Diablo Canyon and What To Do About It

Rally for Diablo Canyon
Mothers for Nuclear,, Californians for Green Nuclear Power and others
June 17, 2016
San Luis Obispo
Photo from Californians for Green Nuclear Power

The Announcement and What To Do

Today, PG&E announced that it would not apply for a license renewal for Diablo Canyon, but would close the plant by 2025. The New York Times article this morning: California's Last Nuclear Power Plant Could Close.

 IF this agreement goes through, Diablo Canyon will stay open for another eight years before it closes.  Eight years is not tomorrow. This is not the time to despair and scuttle the ship.  Now is the time to take action! There are things we can do to help our nuclear plants survive.

Right now, we can do two things:  Sign a Petition and Make a Donation. I have done both.

Sign a Petition to the White House

A petition to the White House requests that the special benefits of nuclear power be recognized by federal government policy. The petition has 13,000 signatures, and needs 100,000 to get a response from the White House.  Sign it here to Keep America's Nuclear Power Plants Working for US!

Please sign it and circulate it!

Make A Donation to the March for Environmental Hope

California pro-nuclear groups are marching from San Francisco and Oakland to Sacramento,  in the March for Environmental Hope.  They will publicize the importance of nuclear power for California, and they will attend a meeting of the California Lands Commission. The Commission will be holding a crucial vote about Diablo Canyon.

The March is sponsored by Mothers for Nuclear, Save Diablo Canyon, and Environmental Progress.  Other groups will be marching with them: Californians for Green Nuclear Power and Thorium Energy Alliance.  

The marchers in California are doing this for all of us, for everyone who believes in nuclear energy as the safe, clean energy of the future.  Help them!  You can donate here, and help pay campground fees and so forth for the marchers.

 Commentary

Three excellent articles, worth reading:

Rod Adams at Forbes: NRDC Announces PG&E Has Agreed to Kill Diablo Canyon
James Conca at Forbes: Pro-Nuclear March In San Francisco to Protest Closing of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant
Michael Shellenberger at Environmental Progress: Why Diablo Canyon Will Live--and Why the Corrupt PGE-IBEW-NRDC Proposal Will Fail

And, just for fun, to see some of the stakes in this particular case, from the San Diego Times Tribune yesterday: Heat wave raises worries about power outages. To quote the article:

Rotating outages result when utilities, largely due to gas issues, don't have enough supply to meet demand.
"We would tell the utilities to turn off the power to a substation...until.... we can go back to balancing supply and demand in real time," Greenlee (of California ISO) said.
Outages can last from 30 to 90 minutes.
But Greenlee said as of Monday afternoon, the system was holding up.

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In other words:

Sign!
Donate!

400K Pageviews at Yes Vermont Yankee Blog

A Successful Blog

Yesterday afternoon, I took this screen shot of the page-views on Yes Vermont Yankee blog.  It's from the blogger "Stats" page. Clearly the time-line is not right, because the blog began in January 2010. Still, I think the page-count is accurate.  For example, the big blip shown in "April 2009" is certainly the giant readership of the 25th Carnival of Nuclear Energy blogs in October 2010.  That post was featured in Instapundit and other venues.

I'm proud of the record of this blog. The blog has followed the story of Vermont Yankee and put that story in perspective. The issues in Vermont are a reflection (exaggeration?) of the type of opposition faced by nuclear plants world-wide.  In my opinion, knowing the specifics of a single example illuminates the "big picture" of nuclear.

Angwin and Shaffer as Visible Supporters of Vermont Yankee

This blog has also served as a voice for the pro-nuclear side of the debate about Vermont Yankee.  Howard Shaffer and I have been voices for Vermont Yankee. We have been rewarded by frequent media interviews, plus opportunities to write op-eds and participate in debates. (But the opponents won't debate us any more. More accurately, opponents tried to back out of our most recent debates, and no new debates are currently scheduled...)

The presence of this blog also means that reporter bias becomes visible.  A biased, rushed or lazy reporter can interview a well-known opponent. He or she can follow this by getting a "no comment" from the plant.  That's the end-of-story for that reporter! However, the more enterprising reporters know that Howard and I are available. We are knowledgeable, we are credible, and we are always good for a sound-bite.  We don't expect to get interviewed every time, but we do get interviewed.

A Voice For Many Supporters

Howard and I are not the only voices in this blog.  I am pleased that this blog has hosted guest posts from plant supporters within and outside of Vermont: Willem Post, Charles Kelly, Guy Page, Dr. Robert Hargraves, Cheryl Twarog, Cavan Stone, and many more. This blog has been a place for pro-nuclear voices to be heard.

