Federal judge greenlights unprecedented, high-risk, highly radioactive liquid waste truck shipments from Ontario to South Carolina

Political cartoon by Adam Zyglis, the Buffalo NewsMedia coverage:

WIBV TV, Buffalo, NY;

Le Téléjournal Ontario (in French);

Citizen-Times of Asheville, NC;

Aiken Standard;

Sierra Club's Green Life;

Augusta Chronicle;

Buffalo News;

WLOS, ABC News Channel 13 in Western North Carolina;

Press release by environmental coalition, including Beyond Nuclear, re: judge's adverse ruling, allowing unprecedented, high-risk, highly radioactive liquid waste truck shipments from Chalk River Nuclear Lab, Ontario, Canada to Savannah River Site, South Carolina, U.S.A. (See the judge's 18-page Memorandum Opinion, and 1-page Order of Dismissal, both dated Feb. 2, 2017.) Terry Lodge of Toledo, Ohio and Diane Curran of Washington, D.C. serve as the environmental coalition's legal counsel.

U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY): Higgins Announces Approval of Bill Authorizing Risk Assessment of Proposed Nuclear Waste Transport across the Peace Bridge (Feb. 1, 2017).

Nuclear Free Future: Loss of Institutional Control

As featured on Nuclear-Free Future on Channel 17/Town Hall Meeting TV in Burlington, VT. (Watch the recording of the 30-minute episode, "Loss of Institutional Control," here.)

Host Margaret Harrington speaks with Kevin Kamps, Radioactive Waste Watchdog at Beyond Nuclear, about nuclear weapons and nuclear power issues facing the Trump Administration.

Kevin Kamps zeroes in on issues faced by the Trump administration regarding nuclear weapons and nuclear power in the United States and globally. There is the 75 year buildup of nuclear waste which is the legacy of the Cold War. That is stored at WIPP, the Waste Isolation Pilot Program in Carlsbad, New Mexico. There is the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, where radioactive turtles and alligators swim in waters that flow into drinking water sources. There are irradiated nuclear fuel containers at every atomic reactor site in the United States. Then there is the disaster zone of Fukushima Daiichi, Japan where nuclear waste sits in plastic garbage bags.

Will Rick Perry Privatize America's Nuclear Waste Storage?

As reported at Mother Jones. See Beyond Nuclear's exposé on Energy Secretary-nominee Rick Perry's blatant conflict of interest with Waste Control Specialists, LLC, published at Counterpunch. Take action ASAP -- sign multiple petitions, and contact your two U.S. Senators, urging them to block Perry's confirmation! Also, submit comments to the U.S. Department of Energy, opposing private permanent parking lot dumps for high-level radioactive waste!

‘Learning Curve’ as Rick Perry Pursues a Job He Initially Misunderstood

As reported by the New York Times.

Environmental coalition legal challenge against unprecedented highly radioactive liquid waste shipments coming to a head in D.C.

Political cartoon by Adam Zyglis, The Buffalo News. Buffalo, NY, as well as Thousand Island, NY, are the two most likely border crossings for these shipments, although others could also be used. DOE has invoked security-related secrecy on the routing and timing of the shipments.A Canadian-U.S. environmental coalition, including Beyond Nuclear, has been resisting unprecedented shipments of highly radioactive liquid waste, from Chalk River, Ontario, Canada to Savannah River Site, South Carolina, U.S.A., since they were first announced in spring, 2013. Last August, the coalition filed a federal lawsuit, demanding an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) be conducted. Various court filings have gone back and forth since, between the coalition and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

In the latest round of legal filings, on Jan. 10, 2017, attorneys for DOE and the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a Defendants' Combined Reply in Support of their Motion to Strike and Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion to Supplement the Record and to Submit Extra-Record Documents.

On Jan. 12, 2017, Terry Lodge of Toledo and Diane Curran of Washington, D.C., the environmental coalition's legal counsel, responded, filing Plaintiffs' Reply to Defendants' Opposition to Motion to Supplement the Record and to Submit Extra-Record Documents.

On Jan. 18, 2017, at 10am Eastern, Lodge and Curran will square off against DOE/DOJ, and argue the environmental coalition's case at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse, 333 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington D.C. 20001.

If the environmental coalition prevails in the expedited legal proceeding, the court will order DOE to carry out a long overdue Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), significantly delaying or perhaps even aborting the truck shipments. If the DOE prevails, it could start trucking highly radioactive liquid wastes by mid-February, 2017. See Beyond Nuclear's Waste Transportation website section for more information.