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For Immediate Release
October, 05 2012, 01:22pm EDT
Contact:
Bill Walker, (510) 759-9911
Let's Not Roll the Nuclear Dice
New TV spot charges that Edison’s reactor restart plan gambles with Southern Californians’ safety
LOS ANGELES, Calif.
Southern California Edison's controversial plan to restart one of the damaged San Onofre nuclear reactors is rolling the nuclear dice -- a dangerous experiment that gambles with the safety of millions in Southern California.
That's the blunt message of a new 30-second TV spot from Friends of the Earth that begins running today on cable TV systems in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties.
The ad premieres just one day after Edison asked the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to let it restart one of San Onofre's crippled reactors and run it at reduced power, despite the fact that Edison has made no repairs since the plant was shut down after a leak of radioactive steam eight months ago. The ad, produced by Wild Bunch Media of Washington, D.C., will air a total of 126 times from Oct. 5 to Oct. 11.
The script:
Rolling the nuclear dice.
That's what Southern California Edison wants to do by restarting the San Onofre nuclear plant.
A dangerous radiation leak caused an emergency shutdown. Now, Edison wants to restart the plant at reduced power... despite the fact San Onofre is still broken.
Even at reduced power San Onofre is dangerous. Edison is putting profits over safety -- ignoring better energy sources.
Don't let Edison gamble with your safety.
The message of the ad echoes the findings of a poll by David Binder Research of 700 registered voters in Edison's service area. Fifty-eight percent of respondents said the plant should remain shut and its power replaced with safe, renewable energy sources. Almost half said they believe Edison is putting profits ahead of safety.
To view the ad on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrNCiN9kCR4
To view the poll results: https://libcloud.s3.amazonaws.com/93/22/d/2476/1/DBR_San_Onofre_Survey_Results.pdf
Friends of the Earth fights for a more healthy and just world. Together we speak truth to power and expose those who endanger the health of people and the planet for corporate profit. We organize to build long-term political power and campaign to change the rules of our economic and political systems that create injustice and destroy nature.
(202) 783-7400LATEST NEWS
Red States Top List of Those With Biggest Tax Giveaways to Millionaires and Billionaires
“These tax cuts are not only fiscally reckless but also deeply inequitable."
Oct 16, 2025
A progressive think tank has found that America's wealthiest citizens aren't just benefiting from the federal tax cuts passed in Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill Act this past summer, but from tax giveaways offered by Republican-run states.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) released a new analysis on Thursday showing that five states—Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Oklahoma—this year have enacted income tax cuts for families that earn over $1 million per year that are projected to collectively reduce their state governments' revenues by $2.2 billion per year once fully implemented.
The two biggest tax cuts for the wealthy came in Mississippi and Oklahoma, both of which have voted to phase out their state's income taxes over the span of several years. Once the income tax is fully repealed in those two states, ITEP estimates that millionaires living in them will pay $130,000 less per year.
ITEP also poked holes in any Republican claims that the tax cuts they passed were a benefit for "working families," and showed how the GOP's policy is overwhelmingly tilted to benefit the wealthy.
"The average millionaire tax cut is more than 50 times the size of the average cut for non-millionaires in each of the five states included in this report," the think tank noted. "In Mississippi and Ohio the average tax cuts for millionaires are over 100 times the size of those for non-millionaires."
The group found that the tax cuts passed in Missouri were particularly egregious when it comes to benefiting millionaires. As reported by the Missouri Independent, Missouri lawmakers over the summer made their state the first in the nation to eliminate taxes on capital gains, which is estimated to slash state revenues by more than $100 million per year.
According to ITEP, this tax cut is projected to deliver a $43,000 average annual benefit to Missouri families making over $1 million per year, and an $80 average annual benefit to Missouri's non-millionaire households.
Aidan Davis, ITEP's state policy director, expressed dismay at how much these state governments were willing to give to their wealthiest residents, even as their own state budgets face significant cuts to programs such as Medicaid the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, both of which help low-income Americans.
"These tax cuts are not only fiscally reckless but also deeply inequitable," Davis explained. "At a time when state budgets are under immense pressure, it's indefensible to hand millionaires five- and six-figure annual tax cuts while too many families struggle with affording the basics."
Dylan Grundman O’Neill, senior analyst at ITEP, argued that these states' policies "double down on inequality" and "prioritize millionaires while putting critical services like education, healthcare, and infrastructure at risk for everyone else."
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Led by Sanders, Senate Democrats Demand Trump EPA Restore Solar Funding as Energy Prices Soar
"The EPA’s illegal termination of Solar for All has left states, communities, and businesses across the country in limbo, with critical projects stalled and vulnerable households facing higher energy costs."
Oct 16, 2025
Warning that the US Environmental Protection Agency's termination of the Solar for All program this year came at an especially inopportune time, with electricity bills soaring for families across the country, Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday led 32 members of the Democratic caucus in demanding that the Trump administration restore the program.
