Thanks to everyone who took action in response to our alerts in recent weeks. But unfortunately, as reported by investigative journalist and Beyond Nuclear board member Karl Grossman, despite a groundswell of opposition, on August 1st Governor Andrew Cuomo's (D-NY) New York Public Service Commission (PSC) rubber-stamped a rushed $7.6 billion bailout, at ratepayer expense. The 2017-2029 bailout will help Exelon Nuclear prop up four dirty, dangerously age-degraded, and uncompetitive atomic reactors (FitzPatrick, Ginna, Nine Mile Point 1 & 2) on the Great Lakes shore of upstate NY, that would (and should) otherwise permanently shut down. (Lake Ontario serves as the drinking water supply for nine million Americans, Canadians, and members of Native American First Nations.) The resistance included: over 100 environmental groups; dozens of elected officials; major manufacturers and businesses such as Alcoa, Corning, Praxair, and Wegmans Food Markets; the City of NY; and such pro-renewable luminaries and climate leaders as Mark Jacobson of Stanford. 15,000 public comments opposed the nuclear bailout, four times more people than supported them. Old atomic reactors could now gobble up two-thirds of the "Clean Energy Standard" funding, that should instead go towards expanding genuinely clean, safe, and affordable efficiency and renewables, such as wind and solar. Cuomo's PSC has even left open the door for Entergy's Indian Point 2 & 3, dangerously close to New York City, to exploit the subsidy scheme, as well: the nuclear bailout would then top $10 billion. Nuclear industry lobbyists will now try to apply NY's precedent in multiple states (CT, MD, NJ, OH, PA, etc.), to prop up failing reactors across the U.S. The next big battle against this ripoff of ratepayers, and radioactive Russian roulette risk-taking, will likely be in IL, where Exelon is headquartered. The company seeks $1.6 billion from ratepayers, in order to reverse its decision to close Clinton in 2017, and Quad Cities 1 & 2 in 2018. Nuclear Energy Information Service of Chicago has led the resistance to this bailout for years. More.
The Second Thematic World Social Forum for a Nuclear-Free World took place in Montreal from August 8 to 14 (the First was held in Fukushima and Tokyo, Japan last April). The Montreal Declaration for a Nuclear-Fission-Free World already has 168 organizational endorsers, and is open to more if you'd like to sign your group on. The week of anti-nuclear weapons and power activism addressed each stage of the uranium fuel chain, from mining to radioactive waste dumping. It included international networking and strategizing, an anti-nuke contingent in the World Social Forum kick off rally and march, and a dozen workshop sessions. More
August 18, 2016
