Nuclear Information and Resource Service * Greenpeace

Safe Energy Communication Council * Public Citizen * Free the Planet

Military Production Network * Kansas Sierra Club * Kansas Natural Resource Council

Environmental Action * Nuclear Waste Citizens Coalition

U.S. Public Interest Research Group *Greens/Green Party USA

Physicians for Social Responsibility * Fellowship of Reconciliation

Friends of the Earth * 20/20 Vision * Good Money, Inc.

Wyoming Outdoor Council * Citizens Awareness Network * Envirovideo

Nuclear Resister * Western North Carolina Alliance * Three Mile Island Alert

GE Stockholders Alliance * Tennessee Valley Energy Reform Coalition

C-10 Research & Education Foundation * Northwest Environmental Advocates

Oyster Creek Nuclear Watch * Grass Roots Environmental Organization

Physicians for Social Responsibility, Los Angeles * Alliance to Close Indian Point

Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, Louisiana * Toledo Coalition for Safe Energy

Student Environmental Action Coalition, U. of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

U. of Florida Environmental Action Group * Orange County (NC) Greens

Wilmington College Peace Resource Center * The Peace Farm * Citizen Alert

Student Environmental Action Coalition, U. of Northern Iowa * Eco-Action, Penn State U.

Pennsylvania Environmental Network * Los Gatos Unitarian Fellowship

Stop the Organizations Raping Mankind * Nuclear Democracy Network

Green Party of Ohio * People's Action for Clean Energy

Alliance for Survival * Heart of America Northwest *

Grandmothers for Peace

California Communities Against Toxics * Desert Citizens Against Pollution

Nuclear Energy Information Service * Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution * Austin Greens

Physicians for Social Responsibility, Kansas * Eco Sense, American U.

Student Environmental Action Coalition, U. of Delaware

Redwood Alliance * Iowans for Nuclear Safety * St. Joseph Valley Greens

Economists Allied for Arms Reduction * Rocky Mountain Peace Center

Kwanitewk Native Resource Network * Physicians for Social Responsibility, Atlanta

Fernald Residents for Environment, Safety & Health * Snake River Alliance

Womens Action for New Directions * Los Alamos Study Group * STAND

Center for Energy Research * Humans Against Nuclear Waste Dumps, Mescalero

Physicians for Social Responsibility, Colorado * AFSC, Denver

Prairie Island Coalition * North American Water Office

Students for Social Responsibility, Cal Poly * Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination

War & Peace Foundation * Abalone Alliance * NC WARN

April 16, 1996

Hon. Robert Dole Majority Leader United States Senate Washington, DC 20510

Dear Majority Leader Dole:

We are dismayed and outraged to learn that a Senate floor vote on S. 1271 (Craig, R-Idaho) tentatively has been scheduled for April 25 or 26, 1996.

As you know, April 26, 1996 is the tenth anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident--a disaster whose consequences have grown larger with time. It is an anniversary that merits sober reflection on the terrible consequences of the nuclear age, and respect for the tens of thousands of people who have lost their homes, their land, and their lives.

Instead, we apparently will be treated to the spectacle of a Senate vote on the U.S. nuclear power industry's latest "not-in-my-back-yard" scheme--a bill which has been quite aptly dubbed the "Mobile Chernobyl Act."

S. 1271 addresses the ongoing and enormous problem of radioactive waste by moving the problem from the nuclear utilities to taxpayers. The bill would establish an "interim" radioactive waste storage site near Yucca Mountain, Nevada, and begin the unprecedented transport of high-level radioactive waste through 43 states and the District of Columbia; through

dozens of cities and across our nation's agricultural heartland. Once the waste left the utility sites, where it is now, title to and liability for that waste would transfer from the utilities to the taxpayers. All this because nuclear utilities don't want to pay for storage of their own waste, and, like everyone else, don't want it in their own backyards.

S. 1271 would be an insult to the American people at any time. Holding this vote on the 10th anniversary of Chernobyl is contemptuous and demonstrates a serious lack of understanding of the lessons of Chernobyl.

Writing in the April 1996 issue of Scientific American, Yuri Shcherbak, Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States, said, "Chornobyl [Ukrainian spelling] was not simply another disaster of the sort that humankind has experienced throughout history, like a fire or an earthquake or a flood. It is a global environmental event of a new kind. It is characterized by the presence of thousands of environmental refugees; long-term contamination of land, water and air; and possibly irreparable damage to ecosystems. Chornobyl demonstrates the ever growing threat of technology run amok."

S. 1271 ignores the lessons of Chernobyl. The high-level nuclear waste that would be transported across our nation's railways and highways contains 95% of the radioactivity ever created in the U.S. Before we begin such a risky endeavor, we had better be sure that the first transport of this deadly material is the last. Moving the waste to an "interim" site, even as evidence is growing that Yucca Mountain is not suitable for permanent disposal, could be a catastrophic mistake.

We must avoid a Mobile Chernobyl in the United States. The best way to do that is to not rush into nuclear industry schemes to avoid liability for their own waste products.

A fitting commemoration of Chernobyl's 10th anniversary would be for you to announce that S. 1271 will never reach the Senate floor.

