Wed 16 May 2007
Petition Against Bringing More Nuclear Waste to Pike County
Posted by Editor under General[10] Comments
Video from the Southern Ohio Neighbors Group:
You can sign the petition at Progress Ohio.
The Portsmouth Daily Times covered yesterday’s public forum on the issue.
Activists were disappointed that Vic Wulsin didn’t attend as scheduled.
The blog Idaho Samizdat Nuke Notes has some interesting coverage on the complex story. Interestingly enough politicians from all over the spectrum are doing about faces when it comes to bringing nuclear waste to the 2nd district.
Better stock up on iodine pills, sports fans.
Wow, very powerful video. What kind of support is SONG getting from other Ohio Congress members? Why is Zack Space joining Schmidt on this legislation?
The answer to DG is a bit complex.
SONIC submitted a detailed proposal for spent fuel storage to DOE before GNEP existed. That proposal lays out a plan to substantially reduce the costs of and accelerate the decommissioning of the old gaseous diffusion plant at Piketon, by emptying those buildings of process equipment and then packing the structures with spent nuclear fuel (SNF). It likely also includes a proposal to store the SNF in the empty centrifuge buildings temporarily, while the GDP buildings are being prepared, a process that might take ten to twenty years.
(Source: Dan Moore — president of SONIC, former USEC board member, big Strickland contributor and former Cleveland mayoral candidate — layed out the scheme in an interview with the Pike County News Watchman in October 2006. Editor,
)
The blackmail threat against the state and area counties has been made explicit: without SNF storage there will be no decommissioning, no redevelopment, no USEC centrifuge plant, no jobs, no tax payments, no nothing.
(Source: Dan Minter, a principal of SONIC, drafted letters in 2006 for Schmidt, Wulsin and Strickland that described the SONIC GNEP study as a way to accomplish decommissioning.)
This predicament caused Ted Strickland to break his campaign pledge of last October that he opposed both reprocessing and SNF storage at Piketon. Hence the deal: the Ohio Democrats would support GNEP very publicly, with the understanding that the only component coming to Ohio is centralized SNF storage, with “decommissioning” jobs and money in the package. Hence, Wilson and Space co-sponsoring the Schmidt bill.
This was all on the presumption that bipartisan unity would eliminate any effective opposition in Ohio. It’s up to the people of the 2nd district to prove that presumption wrong.
At least one candidate in the congressional race will seize upon the scheme as a populist theme to use against Schmidt. And at some point, Strickland, Space and Wilson will be forced to reverse course. Let the race to carry that populist banner proceed!
PP: Good luck. I hope the 2008 race and maybe the presidential candidate will back SONIC’s position. Unbelieveable what goes on to the detriment of the community.
Schmidt isn’t done with Piketon
http://djysrv.blogspot.com/2007/05/dont-dump-on-me-says-ohios-rep-jean.html
Jim Parker has expressed himself in a blog at the Enquirer as being in favor of the plan to bring nuclear waste to Pike Co. He lives in the area involved, but I don’t believe he explained his rationale. Is it because he believes more jobs would be created in the area, or does he believe this is safe/not unhealthy for the population? Jim Parker states that his main concern is health care. Is there a problem here?
(I have never met or heard Jim Parker speak. Was impressed with his shoe-leather campaign, but wondering if he’s off the wall, especially given this position.)
I do not know what post Susie refers to, but Jim Parker long ago signed the SONG petition to stop all high-level waste importation to southern Ohio and has been supportive of the SONG position, as has Vic Wulsin. Jeff Sinnard attended the SONG forum in Portsmouth and submitted testimony a bit equivocal but generally against the waste proposal.
Numerous Republicans in Pike County, some prominent, have also signed the SONG petition — it’s a bipartisan issue. In fact, since Pike County is controlled by Democrats, local Republicans have been more forthright in opposing the dumping plans.
I’m sure Jim will clarify.
Susie,
I am not running for political office right now… Even though I did meet about 2,000 people in Hamilton and Clermont Counties yesterday. There are only 650,000 people who live in our district. I’m getting there… Give me time.
Honestly, you don’t know anything about my position on this issue. I am opposed to a waste dump in Pike COunty. I love the people that I tried to represent so please don’t state things that just aren’t true. My heart and everyone that I love and care about are in Pike County Ohio. I would never do anything to harm the people who live here…
I apologize for whatever misunderstanding has arisen. Obviously it is true that you have NEVER heard me speak. I am curious, are you working on any political campaigns right now? Just curious.
Jim Parker
http://www.JimPARKER4ad.blogspot.com
Jim, I am not working on any political campaign, and will not affiliate with anyone until at least after the primaries.
I am referring to a reply made in your name on the Cincinnati.com political blog during the last OH02 congressional campaign following Jean Schmidt’s endorsement of the waste dump in Pike Co. I don’t know if any of those blog replies ar retrievable at this late date, in order to illustrate what was there.
In any event, if you are against the proposal, I suggest you get the word out there loud and clear, in case others were as surprised as I was at what was published at the time.
I only wish you well in your efforts to better the lives of those around you.
You can contact me if you want to… Our phone number is on our website. Or better yet, maybe you should read my statement in the Cincinnati Enquirer before commenting. Somehow, you have been given incorrect information.
If you’d like, you can also read my public statement that was made to the Department of Energy on the topic.
http://www.JimPARKER4ad.blogspot.com
I hope that you are being truthful by explaining that you are not volunteering for a political campaign for any candidate from Hamilton County.
The Chillicothe Gazette has finally decided to address the Piketon issue head-on, in an ass-backwards sort of way. Today they carry an article with a headline about Strickland supporting the Piketon project, but the real news is that George Voinovich is on our side, saying he fears it will create a waste dump.
Voinovich is smart enough to know — and he does not want to end up where Mike DeWine is now (wherever that is).
Brown, by the way, is straddling the barbed-wire fence — not a particularly good place to be.
http://chillicothegazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070521/NEWS01/705210307
Furthermore, the Gazette plans a full-page Sunday spread on the issue. They also invite readers to submit letters, opinions, etc. –
http://chillicothegazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070521/UPDATES01/70521018
Please send this link to everyone you know and generate a groundswell of letters.
The Gazette is also running a bizarre poll on its website at http://www.chillicothegazetts.com The poll asks whether you “support GNEP, more jobs” or “oppose GNEP, too much fear”. Gee, do you want jobs or fear? What utter stupidity. I am suggesting they change the poll to “support GNEP, I like lying politicians” or “oppose GNEP, more jobs and cleanup.”
Anyway, go to the website and vote while holding your nose.