The Solar for All initiative, which was spearheaded by Sanders (I-Vt.), was meant to create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs while allowing low-income households to benefit from renewable energy.
If EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin had not illegally pulled $7 billion that had already been appropriated by Congress, said the lawmakers, Solar for All would have lowered residential electricity bills by at least 20% for nearly 1 million homes and saved working families nearly $9 billion in electric costs.
"Solar for All strongly aligns with the bipartisan goals of facilitating American energy independence and strengthening grid reliability," wrote the senators, who also included Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), and Ed Markey (D-Mass.). "Your agency’s decision to terminate Solar for All is not only unlawful—given this funding was congressionally appropriated and fully obligated—but also ill-timed."
With electricity bills 6.2% higher than they were at this time last year, said the lawmakers, Solar for All could have saved American families $350 million annually.
It would also have been a step toward reducing fossil fuel emissions at a time when scientists have warned immediate, far-reaching action is needed to avoid the worst impacts of planetary heating and to protect the Earth from damage that has already reached a tipping point, in the case of coral reefs.
"EPA’s reckless decision to terminate Solar for All directly undermines efforts by Congress to reduce energy costs and improve grid resilience," said the senators. "It jeopardizes economic investments and inflicts severe job losses across the country while undermining the trust and financial certainty that communities, businesses, and local governments have placed in the federal government. Further, it disrupts workforce training initiatives, such as those in West Virginia, Alaska, and across the Midwest where solar career pathways and apprenticeship programs are already underway."
"The EPA’s illegal termination of Solar for All has left states, communities, and businesses across the country in limbo, with critical projects stalled and vulnerable households facing higher energy costs," they added.
"EPA’s reckless decision to terminate Solar for All directly undermines efforts by Congress to reduce energy costs and improve grid resilience."
The letter came as at least 23 states filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for canceling funding for Solar for All.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes told Courthouse News Service that the $156 million awarded to her state through the program would have led to energy savings for households and thousands of new jobs, while the 61 megawatts of clean energy generated from panels would have prevented at least 90,000 tons of CO2 emissions in Arizona annually.
“Families all over the country were counting on energy bill relief that disappeared overnight when the administration unlawfully terminated Solar for All,” Nick Torrey, an attorney with Southern Environmental Law Center who is representing advocacy groups that also filed a lawsuit last week, told Courthouse News.
In their letter, the senators demanded that "the EPA immediately reinstate the Solar for All program, rectify the damage caused by this termination, and ensure grantees can proceed with the swift implementation of residential solar projects to slash utility bills and create many thousands of good jobs."
"In the meantime," they wrote, "we require a full accounting of how the EPA will repair the damage caused by this program’s disruptive termination."
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'No Kings' Rallies Against Trump Authoritarianism Could Be 'Largest Protest in US History'
"On October 18 and everyday, we’ll show the world what democracy looks like," said one union leader. "No thrones! No clowns with crowns! No kings, just working people united in power to defend our democracy."
Oct 16, 2025
Amid President Donald Trump's unprecedented and accelerating attacks on US democracy, millions of Americans in every state and beyond are preparing to take to the streets Saturday for a second wave of No Kings rallies.
In what organizers and participants say might be the "largest protest in US history" in a single day, No Kings demonstrations are set to take place in more than 2,500 communities across the nation, from its biggest cities to small towns like Burns, Oregon—population 2,700—and Bryson City, North Carolina, with 1,500 residents.
The first round of No Kings rallies, held on June 14, drew an estimated 4-6 million participants to over 2,100 demonstrations. Organizers say that the October 18 protest could be even bigger, as Americans are more alarmed than ever by the assault on democracy by Trump and Republicans.
"What we’re seeing is truly unprecedented," Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, told Common Dreams. "What we’re seeing from this administration is authoritarian slip. We are seeing them attack judges, attack nonprofits, trying to attack the media, stifle First Amendment protected speech, and arrest sitting members of Congress for doing their oversight of [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]."
"The list, unfortunately, is very long and what we want is what we’ve seen in other countries that have successfully resisted authoritarianism—to hold on to our democracy and to create and protect the checks that we have against that kind of executive overreach," she added. "It’s a lofty goal, but it starts with us exercising our right to peacefully protest."
On October 18th, millions of brave Americans will stand up and peacefully protest against the authoritarian disease metastasizing under Donald Trump.No Thrones. No Crowns. No Kings. @gtconway.bsky.social
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— Home of the Brave (@ofthebraveusa.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 5:01 AM
As Republicans including US House Speaker Mike Johnson (La.)—who called Saturday's pro-democracy demonstrations "hate America" rallies—attempt to smear the No Kings movement, organizer Sarah Parker of 50501 and Voices of Florida said during a Thursday press conference that "we have a saying in the South: A hit dog will holler, and I’m hearing a lot of noise from Washington, DC right now."
