The event, learning, links, and timeline page have been updated, including photos of the recent Four Corners to Fukushima events. Check back often to find out about more related events coming up, and visit our links page to find out about what other organizations are up to.
A new website, http://www.nuclearfreezone.org, was recently created to house the Four Corners to Fukushima events. Be sure to look at this page for all things against nuclear in the Southwest region!
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From Fukushima to the Four Corners:
Break the nuclear chain, from Japan to Arizona!
WHEN: SUNDAY, MARCH 9TH – 1P
WHERE: NW corner of 5th Street and Van Buren, Downtown Phoenix
CONTACT: nauagainsturanium@gmail.com
Join us to learn more about the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and the nuclear industry in the Southwest, to find out about different ways to get involved, and to connect with others who want to build a sustainable future beyond nuclear power/weapons.
On March 9th, in conjunction with anti-nuclear events being held in Japan and in other cities in Arizona, we will meet in front of Arizona Public Service (APS) in Downtown Phoenix, O’odham territory, to raise awareness about the destructive consequences of producing nuclear energy, and to show support for the communities being directly effected by the nuclear industry, in Japan and in the Southwest. APS is one of the main owners of the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant, which is only 45 miles West of Central Phoenix.
Community members, youth, activists, scientists, and many others will touch on all aspects of the nuclear chain, from mining, to mills, to power plants, Los Alamos, waste repositories, and the social and environmental consequences of pursuing nuclear.
All people who believe that nuclear power is not the answer are welcome to join and participate.
A portable PA and a megaphone will be provided. A table with letter writing materials, nuclear info, banner and sign making materials will be available.
Featuring Speakers:
Leona Morgan, Diné, NO NUKES
Tommy Rock, Diné, NAU Against Uranium
Pradeep Indulkar, Anti-nuclear activist, Engineer
Native Youth Unite
George Pauk, Endocrinologist
Dave Parrish, Fukushima Daiichi NPP research
… and more!
Accessibility:
American Sign Language interpretation available
**Seeking Spanish translator (email nauagainsturanium@gmail.com)**
Parking:
+Covered garage parking is a block north of event location (5th St. and Filmore) – $3/hour
+On street parking available
+Free parking at “Park and Ride” lot, 38th st and Washington. Take lightrail going West, get off at Jefferson and 3rd St. Less than a mile walk to event. (Single light rail ride is $2)
THIS IS AN OUTDOOR EVENT. Please bring your own chairs, if needed.
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Call to Action! Raise Awareness About the Dangers of Nuclear Power in Your Community
http://www.nuclearfreezone.org
March 11th, 2014 marks the third year anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster in Japan. Triggered by an earthquake and consequential tsunami, the power plant failed and released massive amounts of radioactive materials, irradiating the community and land base around it. The meltdown is the largest nuclear disaster in the world since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.
Radiation on both sides of the Pacific ocean have increased by hundreds of percents. Unfathomable amounts of radioactive material have been dumped into the Pacific ocean everyday since the failure in 2011. Still, the fourth unit of the nuclear plant containing a spent waste pool is unstable and could collapse. The fuel in reactors two and three are believed to have melted down and out of their concrete containment vessel. Amongst the urgency to take action, the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) refuse to act entirely responsible. Worldwide media coverage has been sparse.
In spite of this, the nuclear industry in the U.S. continues to “green-wash” their social and environmental footprints. There has even been a renewed push for uranium mining in the Southwest. New nuclear power plants continue to be built and many old plants that are due for decommission have received 30-year extensions on their permits to operate. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission admits there is still no long term plan for power plant waste storage. Some of this waste has a 300,000 year half-life which is longer than modern humans have lived on earth! There is little accountability on the part of mine owners and the government to clean up dangerously radioactive abandoned mines, contaminated water wells and rivers, and financially support those made ill from exposure and consumption of radioactive material.
The Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant located near Arizona’s capitol is the largest nuclear power plant in the country. The plant requires 82 billion gallons a year of Phoenix’s reclaimed wastewater in order to cool it’s reactors and is the only nuclear plant in the U.S. not built near a large body of water. Massive amounts of water are necessary should a meltdown occur, yet Phoenix is already projecting water shortages by 2020. In 2013 contaminated water leakages were found forcing the entire power plant to be evacuated. Palo Verde NPP ranks near the top in the country for safety violations according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
When will we draw the line? Nuclear power and weapons are not sustainable – they are an affront to all life on Earth.
