology Helping Energize Mankind"), appears to have been stopped -- for now -- in the Ohio state legislature's lame duck session, according to Patricia Marida of the Ohio Sierra Club Nuclear-Free Committee in Columbus, and anti-nuke attorney Terry Lodge in Toledo. HB 104 would launch thorium fuel chain, Small Modular Reactor, and reprocessing facilities, at taxpayer expense, with no accountability.

And a judge has, at least temporarily, suspended HB 6's $1.3 billion old nuke/coal bailout, allegedly secured by a $61 million bribe. Vigilance will be needed in the new year, including against a license extension at the age-degraded Perry atomic reactor on Lake Erie's shore, northeast of Cleveland. READ MORE.

BIDEN'S CLIMATE & ENERGY NOMINEES: Their EJ and nuclear power records

Jennifer M. Granholm's official portrait was unveiled in the state Capitol where it will hang in the Gallery of the Governors. The portrait features the governor amid symbols that tell the story of her administration's efforts to diversify Michigan's economy, educate and train its citizens, and protect them in tough economic times during the two-terms she served as Michigan's 47th governor.President-elect Biden has nominated former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy as his National Climate Advisor, and former Michigan Attorney General and Governor Jennifer Granholm for Energy Secretary (pictured, left). While McCarthy thankfully did no favors for nuclear power in the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan, she did do the industry's bidding on her last day in office, approving so-called Protective Action Guidelines authorizing very large increases in "allowable" radioactive contamination during ill-defined nuclear emergencies, lasting indefinitely. While Granholm developed praiseworthy offshore wind power plans for the Great Lakes, she remained neutral, or worse, on reactor and nuke waste risks. In addition, very serious environmental, social, and racial justice violations occurred on their watches. READ MORE.

OUTRAGEOUS: $11 Billion for nukes in COVID relief bill

"Burning Money" image by Gene Case/Avening Angels. Used with permission. The image graced the cover of The Nation magazine in 2003, accompanying a feature article about the nuclear power relapse by Christian Parenti.NUCLEAR CHRISTMAS TREE BILL

$11 billion for nukes in COVID legislation

The nuclear lobby's Christmas stockings have been stuffed by Congress. The Washington Post reports that a whopping $11 billion in nuclear-related subsidies, compliments of U.S. taxpayers, have been included in the $900 billion coronavirus relief bill just passed by both houses of congress. It appears that many of the giveaways are included in Section II, NUCLEAR, beginning at Page 3,288 of the 5,593-page bill. However, scores of "nuclear" references, both power and weapons-related, can be found scattered throughout the legislation.

This latest shocking round of subsidization for the already filthy-rich nuclear power industry comes on top of many hundreds of billions of dollars of subsidies given to it over the past many decades.

Update on December 29, 2020 by admin

See a more detailed break down of the nuclear power subsidies included in the legislation.