Subject: [big campaign] McCain Nuke Plan: No Waste Through AZ, But Just Fine For 44 Other States
From: [email-masked]
To: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2008 11:42:39 -0400
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

The AP and the Washington Post have picked up on the meltdown storyline:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iE2JCSH5p9r2GBkQWS9TWAMzmuvQD92C58480
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/08/05/mccain_touts_expanded_nuclear.html#more

http://action.sierraclub.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=65822.0
                                                                            
 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 5, 2008                                      
 CONTACT: Josh Dorner, 202.675.2384                                         
                     David Willett, 202.675.6698                            
                                                                            
 McCain: Not Comfortable With Nuclear Waste Through Arizona, But Just Fine  
                            for 44 Other States                             
        McCain Touts Plan at Nuke Plant That Partially Melted Down,         
    Gave Rise to Term "China Syndrome" & Caught Fire Just This Past May     
                                                                            
 Washington, D.C.--As John McCain is paying a visit today to the Enrico     
 Fermi nuclear generating station in Monroe, Michigan he can be expected to 
 tout his costly plan to build 45 new nuclear plants by 2030 and 55 more    
 after that.  This plan would effectively double the number of nuclear      
 reactors and the amount of dangerous high-level nuclear waste that would   
 need to be transported across the country.                                 
                                                                            
 The Sierra Club is today calling attention to the YouTube video that       
 surfaced earlier this year which shows John McCain clearly saying—while    
 shaking his head 'no'--that he would not be comfortable with nuclear waste 
 traveling through his own home state of Arizona on its way to the unsafe   
 and unproven Yucca Mountain site--something for which John McCain has been 
 one of the Senate’s biggest proponents.                                    
                                                                            
 The video can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPlaHQCKc34     
                                                                            
 Transcript (beginning at 1:14):  Interviewer: What about the               
 transportation? Would you be comfortable with nuclear waste coming through 
 Arizona on its way, you know going through Phoenix, on its way to uh       
 Yucca Mountain?  McCain (Shaking Head): "No, I would not. No, I would      
 not."                                                                      
                                                                            
 "Why does John McCain think it's ok for 77,000 tons of dangerous nuclear   
 waste to go through some 44 other states but yet too dangerous to go       
 through his own home state?" said Cathy Duvall, Sierra Club National       
 Political Director.  "John McCain simply can’t have it both ways when it   
 comes to the nuclear waste issue.  It's hypocritical and unfair that he    
 supports running hundreds of shipments of dangerous nuclear waste through  
 44 states and sticking Nevadans with 77,000 tons of it forever, while at   
 the same time saying he’s uncomfortable with it going through his own      
 backyard for even a day."                                                  
                                                                            
 The Sierra Club also pointed out that the very nuclear plant that Senator  
 McCain is visiting today partially melted down in 1966.  Indeed, the term  
 "China Syndrome"—a  nuclear reactor melting down and going “all the way to 
 China”—was coined as a result of the incident. It also gave rise to both a 
 book and song (performed at the original Musicians for Safe Energy/No      
 Nukes concerts in the 1970s) entitled "We Almost Lost Detroit."  More      
 recently, the operating reactor, Fermi II, experienced a leak in 2005 and  
 the decommissioned reactor, Fermi I, caught fire just this past May.       
                                                                            
 John McCain supports the Bush administration’s plan to store our nation's  
 nuclear waste at the unsafe and unproven Yucca mountain site--a white      
 elephant that has wasted two decades and billions of taxpayer dollars.  A  
 plan to transport the waste released by the State of Nevada based on       
 Department of Energy plans details the likely rail, truck, and barge       
 routes that high-level waste would take on its way to Yucca Mountain.      
 Approximately 15,000 casks of waste would travel through at least 45       
 states.  Each cask would transport between 2 and 15 tons of high-level     
 waste. In total, the dangerous waste would travel through more than 703    
 counties in 45 states.  More than 123 million people live along the        
 proposed truck routes alone.  And more than 10 million people live within  
 a half-mile of the proposed routes.                                        
                                                                            
 "John McCain is asking Nevadans and the residents of 44 states to gamble   
 with their safety, yet it’s not even a bet he’s willing to take for        
 Arizona," said Duvall.  "Just like with subsidies—he’s against them,       
 except when it comes to nuclear power and so-called 'clean coal'--John     
 McCain wants to have his cake and eat it too on the nuclear waste issue.   
 He’s all for moving thousands of tons highly radioactive waste through     
 communities across the country, except when it comes to his home state of  
 Arizona."                                                                  
                                                                            
 In addition to being dangerous, John McCain's nuclear plan is a costly     
 distraction from the real solutions to global warming.  Based on cost      
 estimates for new nuclear power plants put forth by utilities like Florida 
 Power and Light, McCain's plan for 100 new nuclear plants could cost more  
 than $1 TRILLION.                                                          
                                                                            
 Over the years McCain has cast vote after vote in favor of Yucca Mountain  
 and billions in subsidies for the nuclear industry, yet he has             
 consistently voted against renewable energy and has refused to support     
 extending key clean energy incentives that are in danger of expiring at    
 the end of this year.  Twice in recent months when extending these         
 incentives failed by just a single vote and every single other Senator     
 voted, McCain was nowhere to be found.  Failing to extend these incentives 
 could throw 116,000 people out of work in the wind and solar industries    
 alone and sacrifice billions in lost economic growth.                      
                                                                            
 Barack Obama, by contrast, opposes storing nuclear waste at the Yucca      
 Mountain site.  With regards to the role of nuclear power in general,      
 Obama’s energy plan released yesterday states:                             
 "Before an expansion of nuclear power is considered, key issues must be    
 addressed including: security of nuclear fuel and waste, waste storage,    
 and proliferation."                                                        
                                                                            
 # # #                                                                      
                                                                            
 Paid for by the Sierra Club Political Committee,                           
 http://www.sierraclub.org/, and not authorized by any candidate or         
 candidate's committee.                                                     

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "big campaign" group.

To post to this group, send to [email-masked]

To unsubscribe, send email to [email-masked]

E-mail [email-masked] with questions or concerns
 
This is a list of individuals. It is not affiliated with any group or organization.
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---