"And with that said, on October 18 millions of people just like me... are going to take the streets peacefully and say there will be no kings in America," she continued.
"These are everyday Americans coming together to organize," Parker said. "These are faith leaders, teachers, veterans, small business owners who are being impacted by extremely dubious tariffs. These are people that are seeing their friends and family members be kidnapped off the streets. These are everyday Americans that are struggling to put groceries into their fridge, and these are Millennials and Gen Zers who were promised a beautiful and free America."
"They are rising to this moment because they feel… it is their obligation to joyfully and peacefully push back against authoritarianism like the generations that came before us," she added.
We bow to no kings in America. Text NOKINGS to 63033 to find the location of your closest peaceful No Kings protest this Saturday!
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— Stand Up America (@standupamerica.com) October 15, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Jamie Contreras, the executive vice president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 32BJ who is also a US Navy veteran and former undocumented immigrant, told the press conference that "America belongs to the people—working people—not to billionaires or a few politicians who think they can rule like kings."
Addressing the Trump administration's designation of leftist protesters as "terrorists" and its ominous threat to take the "same approach" to them as to the alleged drug traffickers it is extrajudicially assassinating on the high seas, Contreras said that "the real threat to this country isn’t peaceful protesters, it’s politicians shutting down our government to protect billionaires and corporate greed."
"What’s ironic to me is, you call peaceful protesters terrorists, but then the [January 6 insurrectionists] patriots," he added. "That’s so ironic and so far from the truth."
Attend "No Kings" to protest the pro-kings.
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— Mark Jacob (@markjacob.bsky.social) October 14, 2025 at 5:18 AM
The federal government shut down at the beginning of the month, and as Democrats and Republicans continued to spar over the GOP's healthcare cuts, Johnson warned this week that it could be the longest shutdown ever.
Indivisible co-founder Leah Greenberg told the press conference: "Republicans are blaming and smearing millions of Americans who are peacefully protesting because they have run out of excuses for their own failures. Republicans understand that Americans are blaming them for the shutdown, Americans are blaming them for out-of-control healthcare prices, and a rising affordability crisis."
Greenberg continued:
They are blaming them for the fear and chaos gripping the country. They are panicking and they are flailing and they are searching for anything, literally anything, to distract from their governing failures. And in their desperation they have decided to go with smearing millions of Americans who are coming out to peacefully, directly assert our rights. It is both ridiculous and outrageous. It is ridiculous because it is transparently false, it is outrageous because it is an attack on the First Amendment and on all of our right to free speech.
Parker said Republicans "are refusing to accept the fact that the American people are pissed, by the millions. They are refusing to accept the fact that their actions are harming our beloved country. They are refusing to look in the mirror and accept the fact that they are destroying America."
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— Physicians for a Healthy Democracy (@physiciandemocracy.medsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 4:39 PM
ACLU chief political and advocacy officer Deidre Schifeling said during the press conference that "President Trump and his allies are abusing their power and attempting to scare their own citizens away from exercising our rights and freedoms."
"What we have seen so far is as troubling as it is illegal," Schifeling continued. "The Trump administration has directed ICE to kidnap people including journalists and students off the street, ripping them from their families and deporting them without due process."
"Their allies are attempting to undermine fair elections at President Trump’s direction by redistricting voting maps and further gerrymandering states," she noted. "And they are attempting to limit our First Amendment rights and use the federal government to attack political rivals, stifle dissent, and undermine checks and balances on presidential power."
"The Trump administration has even deployed armed agents and troops into American cities, including my home of Washington, DC, turning our streets into militarized zones and threatening to do so again to quash Saturday’s protests," she said.
"You have to ask: Why are they so afraid of their own citizens?" Schifeling said. "Well, they know that their agenda of selling fear, division, misinformation, lawbreaking, and violence is deeply unpopular. Millions of Americans will peacefully protest on Saturday to tell the Trump administration that we are a country of equals, we are a country of laws that apply to everyone, of due process, and of democracy."
"We will not be silenced," she added. "If we stop exercising our rights, our First Amendment freedom of speech out of fear, we forfeit our power in advance. The best way to protect our freedom is to act free."
Sanders: Saturday, millions of people are going to come out on a No Kings day. Speaker Johnson said this is a hate America rally because people are coming out expressing their concerns.. It’s not a hate America rally, it's a love America rally.
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— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) October 15, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Gilbert told Common Dreams: "I think we can turn this around. I think we wouldn’t be doing this if we couldn’t. We are still in a democracy today, we’re having this free and fair conversation right now, you and I… and we have a set of protections we can exercise and we need to remind people what democracy is supposed to look like."
As Contreras said, "When working people stand together, no king, no billionaires, no politicians can stop us."
"On October 18 and everyday, we’ll show the world what democracy looks like," he added. "No thrones! No clowns with crowns! No kings, just working people united in power to defend our democracy."
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