October, 09 2008, 01:20pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Eric Young, NRDC, 202-289-2373 or 703-217-6814 (cell)
Suit Challenges Legality of Proposed Kansas City Nuclear Weapons Plant
Federal agencies charged with evading cleanup of existing site while pursuing illegal "third-party" financing for new bomb plant
WASHINGTON
Yesterday, a coalition of environmental and peace organizations asked a federal court in Washington, D.C. to set aside plans for a new nuclear weapons plant and direct the agencies to prepare a new environmental analysis of site-cleanup and relocation alternatives for the existing Kansas City Plant (KCP).The lawsuit was filed in response to a joint refusal by the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to consider the significant environmental impacts of moving a critical nuclear weapon production facility to a new location.
For more than fifty years the Department of Energy (DOE) has used the current KCP - located in the Bannister Federal Complex in Kansas City, Missouri - to manufacture and procure the non-nuclear components of nuclear weapons, which comprise approximately 85% of the total parts in each weapon. The suit alleges that decades of DOE activities at the KCP have generated significant amounts of hazardous contamination that must be properly treated and remediated to protect the local environment, especially groundwater. The KCP is located in a flood plain at the confluence of Indian Creek and the Blue River, and the plant's southern boundary has to be protected by a flood wall. Fish in the area are so full of polychlorinated biphenyls ("PCBs") from the plant that the State of Missouri warns fisherman not to eat them.
"Despite this toxic legacy," said Kansas City plaintiff Ann Suellentrop, "both GSA and NNSA are seeking to abandon the Bannister Complex without considering the comprehensive site cleanup, costing hundreds of millions of dollars, which everyone recognizes will be necessary to allow economic redevelopment of the site." Suellentrop is the local chapter spokesperson for plaintiff Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), the U.S. affiliate of the Nobel Peace Prize winning International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.
"At a time when Congress is trying to reduce the costs and environmental footprint of the nuclear weapons complex, a cabal of regional federal agency officials and private developers is trying to hoodwink both federal and local taxpayers into footing the bill for a huge new plant for nuclear weapons production on what is now 185 acres of vacant agricultural land at the southwestern edge of Kansas City," said Christopher Paine, Nuclear Program Director for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the lead plaintiff in the suit.
"Alaska has its 'Bridge to Nowhere,'" Paine added, "and now it seems, Kansas City has its very own Sinkhole in a Soybean Field for taxpayers. The defense committees of Congress have not authorized construction of this plant, nor have they appropriated the necessary funds. I think American taxpayers are getting tired of these fleecing schemes."
"The last time I looked, the Constitution still gave Congress the exclusive power to pay the debts and provide for the common defense of the United States," said Jay Coghlan, executive director of Nuclear Watch New Mexico, a co-plaintiff in the suit. "So why is Kansas City's Planned Industrial Expansion Authority using its power to issue bonds and tax abatements for 'urban blight removal' to finance a huge new federal nuclear weapons production facility? Since when do soybeans in the suburbs constitute urban blight?" he added.
Coghlan noted that the national security requirement for the new plant was highly dubious, especially given congressional rejection of new-design nuclear weapons, for which KCP planned to build the non-nuclear parts. "The existing Kansas City Plant receives consistently high ratings for the quality of its workforce and product. If they want a smaller, better equipped plant, they could continue to downsize in place along the pathway that DOE approved 10 years ago, but the Bush Administration failed to fully implement. In the future, after hoped-for deep global reductions in nuclear weapons stockpiles, NNSA can pursue shrinking and consolidating essential stockpile maintenance operations to its other sites engaged in similar work, thereby reducing site security, transportation, and overhead costs to the taxpayer."
The suit alleges that in their zeal to use a byzantine private-developer scheme to finance and build a brand new Kansas City Plant eight miles from the old one, GSA and NNSA got ahead of themselves and violated several Federal laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Public Buildings Act, and the Anti-Deficiency Act. The complex financing scheme calls for GSA to sign a 20 year "build-to-suit" lease on behalf of NNSA with a private real estate developer, who would then pledge this revenue stream as security to the Kansas City Planned Industrial Expansion Authority (PIEA). The PIEA would issue bonds and tax abatements that in combination with private sources would finance the approximately $500 million cost of construction for NNSA/Honeywell's new campus and the $40 million in public infrastructure improvements the project would require. PIEA would hold title to the facility until the annual lease payments, which would flow from NNSA to GSA to the developer and finally to the PIEA, repay the principal and interest on the bonds, at which time ownership of the facility would transfer to the private developer.
