Brattleboro Vermont has long been a town known for the healing springs, and a confluence of water ways. Many healers have set out a shingle. If you google Brattleboro Healers you can see how many there are:

Old news….

This site was originally created to help raise awareness of the dangers of nuclear power in our neck of the woods, and thanks to the constantly vigilant effort on the part of the many grass roots organizations (NECNP – VPIRG – VECAN – The Brattleboro energy committee – Traprock Peace and Justice – and other groups – plus all of the people who supported or attended mass events over the years) we now have a Nuclear Free Vermont. Almost…

Almost, because we still have a Power Plant plant in the state (on the banks of the CT River), that contains radioactive elements like spent fuel rods, potentially leaking caskets with high level radio active waste and contaminated ground water. Not ideal but better than 20 years ago. We still have the potential for massive fall-out should the dry caskets be breached in an attack of any kind. We still store the caskets at the site in Vermont.

In case you missed it – The plant has been sold. Cleanup will begin in 2021 – you can read about it here in the Burlington Free Press.

You can read all about the new company and Decommissioning plans.

You can still get involved in the many organizations that continue to pressure companies to do the right thing, and to be more proactive with public safety. You can still encourage the State Of Vermont to increase (not decrease) incentives for solar energy.

This spring two Solarize programs were launched to help area residents and businesses purchase solar power at a discount.

The Brattleboro Solar Summer, and the Solarize Dummerston program.  Volunteers have been hard at work on both programs to bring you choices, discounts and clean energy.

More info on solarize here… https://www.brattleboro.net/?p=2901

Federal incentives are set to expire at the end of 2016, so act now because many installers are already booking for the fall and next spring.

• With the permanent shut down of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Plant at the end of 2014, Vermont lost 55% of its electricity generating capacity and the source of more than 70% of its net generation in recent years.
• In 2014, 27% of Vermont’s net electricity generation was produced by renewable energy, including hydroelectric, biomass, wind, and solar resources.
• Vermont has a voluntary goal of obtaining 25% of electricity consumed in the state from renewable energy resources by 2017; the resources must have begun operating after 2004.
• Vermont’s Clean Energy Development Fund is promoting winter heating with high-efficiency wood combustion technologies and fuel from sustainable forest ecosystems.
• All new electricity generating capacity added to Vermont’s grid in 2014 was solar-powered.

By the end of 2015 GMP (our power company) estimates that over 142mW of clean electricity will be installed.

Dear Friends of the Safe and Green Campaign,

It’s the first day without nuclear power being generated in Vermont! At 12:12 pm on 12.29.14 the last atom was smashed at Vermont Yankee, and the last bit of radioactive waste was created. Yes, it really happened. (If you missed it, we’ve posted some news coverage here.)

This Saturday, CAN and Safe & Green are taking a night to acknowledge it, to refresh ourselves for the work ahead to safe guard our land, air, water and beings we love.

Yankee Un-Plugged

Party for a Nuclear Free New Year!

7:30pm Saturday January 3rd

St. James Church, 8 Church St., Greenfield, MA 7:30-11pm ~ $5-$20 donation.

* Schmooze with old friends in the quiet Activist Alcove, where folks will be tabling.

* Dance your joy with sound by Klondike and a special no nukes light show by Harvey Schaktman. World fusion dance band SIMBA was formed 25 years ago to play on the Brattleboro Common to shut down Vermont Yankee. The group called itself “The No Nukes Band” and tho they changed the name, their message remains the same. JOHN SHELDON rocked us out at the People’s Power Party in November, and he had such a blast he’s bringing his whole band along.

* Lionel Delevingne has made a generous gift of fifty books (!!!) to help defray party expenses. Visit Anna Gyorgy, who penned the introduction, in the Activist Alcove, and for a minimum donation of $10, you can take home To The Village Square: From Montegue to Fukushima (and help the party break even).

* The Raging Grannies will sing some truth to power.

