HOLTEC AT PALISADES?! Environmental Coalition Intervenes

The age-degraded Palisades atomic reactor, its radioactively contaminated site, and the Lake Michigan shoreline and Van Buren County countryside it has long put at risk.Beyond Nuclear, joined by Don't Waste Michigan and Michigan Safe Energy Future, have requested a hearing at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in opposition to the Entergy-to-Holtec license transfers at the Palisades atomic reactor (photo, left) and the decommissioned Big Rock Point nuclear plant site, both on the Lake Michigan shore in West Michigan. See the press release, and the petition, filed by Terry Lodge of Toledo, Ohio, the coalition's legal counsel. Environmental Law & Policy Center, as well as the Office of Michigan's Attorney General, Dana Nessel, have also intervened. In December, we warned AG Nessel, and many other MI officials, about the many risks and high stakes, and urged them to intervene. We are thankful they have.

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PORT HOPE, ONTARIO: A Case Study in Radioactive Risk

Lake Huron's shorelineProtect Our Waterways/No Nuclear Waste has announced a webinar on Wed., March 17, at 7:30pm Eastern, featuring Faye More, Chair, Port Hope Community Health Concerns, and Theresa McClenaghan, Senior Counsel and Executive Director, Canadian Environmental Law Association. It will look at Port Hope, east of Toronto on the Lake Ontario shore, its legacy of radioactive wastes the community is burdened with, and community concerns, particularly in light of a recent proposal to relax environmental cleanup criteria that many felt were already too lax. Beyond Nuclear was featured on a recent previous webinar in this series, dedicated to fending off a national high-level radioactive waste dump targeted at South Bruce, Ontario, near the Lake Huron shore. Register here.

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RADIOACTIVE MOUNTAIN BIKING? Help Stop the Rocky Mountain Greenway!

RADIOACTIVE MOUNTAIN BIKING? Help Stop the Rocky Mountain Greenway! Our Alliance for Nuclear Accountability partners at Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, decades-long watchdogs on the Rocky Flats nuclear weapon facility, have an action alert: "The Rocky Mountain Greenway is a proposed mountain biking path, intended to go through the previous buffer zone of the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant. The Rocky Flats area is still widely contaminated with plutonium, americium and other contaminants. In the best interest of public health, the area must not be open for public recreation." Their sign-on letter is open to individuals and organizations. They have succeeded in the past, working with students and school districts, to ban field trips to the hazardous area. The sign-on deadline is early April. Please spread the word! READ MORE

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Senate confirms former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm as energy secretary

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.As reported by Axios.

See Beyond Nuclear radioactive waste specialist Kevin Kamps's statement about Jennifer Granholm's record, as MI AG and governor, on nuclear power and radioactive waste issues, at the time of her nomination by President Biden. (Kamps has served as a board member of Don't Waste Michigan, the state-wide anti-nuclear coalition, since the early 1990s.)

In response to questions raised by U.S. Sen. Cortez Masto (D-NV) during her U.S. Senate confirmation hearing last month, Energy Secretary Granholm expressed support for consent-based siting, and therefore opposition to the Yucca Mountain high-level radioactive waste dump targeted at Nevada. The state, and the Western Shoshone Indian Nation, have both expressed strong opposition to the proposed dump, for the past 34 years.

Although no U.S. Senators questioned Granholm about the Consolidated Interim Storage Facilities targeted at Texas and New Mexico, the Energy Secretary must surely also oppose them, as well, right? Neither targeted "host" state consents to the siting of either dump (the Texas dump is immediately upon the New Mexico border, and upstream; the New Mexico dump is not far from the Texas border). Both governors (Republican Greg Abbott in Texas, and Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham in New Mexico) have spoken out strongly against both dumps, as have many Members of Congress from both states, state legislators in both states, and a growing groundswell of grassroots groups and concerned citizens.

Beyond Nuclear on the Thom Hartmann Program

Thom Hartmann hosts Beyond Nuclear's radioactive waste specialist Kevin Kamps to discuss: earthquakes in recent days impacting the rubblized Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan: anti-nuclear fights on Lake Michigan, at Palisades, MI and Point Beach, WI; and the Biden administration's nuclear power and radioactive waste policies.