The Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Dump Vote in Congress is Imminent!!!
U.S. House of Representatives to vote on Yucca/Mobile Chernobyl as early
as May 8 or 9.
Call your U.S. Representative right away:
Capitol Switchboard phone number 202.224.3121
Urge your Representative to oppose the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump, and the unprecedented tens of thousands of risky high-level radioactive waste trucks, trains, and barges through 44 states that
Yucca would require. Urge him/her to oppose House Joint Resolution 87, which would override Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn's veto of the Yucca
dump. Urge your Rep. to uphold Nevada's veto. Tell your Member that instead of Yucca/Mobile Chernobyl, he/she should support and co-sponsor
Representative Dennis Kucinich's Nuclear Waste Transportation Amendments Act of 2002, H.R. 4605.
While on the line with your Rep's office, get their fax number and follow up with a handwritten, personal letter. See a sample letter on NIRS website at: www.nirs.org/DearRepresentativeYucca.html
BACKGROUND
Despite a Dec. 2001 U.S. General Accounting Office report that a decision should be postponed indefinitely due to nearly 300 incomplete
scientific studies, and a Jan. 2002 U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board determination that the Department of Energy's Yucca Mountain science is "weak to moderate," on Feb. 14, Energy Secretary Spence Abraham recommended Yucca Mountain as a suitable site for burying 77,000 tons of high-level radioactive waste. President Bush rubberstamped the
reckless plan the very next day. Nevada Gov. Guinn exercised his right under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and vetoed the president's decision on April 8th. Congress would have to override Nevada (with a simple majority vote in both the House and Senate) within 90 legislative working days, or else the veto stands.
Now the nuclear power industry's army of lobbyists is looking to cash in on its untold tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions to Congress. Under the pro-nuclear leadership of House Speaker Dennis Hastert (Republican from Illinois, the state with the most commercial reactors -- and thus the most nuclear waste -- in the country, whose own
district hosts the global headquarters of nuclear power giant Exelon), pro-Yucca forces in the U.S. House have wasted no time in attempting to ride roughshod over Nevada's veto. Longtime "Screw Nevada" proponents Joe Barton (Republican from Texas) and John Dingle (Democrat from Michigan) didn't let the facts get in the way of their ramming the Yucca override resolution through the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Despite a more balanced hearing in the House Transportation Committee,
with numerous Members raising concerns about the dangers of high-level nuclear waste shipments, the resolution to override Nevada is moving like a runaway freight train. The floor vote before the full House could come as early as Wednesday, May 8 or Thursday, May 9.
WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT
Given this rigged process, and the excessive nuclear power industry influence upon the U.S. House of Representatives, it appears that Nevada's veto will be overridden in this chamber. But we must work hard with what little time we have left to gain as many votes as possible in opposition to Yucca and Mobile Chernobyl. A Nuclear Energy Institute
spokesperson made the mistake of being quoted in the media that "If we don't get at least 300 votes in the House in favor of Yucca, it won't look good." Let's make sure we make NEI lobbyists' fears come true! If we do well enough in the House, we will set a good tone for the upcoming Senate vote, expected as early as June, !QW! we stand a better chance of sustaining Nevada's veto.
Tell your Representative that this rush to approve Yucca is inviting disaster, as the site is an active earthquake zone that will leak radiation into the environment. Tell him/her that when it comes to
nuclear waste transportation, we all live in Nevada. Nuclear waste trucks, trains and barges would be vulnerable to severe accidents and terrorist attacks as they roll through our major cities. Even
"incident-free" shipments would still be like mobile x-ray machines that cannot be turned off, dosing unsuspecting bystanders with harmful gamma
radiation (to completely hold in all the gamma radiation coming off the highly radioactive waste would take so much lead shielding, the container would be too heavy to move!). Urging your representative to support and co-sponsor Rep. Kucinich's Nuclear Waste Transportation
Amendments Act of 2002, H.R. 4605, gives them a positive alternative to the bad Yucca/Mobile Chernobyl plan.
STOP YUCCA/MOBILE CHERNOBYL ACTION CHECKLIST:
Phone and fax your U.S. Representative's office to oppose Yucca and Mobile Chernobyl. If the Capitol Switchboard is busy, call NIRS at 202.328.0002 to get your Rep's direct phone and fax numbers.
Phone and fax other U.S. Reprensentatives in your area.
Activate your networks, activist phone trees, friends, family, and neighbors to do the same.
Set up a Yucca/Mobile Chernobyl info/action table at your local food co-op or student union. Have a cell phone available so people can make their own calls to their Representative's office right there on the
spot. Have blank paper available so people can write personal handwritten letters, collect them, then later fax them in to their Representative's office.
Contact NIRS at 202.328.0002 for materials to stock your info/action table: the sharp-looking new NIRS/Public Citizen brochure "Nuclear Waste
Isn't the Only Thing Being Taken for a Ride: 6 Lies You're Being Told About Yucca Mountain and the Truckloads of Radioactive Waste They Want to Put on Our Highways. And What You Can Do About It"; route maps showing the targeted highways, railways, and/or waterways in your area that would be used to transport high-level radioactive waste; "Danger! High-Level Atomic Waste Transport Route" stickers.
Write an op/ed or letter to the editor to your local newspaper. Go to http://www.citizen.org/cmep/energy_enviro_nuclear/nuclear_waste/hi-level/yucca/articles.cfm?ID=7246
to see a model letter to the editor prepared by Public Citizen Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program.
Contact Kevin Kamps at NIRS for more ideas. Let's try to stop Yucca/Mobile Chernobyl dead in its tracks on Capitol Hill! Thanks very much for your help!!!
Prepared 4/30/2002 by Kevin Kamps, nuclear waste specialist at NIRS, 202.328.0002
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