* Greenfield’s own People’s Pint tasty brews.

* Pot luck desserts & snacks from you!

* Activists from near and far are coming to celebrate & get inspired: Diane Turco & friends from Cape Downwinders – fighting Entergy at the Pilgrim reactor in Plymouth, MA; Leona Morgan of Dine No Nukes (abandoned uranium mines); Yuko Tonohiro, with messages from Japan; Paul Gunter & Kevin Kamps from Beyond Nuclear; Tim Judson from NIRS.

* Memorabilia: Tee Shirts, Lawn Signs, Bumper Stickers and Banners.

Want to help? Send an email or check out the web posting: www.safeandgreencampaign.org/event/vy-unplugged-party

VT YANKEE UN-PLUGGED!

Party for a Nuclear Free New Year

7:30pm Saturday January 3rd

St. James Episcopal Church,

8 Church St, Greenfield MA

(corner of Federal and Church St., downtown)

music and dancing by

S I M B A

&

the JOHN SHELDON BAND

plus

the Raging Grannies

Tasty Brews from the People’s Pint

Dessert & Finger Food Pot Luck

Suggested Donation $5 – $20

Keep up to date on party happenings:

www.safeandgreencampaign.org/event/vy-unplugged-party

Dear Friends of the Safe & Green Campaign,

Vermont Yankee is back in the news. According to an Entergy press release, Yankee began POWERING DOWN this week!!! By one or two percent at a time, it will “coasting down” until the end of December to use up all the fuel currently in the reactor. NRC has it at 99% today. http://www.reformer.com/News/

No one is claiming responsibility for a poll taken recently which set off rumors of an effort by Yankee workers to purchase the reactor from Entergy. “Finally, the poll asked if the person would be supportive of a “new, regionally-based energy generating company with more local management and governance operating Vermont’s power plants like Vermont Yankee?”

rutlandherald.com/article/20140916/THISJUSTIN/709169961

Two Yankee related meetings will be held next week — both scheduled for Thursday evening. The first meeting of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel (NDCAP**) will be at Brattleboro Union High School at 6:30pm, Sept. 25. The first meeting for New Hampshire residents on the impacts of Yankee’s closing will be at 6pm at Hinsdale Middle/High School. One wonders how the newly-appointed NH representative to NDCAP will serve her constituents best: listening to the NH officals and hearing the questions by NH resident in Walpole, or attending her first meeting of the panel. Read more, with links, in this pithy post on Green Mtn. Daily

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Safe & Green and CAN are planning a party for the NUCLEAR FREE NEW YEAR on Saturday, January 3, 2015. Entergy announced the closing date of Yankee is December 29. While there will be lots to do to decommission and clean up the site over the next DECADES, let’s take a time to celebrate YANKEE UNPLUGGED and no more new waste! Stay tuned for details.

PEOPLE’S CLIMATE MARCH UPDATE Lots on our website http://www.safeandgreencampaign.org/Nuclear-Free Contingent

ONE THOUSAND Vermonters — 1% of VT’s population — and 22 THOUSAND folks from Massachusetts are going to NYC 9.20 & 9.21 this weekend

Everything you need to know about the March — which starts in 48 hours — is on the People’s Climate March (PCM) website here: http://peoplesclimate.org/march/

— Look at the Line Up & Narrative for ALL the march contingents here. Nuclear-Free is part of #3: “We Have The Solutions”
— NEW: Block Party at the end of the March by People’s Climate March (PCM) – music, food (water & porta potties, too). Javits Center.

— Take photos & email them to us safeandgreencampaign@gmail.com

We’ll post on our website & Facebook page Monday or Tuesday.