Organize an event in your community on or around March 9th (the day people in Japan are holding their events) to show support for communities directly effected by the nuclear industry and to raise our voices against nuclear power and weapons. Together, we are capable of breaking the nuclear chain!
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It has been over a month since we delivered over 1,500 petition signatures to the Kaibab National Forest requesting a new Environmental Impact Statement for the Canyon Uranium Mine. The Canyon Mine is planning to operate under their current, 28-year old one. Please sign this letter, especially if you were born after 1986, asking for a response from the Forest Service.
Email this letter with your signature to nauagainsturanium@gmail.com. We’d like to mail it toward the end of this week.
“Forest Supervisor Mike Williams
Kaibab National Forest
Supervisor’s Office
800 South 6th Street
Williams, Arizona 86046
January, 25th 2014
Dear Mr. Williams,
We are writing to you on behalf of those who signed the petition delivered to the Kaibab National Forest Headquarters on December 13th, 2013. It has been over a month and hundreds of us are still awaiting a comment or personal response from you or your office about supplemental information that deems the current, 28-year old Environmental Impact Statement for the Canyon Uranium Mine as antiquated. Although the Canyon Uranium Mine is currently closed, many people are deeply concerned about this mine, how our, the younger generation, are being excluded from the NEPA process. We are concerned about when it may re-open, its proximity to Red Butte, which is recognized as traditional cultural property, to the Grand Canyon, and important water ways. This is especially true for us, who are were not born or who were too young to take part in the EIS scoping process, who will more directly face potential consequences from the Forest Service’s decision to allow the mine to operate.
The signatories recognize the social and cultural impacts of mining, and the numerous scientific advancements that have happened since 1986 that allow us to better measure the effects of uranium mining on the local environment and hydrology. Youth and new science should require an EIS that reflects the present – that takes new information, and a whole generation, into account.
We sincerely look forward to hearing your response to the petition at your earliest convenience.
Thank you,
____”
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Reposted from here.
Friends,
Please be advised that the following actions are currently taking place and we need your help to tell the Navajo Nation Council Delegates to vote NO on NN Legislation 0373-13.
ADDITIONAL INFO:
2012-07-19 Fully Executed Temporary Access Agreement.pdf
Churchrock Sec.8-ROW PDF
NNC Legislation 0373-13 ROW for URI
22nd Navajo Nation Council’s Contact Information
Public Comments-Tsosie Resolution 0373-13(1)
Navajo Nation Council Delegate Leonard Tsosie of the Resources and Development Committee (RDC) is sponsoring Resolution 0373-13 which allows URI the Right-Of-Way over Tribal Trust land to start ISL URANIUM MINING at Churchrock, “Section 8″. Uranium Resources, Inc or “URI” is a Texas-based company, formerly known as: Hydro Resources Inc. or “HRI” which has contaminated ground water at its other ISL projects and will surely contaminate the groundwater of Eastern Navajo if this project commences. Many communities around Church Rock will be in danger if operations begin and so we need to get the word out.
The RDC is accepting Publc Comments and has scheduled a Special Meeting with this as the main agenda item on Monday December 23, 2013 at 9 A.M. at Chilchinbeto Chapter, Chilchinbeto, AZ (south of Kayenta).
This action by a few elected officials is UNACCEPTABLE!! This will no doubt endanger our community, our children, and the area we call home. Uranium is a poison and mining it is an improper and dangerous use of our water and natural resources!! Uranium should be left in the ground! We cannot regulate it and to think that we have power over nature is arrogant and dangerous. I am asking you to please Send Comments and join many other Dine’ people in saying NO AND TO STOP NEW URANIUM CONTAMINATION at the Special RDC meeting next Monday morning at Chilchinbeto Chapter.
There are drafted Comments for you to use for reference. You can personalize the comments or just cut & paste and email ASAP! Your Chapter can also use these points to draft NEW Chapter Resolutions to Opposing Uranium Mining and Resolution 0373-13 too.
Comments should be emailed to comments@navajo-nsn.gov by tomorrow, Saturday December 21 by 5 P.M. Mountain Time. Letters and written comments should be mailed to: Executive Director, Office of Legislative Services, PO Box 3390, Window Rock, AZ. 86515 postmarked by December 21, 2013.
