Social Media
 
|
|
|
News Update
June 29, 2012 |
|
Bonnie Raitt Concert Supports Effort to Retire Pilgrim, Raises $3,000 for Pilgrim Coalition, Guacamole Fund
 | |
Left to right: Meg Sheehan of Cambridge and Plymouth, Bonnie, Sara Altherr of Kingston, and Arlene Williamson of Mashpee.
|
In musical performances in Boston and Hyannis last weekend, musician Bonnie Raitt called for retiring the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, which is operated by Entergy Nuclear Generating Corporation of Louisiana. Members of the Pilgrim Coalition joined Bonnie Raitt after the performance. "Pilgrim has caused unacceptable damage to our health, waters, and Cape Cod Bay, and threatens the economy of the region" said coalition member Meg Sheehan. "Enough is enough. Entergy-Louisiana is not entitled to operate Pilgrim in this manner, and we are thrilled that the issue is getting national attention."
The events raised $3,000 for Pilgrim Coalition via the Guacamole Fund, a non-profit organization which focuses on supporting grass roots activities, with education, outreach, networking and funding. It concentrates in the areas of the environment and wildlife, social change, peace with justice, energy and a non nuclear future.
|
Groups Call for Ending Pollution by Entergy with Letters to US Fisheries Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Coastal Zone Management
Pressure on state and federal agencies to step up and do their jobs continues to build. Yesterday, June 28, 2012, Pilgrim Watch and JRWA challenged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, saying their approvals for Entergy's relicensing are arbitrary and capricious and not based on credible data. Read the letters below:
June 28, 2012:
June 15, 2012: Letter to Secretary Rick Sullivan's office Coastal Zone Management Letter
|
Plymouth Nuclear Committee Official Speaks as Private Citizen: Entergy Should Pay Town $20M in PILOT
 Speaking as a private citizen, the chairman of Plymouth's Nuclear Matters Committee appeared before the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday and said the community needs to negotiate a better tax deal with Entergy-Louisiana, which operates the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station.
Jeff Berger said the power station, which was relicensed in May for 20 years, will generate Entergy-Louisiana $7 billion in revenue during that time. He said the community deserves at least $20 million each year in Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) and should put half of that toward the plant's closure.
Otherwise, Berger told the Old Colony Memorial newspaper this week, in 2032 "the nuclear power plant will shut down forever, be decommissioned and that will literally throw Plymouth off a financial cliff of unprecedented proportions."
Click here to read the full Old Colony Memorial article before the hearing.
|
Groups Call on Gov. Patrick to Ask NRC to Close Pilgrim During Union Lock-Out
 Entergy-Louisiana, owner of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, locked out workers from the Utility Workers of American Union (UWAU) Local 369 on June 5. The lockout continues, with a rally held yesterday at the State House. Last week, a statewide coalition of public health, nuclear safety, social justice and environmental groups called on Governor Deval Patrick to ask the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to close the Pilgrim reactor because of the lockout. The groups asking the Governor to take action were Pilgrim Watch, Jones River Watershed Association, Massachusetts Jobs With Justice, Clean Water Action, Cape Codders for Peace and Justice, Pilgrim: Make Us Safe Today, Cape Downwinders, Toxics Action Center Campaigns as well as five groups new to supporting our work:
|
Pilgrim 14, Cape Downwinders in Court July 11. Demonstration to Follow
 On May 20, coalition member Cape Downwinders held a rally and demonstration outside Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station to protest Entergy-Louisiana's relicensing application. Some of the participants were arrested and charged with trespassing when they attempted to deliver a letter to Entergy-Louisiana. The Pilgrim 14 as they are calling themselves are scheduled to return to Plymouth District Court on July 11 for a pre-trial conference. The group asks supporters to join them in the courtroom that morning at 9 a.m. There will be an 11 a.m. demonstration outside.
The group is asking any supporters who do attend to read the following materials and respect its requests for conduct. The goal is for no arrests.
|
Member in Action Sara Altherr: "Everybody Should
Be" Activist
Sara Altherr has been an activist for many years -- and feels everybody should be. She and her late husband Richard Ellison bought their home on the Jones River in Kingston in 1983, and fell in love with the land and waterways of Southeastern Massachusetts. From the moment she first saw the Jones River, Sara involved herself in efforts to restore and enhance her environment, becoming a founding member of the Jones River Watershed Association -- 28 years ago. She has served on several town committees in Kingston and worked as a reporter for MPG news.
"The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station presents our communities with a terrible threat," she said. "An accident there could contaminate our beautiful part of the country for more than my life time -- not to mention threaten our lives."
Previously, Sara worked as a publicist for PBS in Washington, D.C.; New York, and Boston. Sara has two grandchildren who live in East Bridgewater and hopes her work with Pilgrim Coalition will enable them to have a brighter future.
|
Massachusetts Sierra Club Publication Features Pilgrim
By Meg Sheehan
Concerned Citizen
It's time to decommission Entergy's 40-year-old leaking, unsafe, and troubled nuclear reactor that sits on the shores of Cape Cod Bay in Plymouth. On May 25, 2012, the federal NRC issued the Louisiana-based Entergy a renewed license to keep operating Pilgrim until 2032, twenty years past Pilgrim's design life.
Opponents of the reactor say the NRC doesn't have the final say, and the NRC license is only one of the many approvals Entergy needs. Opponents also insist Entergy should stick to the original deal made in 1972 to run the reactor for 40 years, and then safely decommission it. When the federal NRC relicensed Pilgrim on May 25, even the Governor called it an "irresponsible and misguided" step.
|
|
|
|
|
