Group Admins
Hanford-North America’s Fukushima- Hanford Rally April 15
Public Group active 10 months ago agoJust 200 miles upstream from composting, bike-riding, green-belting Portland, Oregon, is the largest concentration of nuclear waste in the country. Built on the banks of the Columbia River in Eastern Washington, Hanford’s reactors have produced enough plutonium to arm much of the America’s nuclear arsenal, including the bomb that devastated Nagasaki in 1945.
Occupy Portland raises this question: Is enough being done to clean up the most contaminated site in America?
At the January 16, 2012, Occupy Portland General Assembly meeting, the group consensed on two protest actions; first, a march to mark the first anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster on March 11, 2011, and second, a massive, nationally supported rally on April 15, 2012, to raise awareness about issues facing the Hanford Nuclear Facility. The two events serve as a reminder that the Hanford site is an environmental disaster with the potential of becoming a catastrophe as large in scope as that of the Fukushima nuclear facility in Japan.
April 15, 2012, Rally: The April 15, 2012, a rally will be held at Jon Dam Plaza in Richland, WA, between noon and 5 pm. Richland is the community that many of the workers involved in the Hanford clean-up call home.
A full day of activities is planned for the A15 rally with:
Speakers:
Dr. Helen Caldicott / Nuclear Free World
Paul Gunter / Beyond Nuclear
Dorli Rainey /Activist
John Brave Hawk / AIM – Warriors Society
Maye Thompson / Oregon Physicians For Social Responsibility
Paige Knight / Hanford Watch
Chuck Johnson / Board Member Columbia Riverkeeper
Lloyd Marbet / The Oregon Conservancy
Peter Bergel / Oregon PeaceWorks
Bonnie Urfer / Nukewatch
Sister Megan Rice
….and more TBA.
The activities will include arts, music, and cultural activities.
Performers:
MIC Crenshaw
Miriams Well
More TBA
In Alliance with:
Oregon/Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility
Hanford Watch
Oregon Conservancy Foundation
The American Indian Movement/Warrior Society
Nukewatch
Oregon Peaceworks
Mothers for Peace
Shell Mound Walk
Sovereign Health Air Water Land/SHAWL- Spokane Reservation
Veterans for Peace
Cascadia Resurgence
OccupyPortland
Occupy Wall Street is organizing a solidarity action for the same day, and Occupy Seattle also supports the event.
Occupy Portland’s goals for the events are:
*To push the Hanford clean-up effort up the list of priorities of the government and people of the United States.
*To increase funding while also increasing transparency and efficiency of the Hanford clean-up.
*To call for measures to protect against profiteering and conflicts of interest.
*To unite the people of all communities affected by the Hanford situation (including, but not limited to Native communities, early settlers forced to relocate, Hanford employees, downwinders and residents of the Tri-Cities area) in both calling for and finding solutions to the problems caused by Hanford’s past in order to ensure the health and dignity of future generations.
Facts:
* The Hanford site stores more than 53 million gallons of high level radioactive waste as well as housing an active nuclear power plant.
* There is mass tort lawsuit pending against the federal government brought by nearly two thousand plaintiffs whose health has been damaged by Hanford radiation. Two plaintiffs have already been awarded settlements.
* Storage tanks are believed to have been leaking as early as 1945 – The first confirmed leak was in 1956. The largest confirmed leak was in 1973 when 115,000 gallons of radioactive material leaked into the surrounding area. The total amount of waste that has now leaked from the underground tanks is believed to be 10 times this amount.
What the experts say:
“Contamination has reached groundwater and the nearby Columbia River.” Oregon Department of Energy.
“The waste that’s in the tanks poses a significant environmental and human health risk for thousands of years to come.” Suzanne Dahl, Washington Department of Ecology.
“Hanford is a prime example of the unmet promises across America to permanently relocate and secure nuclear waste.” Congressman John Shimkus (Republican, IL), chairman of the Environment and the Economy Subcommittee after a visit to Hanford in 2011.
Hanford was established in 1943, an extension of the Manhattan Project. Its construction displaced local European settlers and Native tribes (including the Umatilla, Yakama, Wanapum and Nez Perce) who had hunted fished, lived and worshipped on this land at the confluence of the Snake, Yakama and Columbia Rivers for generations.
Clean-up at the site, as laid out in a document called the Tri-Party Agreement in 1989, has encountered consistent setbacks resulting in missed deadlines and shifting milestones. In fact the U.S. Department of Energy, a signatory on the Agreement, was still dumping barrels of waste in unlined pits on the site until 2004.
Current U.S. Geological Survey research indicates that a major fault line in Washington extends as far east as Pasco, making Hanford a high earthquake risk zone, and while the nine weapons production reactors were decommissioned by the end of the 1980s, a commercial energy reactor and millions of gallons of radioactive materials remain on site.
San Francisco-based Bechtel is one of the primary contractors charged with constructing a vitrification plant that would encase high-level waste in glass, thereby reducing the risk of further contamination. Yet, the initial 2009 deadline for the plant’s construction has been pushed back to 2017, and the budget for the project has ballooned from $4.3 million to $11.3 million. Bechtel’s past projects include Bolivia’s water privatization debacle and Boston’s Big Dig.
“We are not in the construction and engineering business. We are in the business of making money.” – Steve Bechtel, Sr., former company president.
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What critics cite as a lack of focus in the Occupy movement is actually a defiance of narrow, single-issue politics, in favor of a comprehensive approach to intersecting problems resulting from decision-making based on short-term gains. This Spring, Occupy Portland will shine a light on the web of profit-driven, violence and carelessness in which the Cascadia bio-region is caught.