I ask that you all forward this to all your contacts so that they can also get the word out to STOP Delegate Tsosie’s resolution. Please stand with us in defending our homes and our health. Human life is priceless and we should speak up for our next generation who don’t have a voice now. The young children and generations to come will have to live with our choices today.
Thank you.
Jonathan Perry
TELL THE RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE TO SAY NO TO NEW URANIUM MINING
The Resources Development Committee of the Navajo Nation Council is considering a resolution that would allow a Texas uranium mining company, Uranium Resources, Inc. (“URI”), formerly known as “HRI”, access to tribal lands for uranium mining. The resolution, Resolution 0373-13, is sponsored by Council Delegates Leonard Tsosie and Katherine Benally. The RDC is inviting public comments until December 21, 2013, 5 P.M. Please ask RDC members to say NO to new uranium mining. The RDC should reject the resolution because:
The resolution violates the Diné Natural Resources Protection Act of 2005. In that law, the entire Navajo Nation Council prohibited uranium mining and processing on tribal land. The resolution would allow URI to mine uranium on reservation land in Churchrock. A single committee of the Council cannot overturn legislation passed by the entire Council.
The resolution violates the Radioactive Substances Transportation Act of 2012, which was passed by the entire Navajo Nation Council. That law prohibits transportation of radioactive materials across tribal land, except in limited circumstances that must be approved by the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency.
The resolution violates the Navajo Nation Energy Policy of 2013, passed by the entire Navajo Nation Council.
The resolution conflicts with the access agreement that the Navajo Nation has already negotiated with URI and that does not allow any new uranium mining.
The people of the Navajo Nation have rejected uranium mining because it has never resulted in any meaningful economic development for the Diné – it has only resulted in radioactive air, polluted water, sickness and death.
Comments on Resolution 0373-13 should be emailed to comments@navajo-nsn.gov. Letters and written comments should be mailed to: Executive Director, Office of Legislative Services, PO Box 3390, Window Rock, AZ. 86515
Additional Information:
Click to access 23DEC2013_RDC_Special_Mtg_Proposed_Agenda.pdf
There are several additional links:
Uranium Bill on Navajo Council Resources & Development Committee Dec. 23 agenda
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Because at nuclear power plants, accidents happen. Palo Verde, a nuclear power plant that generates electricity near Phoenix, Az, recently has been testing it’s emergency sirens too. You know, just in case.
Here’s the article:
Unrelated Incidents Cut Power Output at Two Palo Verde Reactors
Two of the three units at the country’s largest nuclear plant cut their power output Monday following unrelated mechanical problems.
Unit 2 at the Palo Verde plant operated by Arizona Public Service shut down completely just before 6 p.m. According to a report filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the pressurized water reactor tripped automatically from full power. An initial investigation suggested the shutdown resulted from a tripped power supply circuit breaker for a reactor coolant pump. According to the report, operators noted that the 1A RCP was not running during the shutdown.
At about the same time at unit 3, a control rod dropped unexpectedly when an associated circuit breaker tripped open, according to another NRC report. The other 88 control rods were unaffected, but operators began to power down the reactor as a precaution. Early Tuesday morning, with the unit at 48 percent power, workers cancelled the shutdown after replacing and testing a power switch for the dropped control rod and realigning it with the other control elements, according to the NRC.
Neither incident posed a threat to public or worker safety.
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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/04/alec-freerider-homeowners-assault-clean-energy
An alliance of corporations and conservative activists is mobilising to penalise homeowners who install their own solar panels – casting them as “freeriders” – in a sweeping new offensive against renewable energy, the Guardian has learned.
Over the coming year, the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec) will promote legislation with goals ranging from penalising individual homeowners and weakening state clean energy regulations, to blocking the Environmental Protection Agency, which is Barack Obama’s main channel for climate action.
Details of Alec’s strategy to block clean energy development at every stage – from the individual rooftop to the White House – are revealed as the group gathers for its policy summit in Washington this week.
About 800 state legislators and business leaders are due to attend the three-day event, which begins on Wednesday with appearances by the Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson and the Republican budget guru and fellow Wisconsinite Paul Ryan.
Other Alec speakers will be a leading figure behind the recent government shutdown, US senator Ted Cruz of Texas, and the governors of Indiana and Wyoming, Mike Pence and Matt Mead.
For 2014, Alec plans to promote a suite of model bills and resolutions aimed at blocking Barack Obama from cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and state governments from promoting the expansion of wind and solar power through regulations known as Renewable Portfolio Standards.
Documents obtained by the Guardian show the core elements of its strategy began to take shape at the previous board meeting in Chicago in August, with meetings of its energy, environment and agriculture subcommittees.
Further details of Alec’s strategy were provided by John Eick, the legislative analyst for Alec’s energy, environment and agriculture program.
Eick told the Guardian the group would be looking closely in the coming year at how individual homeowners with solar panels are compensated for feeding surplus electricity back into the grid.
“This is an issue we are going to be exploring,” Eick said. He said Alec wanted to lower the rate electricity companies pay homeowners for direct power generation – and maybe even charge homeowners for feeding power into the grid.
“As it stands now, those direct generation customers are essentially freeriders on the system. They are not paying for the infrastructure they are using. In effect, all the other non direct generation customers are being penalised,” he said.
Eick dismissed the suggestion that individuals who buy and install home-based solar panels had made such investments. “How are they going to get that electricity from their solar panel to somebody else’s house?” he said. “They should be paying to distribute the surplus electricity.”
In November, Arizona became the first state to charge customers for installing solar panels. The fee, which works out to about $5 a month for the average homeowner, was far lower than that sought by the main electricity company, which was seeking to add up to $100 a month to customers’ bills.
Gabe Elsner, director of the Energy and Policy Institute, said the attack on small-scale solar was part of the larger Alec project to block clean energy. “They are trying to eliminate pro-solar policies in the states to protect utility industry profits,” he said.
The group sponsored at least 77 energy bills in 34 states last year. The measures were aimed at opposing renewable energy standards, pushing through the Keystone XL pipeline project, and barring oversight on fracking, according to an analysis by the Centre for Media and Democracy.
Until now, the biggest target in Alec’s sights were state Renewable Portfolio Standards, which require electricity companies to source a share of their power from wind, solar, biomass, or other clean energy. Such measures are seen as critical to reducing America’s use of coal and oil, and to the fight against climate change. RPS are now in force in 30 states.
In 2012, Alec drafted a model bill pushing for the outright repeal of RPS.
In the confidential materials, prepared for the August board meeting, Alec claimed to have made significant inroads against such clean energy policies in 2013.
“Approximately 15 states across the country introduced legislation to reform, freeze or repeal their state’s renewable mandate,” the taskforce reported.
ALEC 2013 Annual Meeting Policy Report (PDF)
ALEC 2013 Annual Meeting Policy Report (Text)
That compares to model bills in just seven states in support of the hot-button issue of the Keystone XL pipeline, according to figures in the documents.
“This legislative year has seen the most action on renewable mandates to date,” the documents said.
Three of those states – North Carolina, Ohio, and Kansas – saw strong pushes by conservative groups to reverse clean energy regulations this year.
None of those efforts passed, however, with signs of strong local support for wind farms and other clean energy projects that were seen as good for the economy – from Republicans as well as Democrats.
By August, Alec evidently decided its hopes of winning outright repeal of RPS standards was overly ambitious.
At its meeting in August, Alec put forward an initiative that would allow utility companies to import clean energy from other states – rather than invest in new, greener generation.
An “explanatory note” prepared for the meeting admitted: “One model policy may be the right fit for one state but not work for another”.
Elsner argued that after its bruising state battles in 2013, Alec was now focused on weakening – rather than seeking outright repeal – of the clean energy standards.
“What we saw in 2013 was an attempt to repeal RPS laws, and when that failed … what we are seeing now is a strategy that appears to be pro- clean energy but would actually weaken those pro- clean energy laws by retreating to the lowest common denominator,” he said.
The other key agenda item for Alec’s meeting this week is the EPA. The group is looking at two proposals to curb the agency’s powers – one to shut the EPA out of any meaningful oversight of fracking, and the other to block action on climate change.
A model bill endorsed by the Alec board of directors last August would strip the EPA of power to shut down a frack site or oil industry facility.
That would leave oversight of an industry that has to date fracked 2m wells in 20 states to a patchwork of local authorities that have vastly different standards of environmental protection.
The model bill would explicitly bar the EPA from shutting down any oil or gas well or facility in any of them, limiting the agency’s capacity to enforce the clean water and clean air acts.
“The legislature declares that the United States Environmental Protection Agency … lacks the authority to deny permits of operation to these oil and gas wells and facilities,” the bill reads.
Eick said the bill was in keeping with the group’s broader philosophy of expanding power to the states.
“A national regulatory agency might impose a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all regulation on states in many instances,” he said.
The meeting will also focus on Obama’s plan, announced last June, to use the EPA to limit greenhouse gas emissions from future and existing power plants.
“The EPA’s forthcoming regulation of greenhouse gas emissions and specifically carbon emissions from power plants will be of incredible interest to states and membership so we are going to be focusing on that. Absolutely,” Eick said.
Power plants are the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for about 40% last year. The EPA last September proposed new standards for future power plants, and will tighten limits for existing power plants next June.
Pollution due to carbon emissions due to rise says IEA : Coal burning power plant, Kentucky, USA Alec says requiring tougher standards would lead to spikes in electricity prices and would damage the economy. Photograph: Rex Features
“It just shows that Alec uses lawmakers as lobbyists to block climate legislation at every turn,” said Connor Gibson, a researcher for Greenpeace. “They try to undermine the authority of agencies that have the power potentially to control carbon pollution, so whenever there is a new EPA rule that pops up, they re-tool their arsenal of model bills to make sure they are blocking the new rule.”
The resolution on the EPA for Alec members’ consideration this week argues that requiring tougher standards from the next generation of power plants lead to spikes in electricity prices and would damage the economy.
“Alec is very concerned about the potential economic impact of greenhouse gas regulation on electricity prices and the harm EPA regulations may have on the economic recovery,” the resolution reads.
Environmental lawyers said the resolution amounted to a “new manifesto” against the EPA regulating carbon pollution. “They don’t want the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions,” said Ann Weeks, legal director for the Clean Air Task Force.
She disputed a number of claims within the Alec resolution – including the assertion that reducing carbon pollution would lead to an 80% rise in electricity prices. Economic analyses by the EPA and others have suggested those rises would be fairly limited.
“They will probably tell you they don’t want the EPA to regulate anything so it is in their interest to turn what the EPA has proposed into something that is grotesque and unreasonable, which I don’t think is true,” Weeks said.
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http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
International Uranium Film Fest begins in Navajo Sacrifice Zone
COMMUNITY GROUPS CONCERNED ABOUT URANIUM CONVENE AT INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL IN NAVAJO NATION’S CAPITAL
Date: December 2 — 4, 2013, starting from 8:30 am daily
Location: Navajo Nation Museum on Arizona Hwy 264, 0.5 mi east of I.R. 12
By Leona Morgan
Censored News
WINDOW ROCK, Arizona — On December 2 through 4, 2013, the International Uranium Film Festival (IUFF) — the world’s only traveling festival devoted to the entire Nuclear Fuel Chain — will be held in the homeland of Diné communities sacrificed by the United States for production of nuclear weapons. This IUFF event is organized in conjunction with a community gathering of Diné organizations and residents with regional groups concerned about uranium’s effect on: human health and future, environment, economy, culture and water. The festival will include presentations, workshops, info tables, t-shirt printing and 21 films.
The arrival of the IUFF is apt, coming at a time when the Navajo Nation’s leaders are making decisions regarding its new Uranium Commission, the 2013 Energy Policy and new multi-agency clean-up plans. Local uranium mining, processing, transport and changes in HRI/URI, Roca Honda mine and White Mesa mill are topics that will be highlighted by community experts during the week.
The three-day event is free and open to the public for the purposes of “Art and Awareness,” community dialogue and decolonization of Western concepts about uranium. The films are documentaries, animations and shorts that explore not only the effects of radiation, but also the practices of the nuclear industry and world governments as well.
The event will be streamed online and will be available during selected hours at:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/iuff-4you
Information about the film festival is available at: http://uraniumfilmfestival.org
Information about the event is available at: https://www.facebook.com/events/602197326504657/
For more inquiries, to support the event, please contact Leona Morgan (505-879-8547).
The organizers wish to give a Special Thanks to all the sponsors, contributors and volunteers: Diné Bidziil, International Uranium Film Festival, Honor the Earth, Western Action Mining Network, Indigenous Environment Network, Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment, Seventh Generation Fund, Sierra Club Environmental Justice Program and the Front End Working Group, Southwest Indigenous Uranium Forum, and Heinrich Böll Stiftung North America.
INTERVIEWS AND IMAGES ARE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
Contact:
Leona Morgan
Window Rock IUFF Co-Coordinator
1-505-879-8547
Program schedule at Censored News
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2013/11/navajo-nation-international-uranium.html
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NAU Against Uranium 