We had our last conference call of NUCLEAR-FREE, CARBON-FREE organizers this week. Here’s the run down on our contingent:

— NEW: Saturday 9-10:30 am Teach In at the Climate Convergence: Don’t Nuke the Climate:How Nuclear Power Makes Climate Change Worse and is Stealing our Energy Future St. Johns University Manhattan Campus; 51 Astor Pl, New York, NY 10003; ROOM 108

— Saturday 2pm: National Nuclear Free Activist Gathering.2-6 pm at the Bread and Butter Deli, upstairs, 419 Park Avenue South (corner of 29th Street). #6 subway, 28th Street stop.

— VOLUNTEER SUNDAY help set up 8:00am-10am at the RALLY (location below) +/or at the end of the Rally, help take down staging, move to March end point.

— SUNDAY RALLY (10am): Central Park West between 73rd and 74th streets. Nuclear-Free, Carbon-Free Contingent (details below).

— MARCH CONTINGENT: Go to the RALLY location above and join hundreds marching with us. We’ll have banners or bring your own (paper, cardboard, string only).

BUSES ARE SOLD OUT. (Mass. has 500 person waiting list for buses!) If you are on a bus, work it! Get names of folks on your bus & their affiliations & email addresses for your group or pass them along to us. Start forming coalitions. Make plans to get together in the week or two after the March to strategize for the future. Collect signatures for petitions. 1. Tom Hayden’s petition to the UN on the proposal which promotes nuclear as a solution to climate change. 2. NIRS has one on the new EPA “clean energy” regs which asks that nuclear not be subsidized or considered clean. NIRS petition to EPA

RALLY DETAILS – If you are taking the bus, it’s a 15 minute walk to our Rally from the bus drop off area. Nuclear-Free is one of the few rallies with amplification. Confirmed speakers & performers as of Friday: Dr. Arjun Makhijani (IEER and author of Carbon-Free, Nuclear-Free); Hunter Lovins, President and Founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions, one of the nation’s leading experts in sustainable energy practices; Jessica Azulay, Program Director, Alliance for a Green Economy (AGREE); Julia Walsh (Campaign Director, Frack Action & New Yorkers Against Fracking); Tim Judson (NIRS); Leona Morgan, Dine No Nukes in New Mexico; Japanese activist Yuko Tonohira; Sandra Steingraber, Concerned Health Professionals of New York, Distinguished Scholar at Ithaca College; new poems by Marge Piercy; Michael Mariotte, MC (NIRS).
Performers: Raging Grannies; Joel Landy, Chiho Kaneko, Mel & Vinnie.

Well, I better get packing!

Peace & Solidarity,

Leslie Sullivan Sachs

for the Safe & Green Campaign

Calendar Listings – Recent Articles

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VT Yankee Decommissioning Alliance and Stop the VT Gas Pipeline Fundraiser

When: Saturday, October 5, 2013 at 7:00 PM

Where: Nutty Steph’s, 961 Rt. 2, Middlesex, VT 05602 (in the same building at the Red Hen Bakery).

What: Join VYDA for a VT Yankee Decommissioning Alliance and Stop the VT Gas Pipeline Fundraiser.

Don’t miss music by Small Axe and performances by Erok Gillard and friends. We will also celebrate the announcement that Entergy will shut down Vermont Yankee next year.

Sliding scale: $5- $10

For more information call: Andy Plante at 802-223-5409

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The Fukushima Nuclear Accident: Ongoing Lessons for Boston and New York

When: Tuesday, October 8, 2013 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM in NYC

and Wednesday, October 9, 2013 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM in Boston.

Where: NYC location: 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave., New York, NY 10128 (Theresa L. Kaufmann Concert Hall),

Boston location: the Massachusetts State House, 24 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02133 (Gardner Auditorium)

What: Former Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission joins panel to discuss the risks of nuclear power at the Indian Point and Pilgrim Nuclear Power Stations Seminar Tuesday, October 8 in NYC Seminar & Wednesday, October 9 in Boston.

