Thursday, March 21, 2013

Indian Point Made Men


It's 2013. Indian Point's reactor 2 license has expired and it is operating illegally, because just like Vermont Yankee, the NRC hasn't renewed its license. Why? Because it can't, and yet, Entergy keeps these plants running despite the will of the people in hosting communities whose lives are most at risk, in our case New York City and Fairfield County.

The Vermont legislature voted 24-6 to decommission the Yankee nuclear power plant. Despite this overwhelming vote in favor of shutting down the plant, Entergy and the NRC keep the reactor running, in flagrant disregard for the democratic process. The law does nothing.

In New York, Indian Point lost its water permit when the Department of Environmental Conservation revoked it a couple years ago. It shouldn't be operating at all. Entergy has managed to keep it all in limbo in the courts.

The lawyers on both sides benefit from this, because that's what lawyers do to get paid, just like divorce lawyers do. The longer it goes on, the more money they make, both parties get sucked into a bottomless vortex of inane legalities draining us of common sense.

Then a group of anti-nuclear organizations out West managed the impossible. They won a legal battle to stop the NRC from licensing or relicensing any new or old nuclear power plant until the age old brain twister problem of storing waste on site was remedied.

The moratorium didn't stop anything, instead of rubber stamping old plants, the law backfired as the NRC simply used it as a pretext to allow all nuclear plants to keep operating at perpetuity way past their due date, without a renewed license until the waste issue was solved, an issue mind you, which hasn't been dealt with since the dawn of the nuclear age!!!

So what's going on. Simple really, and that might be why so few people dare challenge this status quo. The unions are all powerful! In other words, the Teamsters... the mob! All these workers are lied to by their bosses, who collect their dues, living fat on the hog with corporate thugs.

For every job the nuclear power industry gives a boilermaker, a dozen lucrative jobs are created in the solar energy industry providing the same amount of electricity. And yet, believe it or not, it's not until last year that the electrical unions started awarding solar installer certifications to their members!

I think a WTF is in order.

In the meantime, back at the ranch, Cuomo who keeps saying he wants to shut down Indian Point, spends all his time with the No Fracking crowd. He's already given them a two year breathing period, so pumping poisons into the ground isn't a burning issue for New York right now.

Yoko and her son Sean should divert their ample resources to tackle the most pressing problem at hand, that we're all living in the shadow of another potential disaster, which could spell an end to the fashion district! Artists Against Fracking should rename itself Artists Against NUKES and Fracking!

Do you realize that despite the many small events hosted over the years by Riverkeeper, ABC Home, Deepak Chopra, Donna Karan, etc... to discuss the future of Indian Point with those who have the most to lose, New Yorkers, there still hasn't been a big shut down Indian Point celebrity benefit gala in Manhattan, like ever?

Then we find out the Creative Coalition, an organization once founded by the likes of Susan Sarandon and Alec Baldwin, both on the record as opposed to nuclear power, is allowing the marketing executive for the Nuclear Energy Institute to host their benefits?

Can I hear another WTF, please?

Let's face it, if Governor Cuomo wanted to shut down Indian Point tomorrow, he could do it with the stroke of a pen, just like he passed those new gun laws. It's what Governors do! He could call in the National Guard and block the entrance to the gates, telling all the workers to go home. Except a nuclear power plant isn't like a coal plant, you just can't shut the door. You have to babysit that thing for decades!!!

You know that dumb science fiction show Revolution on television, where all the electricity goes out? What makes me crazy is the writers refuse to deal with the real life consequences of such an event. All nuclear power plants would melt down without cooling systems! We'd all be dead!

There is a certain madness at play here, some kind of irony, that we would make ourselves so vulnerable to natural disasters or human error. Faced with the absurdity of the situation, sit on our hands and do nothing to prevent the inevitable, just like we did with the Twin Towers... everyone knew that sooner or later it would happen, that it was just a matter of time before some asshole would fly a plane into them... we got two!

It's time for Cuomo, Riverkeeper, all the politicians, celebrities, scientists and activists involved in this fight to jam the nail in Indian Point's coffin. You can't do that without a big splashy event in the media capital of the world. Why this hasn't happened yet boggles my mind... What else can I do but bitch?

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Wild & Scenic Film Festival - March 15 Westport

Friday March 15, 2013
5:30 PM – 9:30 PM,
Films begin at 7:00 PM
Door Prizes! Exhibitors! Vendors!

Westport Woman’s Club
44 Imperial Ave Westport, CT 06880
Tickets $30 per person
Ticket price includes Membership in Friends of the Norwalk Islands http://wildandscenicfilmfestival.eventbrite.com

March 15, 2013, Friends of the Norwalk Islands and Live Green Connecticut! are host to the Wild & Scenic Film Festival. The Wild & Scenic Film Festival draws local green heroes, leading activists, social innovators eco-entrepreneurs and well-known world adventurers to Westport, Connecticut.

