Nevadans really are battle born
Peggy Maze Johnson is a heroine for the public interest. She runs the Nevada-based advocacy group Citizen Alert and tells AlterNet of the latest battle over Yucca Mountain:
The fight against Yucca Mountain is testing the mettle of Nevadans. Our state motto is "Battle Born" and over the last 30 years we have proven that to be true. My organization, Citizen Alert started in 1975 to alert the public, not just Nevadas about the dangers of putting nuclear waste on the roads and railways of this country.
In the ongoing battle to finally end this preposterous proposition to transport the deadliest substance known to humankind we have yet another skirmish to put behind us. Last year the Federal District Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. handed the state of Nevada and local and national environmental groups a resounding victory when they overturned the radiation dose standard. The Court said the adopted standard violated the provisions enacted by Congress to protect future generations. The Environmental Protection Agency went back to the drawing board and recently came out with a "new" radiation dose standard. This attempt to bifurcate the radiation standard throws out all attempts at generational equity and puts future generations at tremendous risk. It sets an unjust policy that ignores the potential effects on women and children as well as indigenous people. And, this ill-conceived proposal will set a terrible precedent because it is contrary to internationally accepted radiation protection standards and lowers the bar on standards at other contaminated sites across the country.
What is it that this Administration doesn’t understand? Apparently we need to keep saying NO! We are asking people from all over this country to join with us on September 30, a date that has been designated as Nevada Is Not A Wasteland Day, to let the Environmental Protection Agency know that this is not acceptable. Let them know that we will not accept this from our government whose duty is to safeguard us. Let them know that not only is Nevada not a wasteland, but we won’t let America become a wasteland either!
Read Peggy's excellent article she wrote for AlterNet on Yucca last year.
