For anyone following or attempting to follow nuclear energy
news in the United States, what’s been going on in the State of Ohio is a solid
indicator of just where we stand, technologically, and from a style of government
standpoint.
Without going into stupefying background detail, I’ll try to
sum up the Ohio situation with help from the summary published Oct. 26 by Bob
Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman who have been birddogging this issue for decades
now. And I quote:
•In July, the gerrymandered Ohio Legislature passed HB6, a
massive
[1 billion-dollar] bailout to keep the two dying nukes operating on
Lake Erie, [Davis-Besse, and Perry].
•Akron-based First Energy is bankrupt…[demanding] a promised
$1 billion bailout.
•Perry opened in 1986; Davis Besse in 1974, [the latter’s
containment vessel so embrittled, cores tend to look like Swiss cheese. In 1974
it nearly melted down, inspiring Scott Heron’s song: “We
Nearly Lost Detroit.”]
•HB6 also bails out two coal burners (on in Indiana [not in
Ohio]) and subsidizes ten small solar arrays while slashing successful energy
efficiency/conservation programs and killing broader support for renewables.
•Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts (OACB) filed for a
referendum to repeal HB6 with a requirement of 265,774 certified signatures to
be gathered within 90 days.
•Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State sat on the application
for 38 days, effectively reducing the petition-gathering window from 90 to 52
days.
A New MO (operating
style)
•After OACB’s hired petition gatherers were required by
the state to make their contact info public, they immediately began receiving
phone threats and bribe offers.
•Signature gatherers in the field were physically assaulted
by pro-nuke thugs, including one attack in which a hand was injured, and a cell
phone smashed.
•Up to three “blockers” repeatedly surrounded individual
signature gatherers and drove away [potential] signers.
•Signature gatherers were offered as much as $2,500 to turn
over their signed petitions. [Contrast this with receiving only $.25 cents a
signature.]
While disrupting legitimate [signature] gatherers, pro-nuke
thugs aggressively collected multiple duplicate signatures for a fake
non-binding petition.
Deep Pockets
•First Energy then claimed it had gathered more than 800,000
“pro-nuke’ signatures.
•First Energy accompanied [thug] assaults with a massive
radio/TV/mailer campaign [with the ridiculous claim that] “Chinese Communists”
were buying Ohio’s grid.
•OACB’s court filing showed that state regulations imposed
on certification have vastly reduced the number of referenda Ohioans can vote
on.
•Wednesday last, Oct. 26, a federal judge rejected OACB’s
request for more time to gather signatures, and sent the case to the Ohio
GOP-dominated Supreme Court.
•OACB is rumored to have about 225,000 signatures on hand,
40,000 short of the threshold. Far more will be needed to overcome a
[Republican] Secretary of State certain to disallow as many as [possible].
•[And here’s the kicker:] Polls show Ohioans [who will be
the rate-payers] vehemently opposed to the bailout. [That’s why] most observers
believe if it [got] on the ballot, the referendum would pass by a large margin.
•[But] should Federal
appeals fail, and the Ohio Supreme Court refuse the request for more time, the
referendum process will have suffered a potential death blow nationwide. It
will mean Fascist thugs will be free to assault legitimate signature gatherers
at will.
This last point is the main take-away. First Energy mounted
this campaign in major Ohio cities: Youngstown, Akron, Toledo, and Columbus
among them. It underwrote its million-dollar-plus cost-of-doing business in flyers,
TV/radio/mailer announcements. It paid thousands of goon-disrupters to do their
thuggish business on the streets.
At play is a $1 billion bailout. A million-dollar
cost-of-doing business is a mere investment, a drop in the corporate bucket.
At issue is that its cost will be passed directly to ratepayers.
Core tests conducted at Davis Besse show that its
containment vessel is critically embrittled. Should there be an accident (like Three-Mile Island for example} Lake Erie is at serious risk of nuclear
contamination. First Energy’s ratepayers draw their water from Lake Erie, the
fourth largest of the Great Lakes and source of fresh water for Canadians and
Americans living in the area.
Already in 2011, following the nuclear catastrophe at
Fukushima, I covered the issue of Davis Besse’s critical embrittlement in Devil’s
Tango: How I Learned the Fukushima Step by Step.
That was 8 years ago.
In other nuclear developments this week:
Despite
massive activist opposition, the California Coastal Commission voted
unanimously a permit Edison to destroy the San Onofre cooling pools.
