LCV is working in NC and across the nation to make sure that the lessons of Hurricane Sandy are not forgotten, plus more news, this week in CIB:
Climate Change Update: Remember Hurricane Sandy
NCLCV’s national partner group, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), is sponsoring a series of events this week on the theme, “Remember Hurricane Sandy”. In addition to memorializing the damage and hardships created by last year’s unusual “superstorm”, they will underscore the connection between climate change and increasingly frequent and severe extreme weather events.
Through its project, Climate Action North Carolina, LCV has set up three events tomorrow–Tuesday, October 29–in Charlotte, Greensboro, and Raleigh. Interested conservationists are encouraged to participate:
- Charlotte: 6 p.m. at Marshall Park (800 E. 3rd St.)
- Greensboro: 5:30 p.m. at Spring Valley Park (901 West Meadowview Rd)
- Raleigh: 7 p.m. at City Plaza
Climate Action NC has 20 organizers on the ground in Charlotte, Durham, Greensboro, and Raleigh. Its office number is 919-803-8587. For those who use Facebook, more information and contact avenues are available here.
NCLCV Executive Director Carrie Clark says, “Whether it’s writing a letter to the editor, volunteering for a phone bank, submitting comments on EPA’s carbon rules, or attending an event, LCV is recruiting volunteers to help raise our voices for climate protection and better environmental decision-making here and in Washington.”
Nuclear Update: Waste Confidence Hearing
Are you “confident” that the indefinite “temporary” storage of intensely radioactive nuclear waste upwind of North Carolina’s major metropolitan regions falls under the category of “great idea–let’s make more”? No?
Then you’ll be interested in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) November 4 hearing in Charlotte on their “Waste Confidence Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement” and the proposed “waste confidence rule” it supports. Under federal law, in order to permit additional nuclear reactor units the NRC must be able to conclude with confidence that the waste they will produce will always be stored or disposed of safely.
In reality, there is no long-term plan in the United States for safe disposal of a deadly waste product which cannot be detoxified and must be isolated from the environment for thousands of years. Every proposed plan (including the Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada) has been shot down or indefinitely held up by a combination of serious technical problems and furious local opposition. Instead, the commercial nuclear power industry has been and remains reliant on an indefinite continuation of “temporary” above-ground storage of waste, principally at nuclear plant sites in cooling pools or dry casks. Thus, the de facto moratorium on licensing of new commercial nuclear reactors has persisted.
In the latest attempt to paper over this intractable problem, the NRC has proposed a new rule once again declaring its confidence in this system of bailing wire and bubble gum fixes backed up by a really sincere feeling that a “permanent” fix will be found by-and-by. And they’ve got a Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement to back that up.
The clean energy group Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) is encouraging concerned citizens to participate in the NRC Waste Confidence Hearing to be held next Monday, November 4, from 6 to 10 p.m. in Charlotte (Hilton Charlotte University Place, 8629 J.M. Keynes Drive, Charlotte NC 28262). Preregistration is encouraged here. The Charlotte hearing is one of 12 planned by the NRC around the nation.
More information from the NRC on the details of the proposal and its context are available here.
(Note: NIRS opposes reliance on commercial nuclear power, and its analysis reflects that position. However, even those who believe that there is a safe technical solution to the waste issue should recognize that there is no plan in place at this time to implement one.)
We note that Japan has recently announced a delay of up to three more years in its previously announced schedule for the cleanup of the most contaminated towns around its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. That plant suffered a core meltdown and breach of on-site radioactive waste storage two and a half years ago. Major radioactive waste leaks impacted Japanese food production and economy. More than 90,000 residents remain indefinitely displaced from their towns by contamination. At one time the Japanese government was also “confident” in its waste storage arrangements.
Campaign Watch: Smart Growth a Hot Topic in Greenville
Continuing our look at municipal contests of interest around the state, we note that smart growth planning has become the leading issue in what appears to be the most closely fought contest in Greenville.
Home of East Carolina University in the inner coastal plains of NC, Greenville is a mid-sized city with an environmental consciousness on the banks of the Tar River (which becomes the Tar-Pamlico estuary a little ways downstream). Greenville has non-partisan municipal elections for mayor and six city council members (one at-large, and five district representatives).
District 5–the city’s southern edge–is seeing a three-way race for its open council seat. (“Open seat” means that its incumbent member is not running.) All three candidates are talking about the need for good growth management, and issues like stormwater, green space, and quality of life. The three come from widely varying backgrounds.
Michael Overton owns a commercial real estate firm, and moved to Greenville from Washington (NC), where he chaired its Historic Preservation Commission. James Woodley is a retired biologist formerly employed by the EPA. Rick Croskery is a physician with an interest in redevelopment, green space, and sidewalks. More comments and background on these candidates can be found here.
This contest is one of many across the state in which environment and sustainability issues on the local level are front and center among the important election policy debates. Live in a city or town in NC? You may well have important electoral choices to make between now and November 5.
Education & Resources: Accountability Challenge
We know that we have a challenge laid out for us in bringing our state legislature back from the depths of environmental irresponsibility. That’s why we need a head start on the effort–starting now.
Holding legislators accountable for their environmental decisions requires reaching voters in their districts. Which takes mailings and ads. Which take money.
Please help NCLCV reach our fall goal of raising $10,000 for our accountability campaign. Here’s more information about our campaign and how you can help here.
Thank you for helping to defend North Carolina’s clean air, water, land, and public health!
That’s our report for this week.
