There is a long, proud tradition of anti-nuclear resistance to Palisades. Here, Don't Waste Michigan board members Michael Keegan, Alice Hirt, and Kevin Kamps call for the reactor's shutdown at the August 2000 Nuclear-Free Great Lakes Action Camp. Visible in the background is Lake Michigan, and the steam from the reactor's cooling towers.U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairman Gregory Jaczko, who announced his intention to resign earlier this week, has reached out to Beyond Nuclear to help set up a meeting with concerned citizens and environmental groups in South Haven, Michigan this Friday after he tours the problem-plagued Palisades atomic reactor on the Lake Michigan shore. Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps worked with Don't Waste Michigan's Alice Hirt to assemble a coalition including Clean Water Action, Coalition for a Nuclear-Free Great Lakes, Michigan Environmental Council (itself a coalition of over 70 organizations), Michigan Land Trustees, and Nuclear Energy Information Service, as well as numerous concerned local residents, to meet with NRC Chairman Jaczko. Jaczko plans to hold a 12:30 p.m. press conference at the Beach Haven Event Center in South Haven Township, MI, to be followed by the meeting with the environmental coalition at 1 p.m. Jaczko announced the upcoming visit on Monday, the same day as his resignation announcement, according to AP. However, NRC's website shows no such press release.
At the same time, a nationwide campaign to block the re-nomination and re-confirmation of Republican NRC Commissioner Kristine Svinicki is growing. Such Democratic U.S. Senate Leaders as Harry Reid (D-NV), Senate Majority Leader, as well as Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee (which must confirm NRC nominees), have expressed grave misgivings about NRC Commissioner Svinicki's voting record during her first term as an NRC Commissioner. Svinicki almost always votes in favor of nuclear industry interests, while Chairman Jaczko has often found himself the lone dissenting vote in favor of public safety. The Sierra Club has issued an action alert to block Svinicki's confirmation, as has NIRS. Please take action: call both of your U.S. Senators right away via the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and urge them to do everything in their power to block NRC Commissioner Svinikci's confirmation!
(Meanwhile, President Obama has nominated Allison Macfarlane to Chair NRC, reports The Hill newspaper. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat from Nevada, released a statement concerning Macfarlane's nomination.)
Palisades is located, as are American Electric Power/Indian-Michigan Power's Donald C. Cook twin reactors, in southwest Michigan's 6th congressional district, long represented by U.S. Representative Fred Upton (R-MI). Upton is now chairman of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, and has led the "witch hunt" on behalf of the nuclear power industry seeking Jackzo's ouster. Beyond Nuclear has long exposed Upton's pro-nuclear activities (including an in depth investigation, complete with documentation of nuclear industry political action committee campaign contributions to Congressman Upton, as well as individuals associated with the nuclear industry supporting Upton's electoral campaigns).