I am especially proud of the many examples of pro-Vermont Yankee statements submitted to the Public Service Board in November 2012: many of these are guest posts on the blog.  For a listing of Public Service Board posts on this blog, I recommend Vermont Yankee's Greatest Hits at the Public Service Board Meeting, posted at ANS Nuclear Cafe.  

But better yet: get the book!  George Angwin and I put together Voices for Vermont Yankee, a compendium of pictures and testimony from plant supporters at the Public Service Board meeting.

You can buy Voices for Vermont Yankee as a Kindle for $2.99
You can buy Voices for Vermont Yankee as a paperback for $4.51
You can buy Voices for Vermont Yankee on the Nook for  $2.99

Just in time for Christmas!  (Though it's late for Hanukkah, it could be a New Year's present maybe?)

The ebook versions are less expensive than a ginger latte, or whatever the local coffee shops are serving nowadays. The paperback version is something you can hold, and it has a pretty full-color cover.  Yes, you can afford one of these books!  You will find reading the book to be heartening and inspiring.

Supporting the Work

Buying the book also supports the pro-nuclear activism of the Energy Education Project: a portion of book profits is donated to the Project. We do everything on the super-cheap, but we still have expenses.  There's mileage, some Internet fees, travel for ourselves and for guest speakers. We have summer interns when we can.  Every now and again, if we can, we pay ourselves something (not much, alas, not much).  Your contribution helps a lot!

Or you can donate to the Energy Education Project directly.  There's a Donate button at the top right of this page.  Please click it and make a donation of any amount.  If you want to be a full-fledged member of the Energy Education Project, please donate $30 ($40 for a family membership) . It is perfectly okay to donate more ;-) I think $50 is a nice number, don't you?

Any amount is helpful, it really is. When you make is a direct donation to our cause, it is fully tax-deductible.  The Energy Education Project is part of the Ethan Allen Institute, a 501c(3) nonprofit, educational organization.

Here's a link to more information about donation and membership.


Thank you for reading this blog. Please support it if you can.

Contribute to the Energy Education Project

Please Contribute to the Energy Education Project

Ethan Allen

There are many worthy causes competing for your generosity, but Vermonters’ ability to support any and all of those causes depends on Vermont’s continued prosperity. Unfortunately, our prosperity is being sabotaged by misguided energy policies such as unrealistic energy "plans," ever-increasing subsidies for renewable energy projects, and state-sponsored efforts to shut down the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.

The Energy Education Project of the Ethan Allen Institute needs your support this year with a $30 membership in our program. To donate by PayPal, you can click on the Donate button at the upper right corner of the blog, or  click the Donate Button on this page of the Energy Education Project website.

The Energy Education Project

The Energy Education Project works to educate people about the real, science-driven energy choices we have, and cut through the hyped rhetoric about how Vermont can be instantly "green" at almost no cost.

Meredith Angwin is a physical chemist with twenty years of utility experience,  and Howard Shaffer is a registered professional engineer in Vermont and New Hampshire, with over thirty years of utility experience. We are the two people who staff the project. 

We have written op-eds, blog posts, brochures and other material to spread accurate information. We have made videos for YouTube and blogs.  We have talked to Rotary and Kiwanis clubs all over the state.  We have been on radio regularly, including WDEV, WCAX, WNTK, WAMC, NHPR and WHMP.  

We have debated anti-nuclear activists at high schools, panels, and colleges in Vermont, including the University of Vermont.  We have commented on the Vermont Energy Plan in print, at hearings,  and on the radio. 

We have a web presence with a Save Vermont Yankee Facebook Page, a twitter feed,  this blog and an Energy Education Project website.  We also contribute guest blogs to ANS Nuclear Cafe.

At the grassroots level, we staged rallies in Vernon to show that Vermont Yankee has supporters (yes, they do!), and helped pro-Yankee activists get positive press coverage with a few well-chosen media events. 

Awards and Plans

For our energy education work, Meredith Angwin and Howard Shaffer received a major award in 2012:  the prestigious President's Citation of the American Nuclear Society. This award acknowledges that our Vermont battles have national significance.

The Energy Education Project of the Ethan Allen Institute has been the most active and effective group educating people about important Vermont energy issues. For a prosperous Vermont tomorrow, for prosperous Vermonters who can support other worthy causes tomorrow, please support the Energy Education Project today! 

Contributions

Please, help us keep this good and important work going. Basic yearly membership in the Energy Education Project is just $30. A contribution of $200 will support the mileage and minor expenses for Meredith Angwin or Howard Shaffer for one month. $500 will fund copying, renting rooms for meetings, pizza parties for supporters, small ads about meetings, and so forth, for two months.

The Ethan Allen Institute is a 501(c)3 charitable/educational corporation, and your donation is fully tax deductible.