Turkish President Erdogan states he wants to build a nuclear
bomb.
Although the Senate voted to reinstate them, the House
version of the Defense Authorization bill cuts out funding for new ICBMS and
for the new production facilities.
The Kings Bay Plowshares are all found guilty of their
nuclear resistance actions In the State of Georgia.
The nuclear
industry continues to lobby Congress for a 23 billion bailout over ten
years, and $34 billion over 20 years at the expense of taxpayers and the
climate (because it dries up funds which otherwise might go to sustainable
energies).
The U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission continues to OK thin walled Holtec canisters liable
to damage in all U.S. waste storage applications.
Thousands
of sloppily stored bags of radiation waste go missing in Japan after the
latest typhoon hits.
Tell chairman Neal to invest in clean renewable technology,
not dirty nuclear energy at:
Tell Trump’s EPA not to give a free
pass to the oil and gas industry to pollute our air at:
https://act.nrdc.org/letter/epa-methane-190906?source=EMOMETPET&tkd=%7B%7Buser.id%7D%7D&utm_source=alert&utm_medium=actr&utm_campaign=email&t=10&tkd=993405&akid=6941%2E993405%2E9hTLhQ
And what the hell, buy a “No First Use” tee-shirt at:
https://www.bonfire.com/no-first-use/?link_id=0&can_id=655968a96e1bce05c463b2f640bf633c&source=email-bombsquad-swag-alert&email_referrer=email_648589___subject_844519&email_subject=flaunt-your-no-first-use-support
Japan's New
Environmental Minister Calls for Closing Down All Nuclear Reactors to Prevent
Another Disaster Like Fukushima.
Legal
Federal court
blocks Florida Republicans’ modern-day poll tax.
California’s new
public banking bill opens door to community investment by cities.
N. Y. C. bar
assn.. calls for Trump AG Barr to either recuse himself or resign.
South Carolina
prisoners appeal to UN after state and federal “officials” ignore please for
livable conditions.
In historic
vote, House passes bipartisan bill to end anonymous companies.
ACLU celebrates
settlement ending unconstitutional effort to silence pipelines protesters in
So. Dakota.
House bill would
create specific protections for climate refugees.
House Democrats
pass bill that would completely restore the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
As the House
legally engages in an impeachment “inquiry”, a judge finds ruling that
lawmakers can see some of Mueller’s secret evidence.
DeVos held in
contempt for predatory student loan collecting practices.
Federal judge
orders DOJ to turn over Mueller grand jury material.
Maryland AG sues
slumlord Jared Kushner’s company.
Resistance
College Students
opposing U.S.-Korea $6 Billion defense sharing stage protest inside residence
of U.S. Ambassador to So. Korea.
Massive protests
in Chile force repeal of fare hikes. Chilean trade unions call for general strike in support of
uprising originally led by students.
In Chile, miners
initiate general strike as military kills 11.
Lebanese
Ministers resign from cabinet after third day of protests fueled by music and
dancing as people demand an end to
austerity.
Huge demonstrations
flood streets of Barcelona in response to Spain’s attempt to put down Catalonia
separatists, and impose draconian jail sentences on their leaders.
Extinction
Rebellion targets arms industry, opposing the major carbon pollution by
the world’s militaries.
Tulsi Gabbard
calls out U.S. on its endless regime change wars.
Jane Fonda, Sam
Waterson arrested on Capitol Hill protesting for a Green New Deal.
First fast food
workers union in U.S. prepares to strike for better wages and a higher living
standard.
Tens of
thousands rally in Khartoum against former ruling party in Sudan.
Palestine
lecture proceeds as Milan students stand up to Zionist attempt to block it.
In Panama,
students defy blockade to deliver message directly to National Assembly.
Global Warming
India cancels
plans for huge coal power stations as solar energy prices hit record low.
Bank of England
boss says global finance is funding 4C temperature rise.
Progressives in
Canada celebrate victory of “Green New Deal Squad” of eight winning candidates.
Fracked gas
Mountain Valley Pipeline dealt major blow as Virginia AG imposes
multimillion-dollar fine after they
committed over 300 water-protection violations.
Opponents of
facial recognition surveillance at music festivals across the U.S. declare victory.
Exxon and Oil
Sands go on trial in New York climate fraud case.
City of
Greensboro, NC City Council approves $500,000 for violence reduction program
Excellent explanation of the travesty of "fair process" that is going on in Ohio. thankd for that, and other important nuclear news and climate items.
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