Sincerely,

Michael Mariotte Bill Walsh Nuclear Information & Resource Service Greenpeace

Washington, DC Washington, DC

Scott Denman Bill Magavern

Safe Energy Communication Council Public Citizen

Washington, DC Washington, DC

Rick Taketa Maureen Eldredge

Free The Planet Military Production Network

Washington, DC Washington, DC

Bill Craven Margaret Morgan-Hubbard

Kansas Sierra Club Environmental Action

Topeka, KS Takoma Park, MD

Fred Millar Anna Aurilio

Nuclear Waste Citizens Coalition U.S. Public Interest Research Group

Washington, DC Washington, DC

Robert K. Musil, PhD Bill Craven

Physicians for Social Responsibility Kansas Natural Resource Council

Washington, DC Topeka, KS

Brent Blackwelder Laura Kriv

Friends of the Earth 20/20 Vision

Washington, DC Washington, DC

Daryl Davis Jo Becker

Greens/Green Party USA Fellowship of Reconciliation

Cleveland, OH Nyack, NY

Dr. Richie Lowry Tom Throop

Good Money, Inc. Wyoming Outdoor Council

Chestnut Hill, MA Lander, WY

Debbie Katz Steve Jambeck, Karl Grossman

Citizens Awareness Network Envirovideo

Shelburne Falls, MA Ft. Tilden, NY

Jack & Felice Cohen Joppa

Nuclear Resister Western North Carolina Alliance

Tucson, AZ Asheville, NC

Eric Epstein Pat Birnie

Three Mile Island Alert GE Stockholders Alliance

Harrisburg, PA Tucson, AZ

Maggie Kalen Sandra Gavutis

Tennessee Valley Energy C-10 Research and Education

Reform Coalition Foundation, Inc.

Knoxville, TN Newburyport, MA

Eugene Rosolie William deCamp, Jr.

Northwest Environmental Advocates Oyster Creek Nuclear Watch

Portland, OR Island Heights, NJ

Madelyn Hoffman Jonathan Parfrey

Grass Roots Environmental Organization Physicians for Social Responsibility, L.A.

Flanders, NJ Santa Monica, CA

Barbara Hickernell Nathalie Walker

Alliance to Close Indian Point Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, Louisiana

Ossining, NY New Orleans, LA

Charlene Johnston, Alice Hirt William E. Gump

Toledo Coalition for Safe Energy Student Environmental Action Coalition

Toledo, OH U. of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Adam Joshua Smargon Dan Coleman

U. of Florida Environmental Action Group Orange County Greens

Gainesville, FL Chapel Hill, NC

Helen Weigel Mavis Belisle

Wilmington College Peace Resource Ctr The Peace Farm

Wilmington, OH Amarillo, TX

Richard Neilson Amanda Bahnson

Citizen Alert Student Environmental Action Coalition

Las Vegas, NV U. of Northern Iowa

Mike Ewall Jim Sheldon

Pennsylvania Environmental Network Los Gatos Unitarian Fellowship

Harrisburg, PA Los Gatos, CA

Tammy Latshaw Mike Ewall

Stop the Organizations Raping Mankind Eco-Action

Seneca, PA Penn State University

David Ellison Judi Friedman

Green Party of Ohio People's Action for Clean Energy

Cleveland, OH Canton, CT

Marion Pack Hilary Harding

Alliance for Survival Heart of America Northwest

Orange County, CA Seattle, WA

Bernice Kring Jane Williams

Grandmothers for Peace Desert Citizens Against Pollution

Sacramento, CA California

David Kraft Dr. David Kreiger

Nuclear Energy Information Service Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

Evanston, IL Santa Barbara, CA

Jane Williams Jim Perkins

California Communities Against Toxics New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution

California Brattleboro, VT

Bob Brister Mary Ann Beattie, M.D.

Austin Greens Physicians for Social Responsibility, Kansas

Austin, TX Wichita, KS

Ariana Baseman Elizabeth Borkowski

Eco Sense Student Environmental Action Coalition

American University University of Delaware

Michael Welch Nancy Veit

Redwood Alliance Iowans for Nuclear Safety

Arcata, CA Cherokee, IA

Carol Bellin Alice Slater

St. Joseph Valley Greens Economists Allied for Arms Reduction

South Bend, IN New York, NY

Nelly Buckalew Tom Marshall

Kwanitewk Native Resource Network Rocky Mountain Peace Center

Meriden, NM Denver, CO

Ed Arnold Fernald Residents

PSR, Atlanta for Environment, Safety & Health

Atlanta, GA Fernald, OH

Ellen Gloccum Jean Prokopow

Snake River Alliance Womens Action for New Directions

Boise, ID Ann Arbor, MI

Jacqueline Sooken Chuck Johnson

Los Alamos Study Group Center for Energy Research

Santa Fe, NM Salem, OR

Rufina Marie Laws Beverly Gattis

Humans Against Nuclear Waste Dumps, STAND

Mescalero, Ruidoso, NM Amarillo, TX

Sam Cole Thomas M. Rauch

PSR, Colorado American Friends Service Committee

Denver, CO Denver, CO

The following individuals asked that their names be included on

this letter:

Susan Clark Nicholas Lenssen Dr. Richard Deats

Actress Energy Consultant Editor, Fellowship Magazine

Steve Cohn Mark Fox Charles Leiden

Knox College San Rafael, CA Altoona, PA

Marie Wilson Nelson Christopher Maj Mark Skinner

National-Louis Univ. Springville, NY Columbus, OH

Chris Jordan Nancy Jakowitsch Josh Thomson

Augsburg College American Univ. Bates College

Alex Brideau III Deborah Kaplan Lee Berger

American Univ. American Univ. American Univ.

Alison E. Larmee Diane J. Peterson J. Simkins-Bullock

American Univ. White Bear Lake, MN

Mara Drogan Sonia Nagorski Rebecca Cague

Brooklyn, NY U. of Montana American Univ.

Bruce Gould

Chicago, IL