"The financial maneuver that puts future federal taxpayers on the hook for this supposedly 'private' venture is GSA's 20 year 'firm' capital lease," noted Paine. "It's worth some $1.2 billion over twenty years, while the cost of the nuclear campus buildings themselves is pegged at about $500 million. That's a pretty hefty cut to cover the private developer's operating costs and profit, and interest to the PIEA bondholders. And that's money that won't be going to finance local schools and real economic redevelopment downtown."
Plaintiff Henry Stoever, a Kansas City attorney, called the urban blight rationale for the PIEA's involvement "preposterous." He added, "Even if it could be sustained in a court of law, which I doubt, one has to ask whether building a new factory for city-destroying weapons of mass destruction is really a morally acceptable job creation strategy for Kansas City to be pursuing. And make no mistake, in effect the Kansas City municipal government will own that nuclear weapons production plant through the PIEA until it is turned over to the private developers. Here we are at the edge of the largest potential wind power and bio-fuels corridor in the world, but owning a nuclear weapons production plant is the future jobs strategy these city officials come up with? The citizens of this area deserve better from their leaders."
Along with their agency heads, local federal officials Bradley M. Scott, Regional Administrator for the GSA, and Steven Taylor, Manager of NNSA's Kansas City Site Office, are named as defendants in the suit.
Marylia Kelley, the executive director of Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) in Livermore, CA, another co-plaintiff in the suit, said "the illegal and unseemly haste of GSA and NNSA to push this stealthy pork project out the door may be related to the two ongoing nuclear weapons policy reviews ordered by Congress last year, and to the prospect of a new Administration in January that many expect to take more vigorous actions to achieve further deep nuclear weapons reductions and shrink the nuclear weapons complex."
"The new President and Congress may not appreciate being handcuffed in this manner by overeager federal bureaucrats and developers at the regional level," Kelley added. "This scheme could turn out to be a financial disaster for Kansas City if official Washington turns against project, which could very well happen in a few months."
The plaintiffs in the suit are being represented by the firm of Meyer, Glitzenstein and Crystal, Washington, D.C.
Link to the complaint: docs.nrdc.org/nuclear/nuc_08100801A.pdf and www.nukewatch.org
NRDC works to safeguard the earth--its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. We combine the power of more than three million members and online activists with the expertise of some 700 scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates across the globe to ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water, and the wild.
(212) 727-2700LATEST NEWS
'What a Racket': CBO Finds Extending Trump Tax Cuts Would Shrink US Economy
"The looting has begun," said one Democrat. "Far from unleashing record-breaking growth, the next Trump tax scam will make hardworking families worse off, shrink our economy, and blow a $4.6 trillion hole in the deficit."
Dec 05, 2024
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected Wednesday that extending provisions of the 2017 Trump-GOP tax law that are set to expire at the end of next year would shrink the U.S. economy over the long run, a finding that came as Republicans planned to move ahead with another round of regressive tax cuts within the first 100 days of the new Congress.
In its new analysis, the CBO found that allowing provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to expire as scheduled in 2025 would have a positive long-term effect on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth compared to permanently extending the provisions.
"Expiration increases the long-term growth of potential GDP by about 6 basis points," the CBO said.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said in response to the CBO's findings that "the looting has begun."
"Far from unleashing record-breaking growth, the next Trump tax scam will make hardworking families worse off, shrink our economy, and blow a $4.6 trillion hole in the deficit," said Whitehouse. "What a racket, to push for trillions in tax cuts so billionaires keep paying lower rates than nurses and plumbers, and then cite deficit concerns to rob families needing things like home heating or childcare."
"Looting the treasury for megadonors is a rotten trick," the senator added, "and no amount of budgetary smoke and mirrors will hide it."
The CBO report was published as congressional Republicans continued to map out their legislative agenda before taking control of both chambers in January. The Associated Pressreported earlier this week that "in preparation for Trump's return, Republicans in Congress have been meeting privately for months and with the president-elect to go over proposals to extend and enhance those tax breaks, some of which would otherwise expire in 2025."
"It's always been about further enriching political and economic elites even at the cost of our economic future."
During the 2024 campaign, Trump pledged to sustain individual tax breaks enacted by the 2017 law—which disproportionately benefited the rich—and further reduce the statutory tax rate for U.S. corporations.
"The last time Republicans spent this much money for no apparent gain was the war in Iraq," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said Wednesday. "Trump's political donors want a return on their investment, and Republicans are going to give it to them, even at the cost of shrinking our economy and destroying jobs."