You are cordially invited to attend a panel of speakers that includes the former Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Dr. Gregory Jaczko; former NRC Commissioner Peter Bradford; and nuclear engineer, Arnie Gundersen, who will share their perspectives on nuclear safety and the future of nuclear power. The panel will specifically address concerns regarding Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant now operating with an expired license in Buchanan, New York and Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The seminars will be held in New York City at the 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave., New York, NY 10128 (Theresa L. Kaufmann Concert Hall) on Tuesday, Oct 8 and in Boston at the Massachusetts State House, 24 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02133 (Gardner Auditorium) on Wednesday, Oct. 9

More speakers will be announced.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Leah Brown / Olive PR Solutions

o: 619.955.5285 x105 m: 858.337.2995

leah@oliveprsolutions.com www.OlivePRSolutions.com

* * * * * * * * *

NRC Waste Confidence Hearing

When: October 28, 2013, “Open House” at 6:00 PM, Meeting 7:00 – 10:00 PM.

Where: Chelmsford, MA, Radisson Hotel & Suites Chelmsford-Lowell

What: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is holding public meetings to collect comments on a Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement on the extended storage of highly radioactive irradiated fuel rods currently stored at nuclear power reactor sites in Washington DC, and 10 other cities between October 1 and November 14, 2013.

(Draft GEIS: http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1322/ML13224A106.pdf)

This information is specific to NRC’s public meeting on Monday October 28 in Greater Boston: Chelmsford, Massachusetts Radisson Hotel & Suites Chelmsford-Lowell, 10 Independence Drive, Chelmsford, MA 01824.

Link to Google Map: http://tinyurl.com/nrcboston

If you are planning your own events, be sure to insert the times you want people to arrive.

We encourage local groups to use their own materials. Click here for draft organizing-documents, offered simply as a starting point or aid. Edit/insert your own info and quotes/revise/reject freely.

Also, this is the link to a helpful NIRS page regarding the meeting: http://www.nirs.org/radwaste/wasteconfidence.htm

Clean up VY safely & Completely:

http://www.nukebusters.org/resources-reports-materials.shtml

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Celebration on the Closing of VT Yankee

When: November 2, 2013, 6:00 – 11:00 PM.

Where: West Brattleboro Meeting House (UU Church)

What: Citizens Awareness Network and Safe and Green are throwing a Celebration on the Closing of VT Yankee!

John Shelton will play and others.

* * * * * * * * *

Choose CAN as your favorite non-profit for Valley Gives!

When: December 12, 2013 between 12:00 AM and 11:59 PM

Where: on line

What: When a donor comes to the Valley Gives website and makes a gift to their favorite nonprofits between 12 AM and 11:59 PM on December 12th, that gift will be added up, along with thousands of other gifts being made to nonprofits in western Massachusetts.

Throughout the day, donors will be randomly chosen and their gift will be amplified with a “Golden Ticket” adding $1,200 to support their favorite nonprofit. More than 80 different nonprofits will receive this bonus. At the end of 24 hours, the nonprofits that have raised the most money, and those that have the most unique donors, will be rewarded with special grants from a prize pool of $200,000.

To donate go to: www.valleygivesday.org

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A Barn for Bessie

CAN needs barn or shed space to store Bessie, the No-Nukes Trojan Cow for the winter. She is on a platform that is 6′ wide, 12′ long, and she stands about 8′ tall. If you have space or a lead on possible storage space please call Harvey at 413-625-6177.

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Join our Board

Citizens Awareness Network (CAN) is growing our board of directors. As you are well aware, CAN is a grassroots environmental organization working to end the use of unaffordable and dangerous nuclear power in the Northeast. CAN has successfully been an integral player in empowering communities to take action, has helped transform debates over energy, pollution and environmental justice and has helped reduce New England’s dependence on nuclear power by a significant percentage. Currently CAN is working on the closure of Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant in Vernon, Vermont and is engaging New England communities in the transition to renewable energy sources You can learn more on the website: www.nukebusters.org.

