United States senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont will speak in Brattleboro April 14 at a noon rally to close the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, said Deb Katz. She’s director of the Citizens Awareness Network www.NukeBusters.org Afro-beat band Fenibo www.fenibo.com will play at the rally, which ends at 2 p.m. The rally will be at the Brattleboro town common (about 100 yards north of the town library) unless it rains, in which case it will be inside at Brattleboro high school.
On March 27, the Valley Post spoke with representatives of U.S. senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont; Peter Welch, Vermont's only representative in the U.S. House; and Vermont governor Peter Shumlin to ask if Leahy, Welch, and Shumlin will speak at the rally. The Valley Post will update this article when the Post gets a response.
[4/10/2012 UPDATE: Shumlin will speak at the rally, Katz said on April 10.]
A major accident or act of sabotage at Vermont Yankee would kill thousands of people and leave an area the size of the Valley uninhabitable. Such a disaster is so likely that no insurance company will insure the facility; taxpayers would pay the costs of a meltdown. The hundreds of tons of nuclear waste at Vermont Yankee is the most toxic material on earth. The waste is so dangerous that it must be guarded 24 hours a day for the next 1 million years, according to the federal government. The electricity from Vermont Yankee is not needed, according to the state of Vermont, which in 2010 ordered Entergy to close the plant on March 21, 2012. Entergy sued Vermont in federal court and won the right to run the reactor until at least 2032. The state is appealing.
More information about Vermont Yankee, the mass movement that led the state to order Entergy to close the reactor, and the ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan, is at:
www.ValleyPost.org/2011/03/14/japan-quake-puts-valley-nuke-local-spotlight
The rally is sponsored by Citizens Awareness Network, Safe and Green Campaign, Vermont Public Interest Research Group, Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance, SAGE Alliance, New England Coalition, Toxics Action Center, and the Sierra Club.
The SAGE Alliance is trying
The SAGE Alliance is trying to mobilize 5,000 people to come to the Rally to Shut Down Vermont Yankee on the Brattleboro Commons this Saturday (noon to 2pm). U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell will speak.
We have the opportunity to charter a school bus (or two or more, at about $350 each, with 47 seats per bus, or about $7.50 per person) -- and save on fuel, not have parking problems, and enjoy being together.
URGENT: Please reply ASAP if you will commit to paying for a seat on a chartered school bus to ride to & from the Rally on Saturday 4/14.
Departure around 11am from Greenfield (possible start for one bus might be South Deerfield at 10:40am, for the Downstreamers AG), and 2:30pm from Brattleboro for the return.
We are arranging for someone to pre-pay the $350 fee for one school bus and will collect individual payments upon boarding, or preferably prepaid to me during the week. The sooner we gather the funds and make the reservation with payment, the better!
Let me hear from you soonest!
I'll let you all know when we get the committed riders and funds.
Suzanne Carlson
at suzannec@crocker.com
or tel. 413-774-4120
Post new comment