To offset the massive projected cost of extending the 2017 law and enacting new corporate tax cuts, Republicans are planning to pursue deep cuts to Medicaid, federal nutrition assistance, and other programs that help low-income Americans meet basic needs.
"President-elect Trump campaigned as a champion of the working class but his first act will be tanking the economy and throwing workers under the bus to line the pockets of his wealthy friends," said Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative. "The Trump tax scam is back for its second act, and Americans should brace for impact."
David Kass, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness, called the latest CBO analysis of the Republican Party's tax policies "even more damning than previous iterations."
"Using the country's credit card to give away trillions of dollars to the wealthiest Americans and big corporations would be disastrous for our economy and the average American," Kass said Wednesday. "The Trump Tax Scam bill has never been about economic growth or improving the lives of working and middle-class Americans. It's always been about further enriching political and economic elites even at the cost of our economic future."
"Moving forward," Kass added, "the incoming administration and congressional Republicans must answer why they plan to make hardworking Americans worse off, shrink our economy, and increase the deficit by $4.6 trillion."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Supreme Court Signals It Will Uphold 'State-Sanctioned Discrimination' in Transgender Care Case
"We the people means all the people," said the ACLU. "There is no 'transgender' exception to the U.S. Constitution."
Dec 04, 2024
Attorneys who argued against Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming healthcare at the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed hope that the court's nine justices will take "the opportunity to affirm the essential freedom and equality of all people before the law," while reports indicated that the right-wing majority is inclined to uphold the ban.
"Every day this law inflicts further pain, injustice, and discrimination on families in Tennessee and prevents them from receiving the medical care they need," said Lucas Cameron-Vaughn, staff attorney at the ACLU of Tennessee, which represented three families and a physician. "We ask the Supreme Court to commit to upholding the promises of the U.S. Constitution for all people by putting an end to Tennessee's state-sanctioned discrimination against trans youth and their families."
The law, S.B. 1, which was passed in March 2023, bars medical providers from prescribing puberty-delaying medications, other hormonal treatment, and surgical procedures to transgender minors and youths with gender dysphoria.
The Supreme Court case, United States v. Skrmetti, applies only to the ban on puberty blockers and hormonal therapy for minors; a lower court found the plaintiffs did not have legal standing to challenge the surgery ban.
The ACLU, the ACLU of Tennessee, Lambda Legal, and a law firm were joined by the Biden administration in arguing that Tennessee allows doctors to prescribe puberty blockers and other hormonal treatments for youths with congenital defects, early puberty, diseases, or physical injuries.
As such, said the plaintiffs, Tennessee's ban for transgender and nonbinary youths violates the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal treatment under the law.
"My heart—and the heart of every transgender advocate fighting this fight—is heavy with the weight of what these laws mean for people's everyday lives."
The court's three liberal justices—Justices Sonya Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson—all indicated they believed Tennessee has tried to classify people according to sex or gender with the law.
"One of the articulated purposes of this law is essentially to encourage gender conformity and to discourage anything other than gender conformity," said Kagan. "Sounds to me like, 'We want boys to be boys and we want girls to be girls,' and that's an important purpose behind the law."
Matthew Rice, the lawyer representing Tennessee in the case, claimed the state simply wants to prevent "regret" among minors, and the court's six conservative justices signaled they were inclined to allow Tennessee to ban the treatments—which are endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and other top medical associations.
Chief Justice John Roberts said the nine justices should not overrule the decision made by lawmakers representing Tennessee residents, considering there is debate over the issue, and pointed to changes some European countries have made to their gender-affirming care protocols for minors.
Representing the Biden administration, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar acknowledged that there has been debate about gender-affirming care in the U.S. and abroad, but pointed out that countries including the U.K. and Sweden have not outright banned treatment.
"I think that's because of the recognition that this care can provide critical, sometimes lifesaving benefits for individuals with severe gender dysphoria," she said.
Following the arguments, plaintiff Brian Williams, who has a 16-year-old daughter in need of gender-affirming care, addressed supporters who had assembled outside the Supreme Court.
"Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming medical care is an active threat to the future my daughter deserves," said Williams. "It infringes not only on her freedom to be herself but on our family's love for her. We are not expecting everyone to understand everything about our family or the needs of transgender young people like our daughter. What we are asking for is for her freedom to be herself without fear. We are asking for her to be able to access the care she needs and enter adulthood knowing nothing is holding her back because of who she is."
Sotomayor said there is "very clear" evidence "that there are some children who actually need this treatment."