To donate, you can either send a check to the Energy Education Project/EAI at

EAI

PO Box 543, 

Montpelier VT 05601 

(please note "energy" on the memo field to direct the funds to the Energy project instead of the entire Institute, if that is what you want to do.)

or click the Donate button on this page  to donate by PayPal.

Taking the Petty Road: Governor Shumlin, Hurricane Irene, and Entergy's Charitable Donation

I wish Vermont had a governor who was a class act. I wish Shumlin was the kind of politician who does the right thing in public. The kind of politician who does the courteous thing. The kind of politician whose public face is thoughtful and non-vindictive.

You understand that I am saying "I wish we had the kind of politician who..." I do not expect that all politicians are wonderful people. I just expect that politicians will behave in a certain way in public because it is politically wise to do so.

We don't have that kind of governor.

The storm and the aftermath

Hurricane Irene did a lot of damage in Vermont. Hundreds of people lost their homes. There was a major need for disaster relief. In response, people and businesses have donated time and money to help those who have suffered.

Governor Shumlin recently held a press conference to thank the Vermont businesses who contributed large amounts to disaster relief. Shumlin thanked Vermont Public Radio for hosting a $625,000 fundraiser; Blue Cross Blue Shield for giving $150,000; ICG software for giving $30,000; and Coca Cola for giving $25,000. He thanked many other businesses for their contributions also.

He didn't thank Entergy. He didn't even mention Entergy. Entergy donated $50,000 to United Way of Windham County and also provided a matching grant of up to $50,000. Windham County is Shumlin's home county. All in all, Entergy contributed up to $100,000, depending on how well United Way is able to match part of the grant.

Shumlin didn't mention Entergy when he listed the businesses who helped their neighbors by giving large donations.

Petty petty petty

Would it have hurt Shumlin to list Entergy along with the others? I don't think so. Nobody would think that including Entergy's donation in a list would mean that Shumlin loves Vermont Yankee. Listing Entergy's donation wouldn't have hurt the state's case in the lawsuit. It wouldn't have hurt anything. It would just have acknowledged a major donation.

Instead, Shumlin had to be petty and leave Entergy out of the list.

I hope our next governor is more of a class act.

Update: Shay Totten of 7 Days wrote an excellent post about this snub to Entergy (snub is his word and I agree). Among other things, Totten found that Entergy had donated $130,000 to local charities, just for disaster relief..

Donation For The Energy Education Project

There's a new ornament on Yes Vermont Yankee. We now have a PayPal button in the upper right hand corner. Click on this button to donate to the Energy Education Project. The Energy Education Project is part of the Ethan Allen Institute, a tax-deductible educational organization. Year end is a traditional time to donate to charities. Your donation to the Energy Education Project is tax-deductible.

The Energy Education Project

The Energy Education Project of the Ethan Allen Institute is changing the dialog about energy in Vermont. We are making support for nuclear energy acceptable! Please join us and support us!

In the near future, I will be making many appearances around the state, as will Howard Shaffer. The Energy Education Project has also expanded our reach by bringing noteworthy speakers to Vermont. One of the Project members has donated travel expenses for Gwyneth Cravens to come to the Vermont Statehouse. On January 20, Cravens will speak to a Legislative Round Table at noon, and she will speak at the Sheraton in Burlington in the evening (see graphic below). At the Round Table, her books will be available to legislators free of charge. Ethan Allen Institute has arranged significant media coverage for her visit.

In February, we will bring Dr. Kathryn McCarthy of Idaho National Laboratory to Montpelier and Burlington. She will speak about Gen IV reactors.

These visitors are in addition to our own constant efforts to speak to groups, be on radio talk shows, and take part in debates. We need to change the dialog from sheer reaction-to-accusations to actual education about energy. Through the Energy Education Project, we are changing the dialog.

Please Join....even on a Shoe-String.

We are doing this all on a shoe-string, and we need your help.

Soon, I will approach some major donors for the Energy Education Project. I am sure these donors will ask me: How big is your Energy Education Project? What is the project membership? Which means.... the project needs members! It's $30 a year for membership, completely tax-deductible. Please support our efforts with your membership.

Of course, if you want to give more, we will be very happy! But right now, we are asking for memberships, which are as important as large donations. Smaller donations are also welcome.

You can join by clicking the PayPal button on this blog. (Upper right hand corner. Very easy to click.)

Alternatively, write a check to

Ethan Allen Institute

P.O. Box 543

Montpelier, VT 05601

Please make your check out to "Ethan Allen Institute EEP," or add "EEP" to the memo field.

You can also join through the Membership Page on the Energy Education Projecct website.

I wish you all a very happy Holiday Season and Bright New Year.

Ethan Allen logo courtesy of the Ethan Allen Institute.