Films start at 7:00 PM


Fighting Climate Change - Oyster Farmers (4 mins) Trailer: https://vimeo.com/43828686
Aral: The Lost Sea (25 mins) Trailer: https://vimeo.com/19443245
How the Kids Saved the Plant (13 mins) Trailer: https://vimeo.com/53118671
One Beach (25 mins) Trailer: http://youtu.be/pNg3IVIHhFY
Huck (6 mins) Trailer: https://vimeo.com/40491703

Intermission

Song of the Spindle (4 mins) Trailer: https://vimeo.com/34519469

Into the Middle of Nowhere (15 mins) Trailer: http://www.fandor.com/films/into_the_middle_of_nowhere
Sand Rider (4 mins) Trailer: http://www.wildandscenicfilmfestival.org/sand-rider
Young Voices of the Planet: (10 mins) Trailer: http://youtu.be/6ST2qJJCkhg
Weed War (6 mins) Trailer: http://youtu.be/3Pp5f4JCrAs

More information: http://friendsofthenorwalkislands.org/wild-and-scenic-film-festival-a-climate-of-change

Parent sites:
http://www.wildandscenicfilmfestival.org
https://www.facebook.com/WildScenicFilms

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Westport Electric Car Club EV Road Rally - April 27

(Click to enlarge)

Westport Electric Car Club EV Road Rally will take place on Saturday, April 27th, 10 am to 3 pm.

Press Conference and Winner Circle held at 1:30pm, outside Blu Parrot restaurant.


The rally will start 10 am at the eastbound side of the Saugatuck Railroad Station (charging stations) with coffee to be provided for all who come.

The entrants must be plug-in hybrid or all electric vehicles and will leave for a designated 40 mile course.  

It will be a Time, Speed, Distance (TSD) rally. This video on YouTube explains.

The 3-hour rally tour will have several stopping points with a half-hour pit stop during the Fairfield Earth Day Celebration at Fairfield Warde High School. (11h15 am - 11h45 am)

The cars will complete their rally run at the Westbound side of the Saugatuck Railroad parking lot at which time awards will be presented to the winners.

To complete the festivities, a barbecue will be hosted by the Blu Parrot Restaurant with music and free sliders for all, from 1pm to 3 pm.

Auto dealers will have their electric vehicles for all to see.

Come join in for an exciting electric car event in Westport.

RSVP via Facebook.

Thanks to Dragone Classic MotorcarsGreen DrinksRobin Tauck PartnersElectrifying Times, Miggs B. DesignE magazineSilver of Westport, Whole Foods Westport, The Whelk, Cell-Nique, Friezo Family Foundation, Toyota of Stamford, EVSE, Encon Solar, Karl ChevroletSustainable America and many others...

Read more about the rally from Jim Motavalli's Green Wheels.

Print out Press Release (PDF)

Electric Car EV Rally Entrants - to date:

1 Barry Kresch ~ Chevy Volt
2 Aaron Schildkraut ~ Tesla Model S
3 Jack Mendelbaum ~ Chevy Volt
4 Nick Wiener ~ Chevy Volt
5 Bruce Becker ~ BMW ActiveE
6 Colleen Leth/Robin Tauck ~ Tesla Roadster
7 Robin Tauck ~ Tesla Model S
8 Richard Hanley ~ Chevy Volt
9 Demetrois Spantidos ~ Tesla Model S
10 Kathryn Koslow ~ Tesla Model S
11 Scott Thompson ~ Nissan Leaf
12 John Henessey ~ Tesla Model S
13 Sean Cina ~ Prius Plug-In
14 Ed Czizik ~ Prius Plug-In
15 Robert Smith ~ Tesla Model S
16 Frank Perkins ~ Prius Plug-In
17 Hamid Sami MD ~ Tesla Model S
18 Etta Kantor ~ Nissan Leaf
19 Jeremy Kranowitz ~ Fisker Karma
20 Nick Tiller ~ Tesla Model S
21 John Canning ~ Ford C-Max Energi
22 Michael Schlecter ~ Tesla Model S
23 Sam Vail ~ Smart EV
24 Gabriel Shenhar ~ Tesla Model S
25 Jackie Eskin ~ Nissan Leaf
26 Gary La Chance ~ Tesla Model S
27 Dan Ratner ~ Ford C-Max Energi
28 Leo Karl ~ Chevy Volt
29 Alex Marquin ~ Chevy Volt
30 Kyle Smith ~ Smart EV
31 Howard Kaplan ~ Tesla Model S
32 Joe Booth ~ Nissan Leaf
33 Emanual Logiadis ~ Chevy Volt

Photos from the rally posted in the Electrifying Times website.

Next day, April 28, attend the Bedford 2020 Car Show!