If you would like to join the board of this vibrant organization at a pivotal moment in our ever-evolving mission, please contact us if you have finance skills, strategic planning skills, development skills, general non-profit board experience or have passion for an issue that is related to social justice or the environment.  We’re happy to answer any questions you might have and accept letters of interest at CAN@nukebusters.org or you can post your paper letter to: CAN, P.O. Box 83, Shelburne Falls, MA 01370.

Board terms are one year in length or longer. The board meets six times throughout the calendar year for board meetings.

* * * * * * * * *

Recent Articles Related to VY:

Texas will take Vermont’s radioactive waste

http://www.pressherald.com/news/nationworld/Texas_will_take_Vermont_s_radioactive_waste_.html

Panel weighs shutdown impact on permit

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20131002/NEWS03/710029895

Fukushima plant reports another contaminated water leak after overfilling tank with no gauge

http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/view/story/ea99435fbd4741f0aff4d6fd2c1f336e/AS-Japan-Nuclear–

Is Nuclear Power Compatible With Democracy?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/madhusree-mukerjee/india-nuclear-power_b_4029696.html

* * * * * * * * *

Like us on Facebook and get more news and updates: https://www.facebook.com/CitizensAwarenessNetwork

If you want to subscribe or unsubscribe from the Citizens Awareness Network Calendar and e-alert list, or if you have any questions, please contact our administrative assistant veronique@nukebusters.org.

Vermont Yankee Nuke Plant to Close by End of 2014

Vermont’s only nuclear power plant will shut down by the end of next year, ending a nasty legal battle over the future of the 4-decade-old plant, Entergy Corp. announced Tuesday.

The Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station is expected to cease power production after its current fuel cycle and will begin being decommissioned in the fourth quarter of 2014, the company said. The station will remain under the oversight of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission throughout the decommissioning process.

The New Orleans-based company has been battling with the state since 2010, when the Vermont Senate voted against a measure that would have authorized a state board to grant Vermont Yankee a permit to operate for an additional 20 years. Lawmakers were concerned about the plant’s safety, age and misstatements by plant management about components at the reactor.

“This was an agonizing decision and an extremely tough call for us,” Leo Denault, Entergy’s chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement. “Vermont Yankee has an immensely talented, dedicated and loyal workforce, and a solid base of support among many in the community. We recognize that closing the plant on this schedule was not the outcome they had hoped for, but we have reluctantly concluded that it is the appropriate action for us to take under the circumstances.”

Denault said that when it closes, the plant will be placed in “safe-store,” in which federal regulations allow it to be mothballed for up to 60 years while its radioactive components cool down before removal.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a statement released by spokesman Neil Sheehan that the federal agency would “continue its rigorous oversight of the plant through the rest of its operations and into and through decommissioning. We have a decommissioning process that the details steps that would have to be taken by Entergy going forward.”

The decision to close Vermont Yankee was based on a number of financial factors, including low wholesale energy prices, high costs and what the company called a flawed market design that artificially deflates energy prices.

Nuclear plants have been under significant price competition due to the recent natural gas boom in the United States. Vermont Yankee, among the oldest and smallest plants in the country and located in a state with one of the nation’s strongest anti-nuclear movements, had long been considered among the most likely to be shuttered.

Vermont Yankee opened in 1972 in Vernon. In the past, the plant has provided as much as a third of the state’s electrical supply. Currently, nearly all of its power is shipped to electric companies in neighboring states.

After being granted the federal license it also needed for continued operation, Entergy sued the state and won a first round in federal court in Brattleboro.

The state appealed but largely lost earlier this month. Attorney General Bill Sorrell has said the ruling worked out well in one respect: The court overruled a part of the lower-court decision saying the state had violated the U.S. Constitution by trying to demand cut-rate power from Vermont Yankee if it were allowed to continue operating.

The company employs about 630 people, a staffing level that will gradually be reduced as the plant moves through the stages of decommissioning.

Flotilla 2013
August 10th – Your Time is up.

The Flotilla is afoot!

Read more here: https://www.brattleboro.net/action-center/actions/