On December 12 in Brattleboro, protesters occupied a nuclear corporation’s board room. Meanwhile, activists seeking to close the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant are gearing up for a vote next month in the Vermont senate on whether the state’s top nuclear regulator – who many say has been too friendly to the industry – will get to keep his job.
Vermont Yankee is three miles from Massachusetts and a stone’s throw from New Hampshire.
On November 8, the people of Northampton will decide whether farmland and forestland should be turned into parking lots, strip malls, ChemLawns, and other kinds of so-called development. “Northampton residents should save the Community Preservation Act by voting ‘no’ on Question 1," said Kristin DeBoer. She's director of www.KestrelTrust.org
"The Act is one of the best tools towns have for conserving the farms, rivers, and forests of the Valley," DeBoer said.
When will the first woman be elected president? Experts say a good way to make that happen soon is to elect more female governors and members of Congress. On October 25 former New Hampshire senate majority leader Maggie Hassan www.MaggieHassan.com announced she is running for governor. She is a Democrat and a lawyer. The election is about a year from now.
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photo of Maggie Hassan from www.MaggieHassan.com
The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is three miles from Massachusetts and a stone's throw from New Hampshire. A major accident or act of sabotage at the reactor 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.
Some 700 peaceful protesters were arrested in recent days in New York City. The Occupy Wall Street protesters’ web site says, “We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution. We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we're working at all. We are getting nothing while the other 1 percent is getting everything. We are the 99 percent.” The protesters' web site is:
Seven local bands, some of which tour nationally, played at a festival whose mission was to close the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. The music festival was on September 17 in Newfane, Vermont. The bands were outstanding. Among the highlights were Simba and Pulse Prophets. Hundreds of people attended; many danced. The autumn weather was sunny and comfortable.
Here are the web sites of the bands that performed:
On August 30, protesters were arrested for non-violent civil disobedience at the gates of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Activists are asking the public to attend a rally on September 12 outside the federal court in Brattleboro, the location of a trial that will likely decide whether Vermont Yankee will operate until March 2012 or until 2032. The reactor is three miles from Massachusetts and a stone’s throw from New Hampshire.
Claire Chang is a spokeswoman for www.NukeBusters.org
In the coming weeks there will be a series of rallies, courtroom actions, and a non-violent civil disobedience training camp. All are intended to close the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Vermont Yankee is three miles from Massachusetts and a stone’s throw from New Hampshire.
Claire Chang is a spokesperson for www.NukeBusters.org
She asked the public to go to court to support 15 women who were arrested for non-violent civil disobedience at Vermont Yankee. Their court dates in Brattleboro are coming up soon:
On July 18, a federal judge in Brattleboro ruled that the state of Vermont had a better case than Entergy Corporation of Louisiana. Entergy wanted the judge to force Vermont to let Entergy run its Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant until 2032. Vermont wants the nuke permanently closed by March 2012. “The fight is not over, but we are in a much better position now than we would have been if this decision had gone the other way,” said Vermont attorney general Bill Sorrell.
Anti-nuclear activists are asking the public to join them on a march to the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant on July 30. Marchers can start in Keene or Brattleboro. Vermont Yankee is three miles from Massachusetts and a stone’s throw from New Hampshire.
The march on Vermont Yankee is part of a 25 day March for a Nuclear Free World that will begin in Boston and end near Albany, New York. It will make stops at the Pilgrim nuclear power plant in eastern Massachusetts, and at the Seabrook nuclear power plant in eastern New Hampshire.