“This kind of regional action unites all that the Occupy Movement stands for… we must clean up the messes of a our past. We’ve been dominated for too long by motives of short-term profit and power. America must wake up to what has been done to our society and our planet, because we have consistently put progress before people and the environment – we will pay for these mistakes for thousands of years to come – conscious people need to rise up and change this countries priorities.” Occupy Wall Street
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bill ritchey posted an update in the group
Hanford-North America's Fukushima- Hanford Rally April 15 1 year, 1 month agoWe need some more donations to get the Radical Anti-Nuke Vets Buse from Eugene to Richland, help if you can, info below.
Gordon Sturrock
In just 6 days, I’m hoping to send the Squadron13 antiwar bus and non-violent activists to Hanford Washington in support of an anti-nuke rally organized by some Portland activists. As you might already know,…[Read more] -
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Beth Rakoncay posted an update in the group
Hanford-North America's Fukushima- Hanford Rally April 15 1 year, 1 month ago -
Beth Rakoncay posted an update in the group
Hanford-North America's Fukushima- Hanford Rally April 15 1 year, 1 month ago“If You Love This Planet” – by Terre Nash – Dr. Helen Caldicott
This Oscar®-winning short film is comprised of a lecture given to students by outspoken nuclear critic Dr. Helen Caldicott, president of Physicians for Social Responsibility in the USA. Her message is clear: disarmament cannot be postponed. Archival footage of the bombing of…[Read more]
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Beth Rakoncay posted an update in the group
Hanford-North America's Fukushima- Hanford Rally April 15 1 year, 1 month agoMarch 31, 2012 – Occupy Portland hosts Dr. Helen Caldicott:
Miriam German Interview with Dr. Helen Caldicott at Occupy Portland – The Importance of Occupy Involvement:
Dr. Helen Caldicott – Discussion at Occupy Portland, St. Francis Church -…[Read more]
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Beth Rakoncay posted an update in the group
Hanford-North America's Fukushima- Hanford Rally April 15 1 year, 1 month agoHanford Teach-in Paige Knight of Hanford Watch
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Beth Rakoncay posted an update in the group
Hanford-North America's Fukushima- Hanford Rally April 15 1 year, 1 month agoMarch 22, 2012 – Occupy Portland
DNFSB/DOE/Hanford – Status of Actions Related to Unresolved Technical Safety Issues and DOE’s Implementation Plan (IP) Public Hearing and Meeting
March 22, 2012 ~ Session I ~ Three Rivers Convention Center ~Kennewick, WA~…[Read more] -
Beth Rakoncay posted an update in the group
Hanford-North America's Fukushima- Hanford Rally April 15 1 year, 1 month agoHere is a link to the Hanford Rally videos, i.e., teach-ins, actions, and Dr. Helen Caldicott on Vodpod. I will be adding individual links for safe storage and review! These can all be found on the site as well! We rolling, folks! http://vodpod.com/hanfordrally
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bill ritchey posted an update in the group
Hanford-North America's Fukushima- Hanford Rally April 15 1 year, 1 month agoOccupy the Bus! Occupy Hanford A15. Sign up here for Bus Seats and ride share to Richland, Washington. We are going to ask for more federal tax funds, for more good jobs to clean up this polluting 60 year old plutonium producing facility on the Columbia River. http://hanfordrally.wordpress.com/transportation-2/
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bill ritchey posted an update in the group
Hanford-North America's Fukushima- Hanford Rally April 15 1 year, 1 month agoMiriams Well
Dr. Helen Caldicott Speaks at Occupy Portland — Saturday, March 31 at 11:45am at St. Francis Church 311 SE 12th Portland. -
bill ritchey posted an update in the group
Hanford-North America's Fukushima- Hanford Rally April 15 1 year, 2 months agoOccupy the Bus! Occupy Hanford A15. Sign up here for Bus Seats and ride share to Richland, Washington. We are going to ask for more federal tax funds, for more good jobs to clean up this polluting 60 year old plutonium producing facility on the Columbia River. http://hanfordrally.wordpress.com/transportation-2/
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bill ritchey posted an update in the group
Hanford-North America's Fukushima- Hanford Rally April 15 1 year, 2 months agoWhen you join this group, please invite your friends to join. thanks
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We’ve done incredible work so far…what we need now is:
Sign ups for busses!! All info for everything Hanford/Occupy is at http://hanfordrally.wordpress.com/
Please pass to teachers, profs, eco-businesses. Ask for DONATIONS. The link is on the site. We need more money for the rally.
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michaelwithey posted an update in the group
Hanford-North America's Fukushima- Hanford Rally April 15 1 year, 2 months agoLet me know how I can volunteer. Is this a one day thing? Do we have buses? Are we camping? I have a lot of questions?
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Hi Michael. What we need right now and for the next few weeks is for people to get people to sign up for busses on the website. There is a transportation link there. tix for the busses are $20.00 for those who can swing it. No one will be turned away. I can’t order more busses til I know we’ve filled the 2 I’ve reserved. All info including…[Read more]
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we can use some help contacting union locals – i have a few names and numbers but no time. the idea is that there are 15 ish locals working up there who would probably like to see more skilled jobs and safer conditions. we’d like toast the unions 2 things- 1, would they write a statement endorsing our goals and 2- more likely in the near future,…[Read more]
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bill ritchey posted an update in the group
Hanford-North America's Fukushima- Hanford Rally April 15 1 year, 2 months agoOccupy the Bus! Occupy Hanford A15. Sign up here for Bus Seats and ride share to Richland, Washington. We are going to ask for more federal tax funds, for more good jobs to clean up this polluting 60 year old plutonium producing facility on the Columbia River. http://hanfordrally.wordpress.com/transportation-2/
wow, you ARE a hero/ heroine.
;} Nope, just had a lot of coffee this morning. LOL