A 2022 study led by researchers at the University of Washington found that transgender and nonbinary youths aged 13-20 were 60% less likely to experience moderate or severe depression and 73% less likely to be suicidal after receiving gender-affirming care.
Prelogar asked the justices to "think about the real-world consequences of laws like S.B. 1," highlighting the case of a plaintiff identified as Ryan Roe.
Roe had such severe gender dysphoria that "he was throwing up before school every day," said Prelogar. "He thought about going mute because his voice caused him so much distress. And Ryan has told the courts that getting these medications after a careful consultation process with his doctors and his parents, has saved his life."
"But Tennessee has come in and categorically cut off access to Ryan's care," she added. "This law harms Ryan's health and the health of all other transgender adolescents for whom these medications are a necessity."
Tennessee is home to about 3,100 transgender teenagers, and about 110,000 transgender youths between the ages of 13-17 live in the 24 states where gender-affirming care is restricted.
More than 20 states have laws that could be impacted by the court's ruling in United States v. Skrmetti.
"My heart—and the heart of every transgender advocate fighting this fight—is heavy with the weight of what these laws mean for people's everyday lives," said Chase Strangio, co-director of the ACLU's LGBTQ & HIV Project. "But I also know that every out trans person has embraced the unknown in the name of living free from shame or the limits of other people's expectations."
"My heart aches for the parents who spent years watching their children in distress and eventually found relief in the medical care that Tennessee now overrides their judgment to ban," said Strangio. "Whatever happens today, tomorrow, and in the months and years to come, I trust that we will come together to fight for the realized promise of our Constitution's guarantee of equal protection for all."
A ruling in the case is expected in June.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Small Town Sues Utility for Climate Deception
"We have to speak truth to power as we continue to fight the existential threat that is climate change," said the mayor of Carrboro, North Carolina.
Dec 04, 2024
The town of Carrboro, North Carolina filed a lawsuit Wednesday accusing the utility company Duke Energy of carrying out a "knowing deception campaign concerning the causes and dangers posed by the climate crisis."
The municipality—which is near Chapel Hill and is after compensation for damages it has suffered or will suffer as a result of the alleged deception campaign—is the first town in the United States to challenge an electric utility for public deception about the dangers of fossil fuels and seek damages for the harms those emissions have created, according to the town's mayor, Barbara Foushee.
The case was filed in North Carolina Superior Court and argues that Duke Energy has engaged in a "greenwashing" campaign to convince the public it sought to address the climate emergency.
"In reliance upon these misrepresentations, the public has continued to conduct business with Duke under the mistaken belief that the company is committed to renewable energy," according to the filing.
"We have to speak truth to power as we continue to fight the existential threat that is climate change. The climate crisis continues to burden our community and cost residents their hard-earned tax dollars," said Foushee, according to a press release.
Mayor Pro Tem Danny Nowell added that "it's time for us to hold Duke Energy accountable for decades of deception, padding executives' pockets while towns like ours worked to mitigate the harmful effects of climate change. This suit will allow the Town of Carrboro to invest new resources into building a stronger, more climate-resilient community, using the damages justly due to our residents to reimagine the ways we prepare for our climate reality."
According to the lawsuit, Carrboro will be forced to spend millions of dollars either repairing or shoring up public infrastructure as a result of more frequent and devastating storms, which scientists agree are caused by climate change.
The complaint comes not long after the release of a report, Duke Energy Knew: Documenting the Utility’s Early Knowledge and Ongoing Deception About Climate Change, from the Energy and Policy Institute, a watchdog group. According to the report, Duke Energy well understood the risks posed by burning fossil fuels as far back as the 1960s, but chose to take part in promoting disinformation about climate science. In more recent years, the utility continued to pursue fossil fuels while blocking renewable energy development, according to the report's authors. Much of this research is referenced in the lawsuit.
As one example of its "deception," the lawsuit points to Duke Energy's participation in the the Global Climate Coalition, an entity created with the intent of opposing action to curb the climate crisis.
Duke Energy was the third largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in 2021, according to a breakdown from the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, which ranked U.S. companies in terms of their CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions.
More than 20 states, tribes, cities, and counties have brought similar climate deception lawsuits. Maine, for example, recently became the ninth state to sue a major oil and gas company for deceiving the public about its products' role in the climate crisis.
"We’ll soon have a climate denier-in-chief in the White House, but Carrboro is a shining light in this darkness, taking on one of the country's largest polluters and climate deceivers," Jean Su, energy justice director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a press release. The Center for Biological Diversity is advising on the case.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular