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 Members of FootPrints For Peace joined in on the rally to challenge Senator Voinovich to end the alleged "Nuclear Renaissance". Jon Blickenstaff, Marcus Atkinson and Kerrie Ann Garlick are preparing to leave Peace Hostel Amelia for Columbus OH where the rally is to be held.
The following text was sent to us by the Nuclear Team of the Ohio Sierra Club and will explain the issues that needed to be brought forth for the public to see and understand. 
Senator Voinovich brags that he introduced 2002 legislation that continued the Price Anderson indemnity for the nuclear power industry, thus aUowing further nuclear power development.
The Nuclear team of the Ohio Sierra Club is organizing a rally to challenge Senator George Voinovich' s support for the expansion of nuclear power in Ohio. At a time when Ohioans are already reeling from multiple economic blows and environmental devastation, a ramping up of nuclear power will only leave the state with more contamination, more sickness and more debt. Like others in the pro-nuclear lobby, Voinovich has tried pasting a happy face on nuclear power by claiming that nukes are "clean, green, safe and cheap" and that they offer a solution to the global climate crisis. But the truth lies in the opposite direction.
If the world is to avoid catastrophic global warming we must start reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions immediately. More reactors cannot halt climate change in time. Even if nuclear power were clean and safe (which it is not) it would take more than 300 new reactors in the U.S. and 1,500 worldwide just to make a dent in greenhouse gas emissions. One reactor takes at least 10 years and upwards of $6 billion to build. Since climate protection will take loads of money, every $ must be spent as efficiently as possible. Study after study concludes that nuclear power comes out as the most expensive energy option.
Nuclear power is not emissions-free. The fossil-fuel intensive processes of mining, milling, enriching and fabricating uranium fuel plus all the failed attempts at storing the radioactive waste add up to enormous quantities of CO2 emissions. Then there’s the problem of where to store the high level radioactive waste for the next 240,000 years. Building 1,000 new reactors in the world would require a new Yucca Mountain-sized dump every 4 years. So far the world hasn't figured out how to safely store even the first cupful of the thousands of tons of high level waste that are piled up next to the reactors.
The Chernobyl explosion and its lingering radioactive fallout are responsible for untold numbers of deaths.Twenty years later there are still food restrictions from fallout hundreds of miles from the site. Expanding nuclear power means increasing the risks of more Chernobyl-type accidents. There are also routine releases of radioactive gases from reactors into the surrounding communities.
Since winning election to the U.S. Senate in 1999, Senator Voinovich has been an outspoken proponent for nuclear power. He is the ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee's Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate Change and Nuclear Safety, which has jurisdiction over the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and legislation pertaining to nuclear energy. He was a major supporter of the 2005 Energy Policy Act which provides over $l30 billion in subsidies for the nuclear industry. Senator Voinovich wrote in an article in the March 2008 issue of Nuclear News titled Making the Nuclear Renaissance a Reality in which he says "I believe that the safe and secure growth of nuclear energy is essential if we are to harmonize the country's need for energy independence, economic competitiveness, and a healthy environment" and "I intend to work with my colleagues in the Senate to build bipartisan support and leadership for making the nuclear renaissance a reality."
Senator Voinovich and other nuclear industry advocates have identified Ohio as susceptible to these deceptive claims that nuclear energy is clean, green, safe, cheap and an answer to global warming. Let him know that you know differently. Please join in this critical effort to oppose the actions of Senator Voinovich and the nuclear industry for the sake of Ohio's economy and environment.
Please write to Senator George Voinovich, 37 W. Broad St., Columbus, OH 43215 and ask him to stop promoting nuclear power.
 The FootPrints For Peace "away team" for this event are Kerrie Ann Garlick, John Toren, Marcus Atkinson and Jon Blickenstaff .
Kerrie Ann and Marcus just returned fro Europe where they lead a 90 day anti-nuclear walk from London to Geneva John and Jon were in Columbus a few weeks back taking part in an anti-nuclear walk from Columbus to Portsmouth. All the folks involved in this rally are "keeping the faith" when it comes to the nuclear threat to Sacred Mother Earth. KEEP IT UP! |
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