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For Immediate Release
November, 19 2012, 10:37am EDT
Contact:
Erin Jensen,Email:,EJensen@foe.org
San Onofre: Federal Regulator Opens Proceedings That Could Decide Reactors' Future
Friends of the Earth calls for transparency, public participation, no conflicts of interest
WASHINGTON
In response to a petition from Friends of the Earth, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has opened two official proceedings that could determine the future of Southern California Edison's crippled San Onofre reactors. On Friday, Friends of the Earth urged the NRC to commit to full transparency and public participation in those proceedings, and to exclude from the staff review all personnel who failed to exercise proper oversight over the installation of equipment whose failure shut down the plant.
At issue is whether the 2010 installation of replacement steam generators required an amendment of the San Onofre operating license. In its petition, Friends of the Earth presented evidence that the replacement generators were of a significantly different design than the plant was licensed for, and their installation should have triggered a formal license amendment hearing before a judge with expert witnesses and cross-examination.
Two weeks ago the NRC commissioners unanimously directed the Atomic Safety Licensing Board to decide whether a license amendment is needed to restart the Unit 2 reactor at partial power as Edison has requested. Commissioners also directed the NRC staff to review its original decision to allow installation of the replacement generators without a license amendment.
"Edison tried to spin the Commissioners' orders as dismissals of our concerns, but in fact it was a significant victory for the public and a big step toward the public hearings that are required by law," said Damon Moglen, energy and climate director for Friends of the Earth. "Now we've got to make sure the proceedings the commissioners ordered are conducted openly and fairly."
Two weeks ago, newly appointed NRC Chairwoman Alison Macfarlane told KPBS Radio of San Diego: "It is incumbent upon us to communicate transparently with these [public interest] groups . . . and listen to their concerns." Today, Friends of the Earth sent a letter to the NRC's CEO urging him to make sure the staff proceeding upholds the spirit of Macfarlane's statement.
"The NRC staff's examination of the (licensing) issue is now part of the formal petition review process, which must be transparent and conducted by officials who were not associated with the original staff decision to allow (Edison) to proceed without a license amendment," Friends of the Earth wrote to R. William Borchardt, the NRC's executive director of operations. The letter notes that NRC rules require that the agency "consider any potential conflict arising from assigning any staff person to the review who was previously involved in the decision giving rise to the petition."
Read the full letter from Friends of the Earth to Borchardt.
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.
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Rubio Orders Abolishment of USAID's Entire International Workforce
All foreign assistance programs will now be managed by the secretary of state.
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A cable from the U.S. State Department Tuesday showed that the Trump administration is eliminating the entire international workforce of the foreign aid agency that has provided lifesaving assistance in the Global South for over six decades.
"The Department of State is streamlining procedures under National Security Decision Directive 38 to abolish all USAID overseas positions," read the cable, referring to the U.S. Agency for International Development. The document was obtained by The Guardian.
USAID was one of the first targets of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), whose former leader, billionaire Elon Musk, has baselessly called the agency a "criminal organization."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced in March that 5,200 of the agency's 6,200 international initiatives had been eliminated and that the few remaining programs were now under the control of the State Department.
The announcement by Rubio on Tuesday means all foreign assistance programs will be managed by the department, with the administration firing hundreds of foreign service officers, contractors, and local employees across more than 100 countries.
USAID officials and international humanitarian experts have warned since the Trump administration first moved to freeze foreign assistance in January that cuts to the agency would leave at least 1 million children without treatment for malnutrition, leave 200,000 more children paralyzed from vaccine-preventable polio over next decade, and cause up to 160,000 deaths from malaria.
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Due to the stop-work order, said Nina Zeldes, a health researcher at Public Citizen's Health Research Group, "researchers were unable to safeguard the welfare of participants and uphold their ethical obligations."
Public Citizen said that "the sudden, medically uncalled-for suspension of the clinical trials was a serious violation of research ethics, potentially jeopardizing the health of trial participants and the integrity of the trials."
The Center for Global Development also published an analysis Tuesday of estimates that have stated the White House's proposal of cutting global health and humanitarian aid funding by two-thirds would put 1 million lives at risk.
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U.S. Congressional Black Caucus Chair Yvette Clarke, a Democrat from New York, said on Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump's moves to send in National Guard troops and Marines in response to protests in Los Angeles rise to the level of impeachable offenses.
Protests began on Friday to oppose federal immigration raids on workplaces.
Clarke made the remarks while speaking at a Tri-Caucus press conference on Tuesday that was convened to address Trump's recent actions around the protests. The Tri-Caucus includes the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.
Asked by a reporter if she believes Trump's actions around the Los Angeles protests rise to the level of impeachable offenses, Clarke said: "I do. I believe it is. I definitely believe it is, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."
According to an NBC News write-up of her remarks, Clarke also said that "this president has crossed the line" and called Trump's decision to deploy Marines to Los Angeles a "waste of taxpayer dollars."
On Monday, a day before the press conference, Clarke released a statement calling Trump's deployment of Marines an "authoritarian escalation unlike any before in American history."
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Two House Democrats have launched impeachment efforts this year, though they have not gained traction with the broader Democratic caucus.
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As congressional Republicans push a megabill that would add an estimated $2.4 trillion to the national debt while giving lavish tax breaks to the rich and gutting anti-poverty initiatives for the working class, Congressman Ro Khanna on Tuesday unveiled a progressive plan to cut the deficit by $12 trillion and enable investment in "essential programs for ordinary Americans: childcare, universal healthcare, affordable housing, free college, student debt cancellation, advanced manufacturing, and good-paying jobs."
The California Democrat's Progressive Deficit Reduction Plan, introduced in a report and floor speech, has five recommendations to cut spending: modernize the military ($850 billion), get rid of upcoding and fraud in Medicare Advantage ($830 billion), negotiate Medicare drug prices ($200 billion), end fossil fuel subsidies ($170 billion), and implement smarter procurement and contracting ($333 billion).
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Khanna's proposal points out that the Pentagon—which has a budget of nearly $1 trillion—has never passed an audit, and that getting ripped off by contractors is an issue not only at the Department of Defense but across the federal government. The document also emphasizes the need to crack down on fraud involving Medicare Advantage and argues that "there is absolutely no reason Americans should pay two to four times more for prescriptions than people in Canada, Germany, or the U.K."
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