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