Re: WIPP shipment through Albq. NM

[RuthWeiner@AOL.COM]

Sicne a response was requested:



The group that came to the Albuquerque City Council was organized -- I overheard them planning another meeting out in the hall -- and they had organized a letter writing campaign.  This is NOT, and I repeat NOT, a "conspiracy," and I would never identify it as such.  It is citizen activism -- I have planned letter-writing campaigns  and urged folks to go to meetings myself as a volunteer for Sierra Club, American Lung Association, Trinity Section of American Nuclear Society, etc.  I hope that ANS and Health Physics Society could become more active in this vein.



Two problems occur, however: these organized anti-nuke protests almost always include paid anti-nuclear activist organizations -- people who draw a salary to attend these hearings and speak.  The salaried activists also help with organization, preparing handouts, setting up press conferences, etc. Locally, the same groups show up consistently.  Somehow, this is not considered "conflict of interest" but if a Sandia employee, for example, shows up and even, as I do, CAREFULLY dissociates himself or herself from his or her employer and makes it very clear that  the appearance is on the employee's own free time, it is labeled by the anti-nukes (not by Sandia or DOE!)to be "conflict of interest" and apparently this label is accepted by at least some policy makers, politicians, etc.  In fact, if a person employed in any capacity by a national lab or a government agency expresses a pro-nuclear opinion in a public forum, he or she is immediately charged with conflict of interest and!

  t!

he individual's scientific objectivity called into question.  This is apparently why Dr. Corradini felt obliged to resign as chair of the NWTRB, for example.  Yet, State of Nevada Yucca Mountain opponents can express their opposition to Yucca Mountain, with impunity, "on the clock," just as our salaried local activists can support an anti-WIPP memorial.  This is unquestionably a double standard.  



The second problem is a corollary to the first.  Many people here feel that they cannot appear as private citizens because it would jeopardize their jobs.  In my experience, George Dials, former director of the Carlsbad Area Office, stands out as the one DOE person who (successfully) encouraged DOE and contractor folks to appear on their own time, after hours, at public hearings and express their opinions.  If DOE and the labs encouraged this, and relieved people of the fear of losing their jobs, I imagine a lot more would participate.



I might also point out that, in recent years, the anti-nuclear protesters have become increasingly strident, hostile, and outright nasty.  My husband went with me the other night because, frankly, I was nervous about going alone.  He has actually been physically attacked by a local anti-nuke, and we have had threatening phone calls. I am myself vilified in the press from time to time for no particular reason. Many people don't attend these hearings because of the hostile and discourteous atmosphere, and they don't want to put up with it. 



Finally, of course, many of the protesters have the time.  They may not work full time, or not at all, or have a sufficiently flexible work schedule.  Most government, national lab, and contractor employees can't do this, and even with flexible schedules, rarely have the time.  Unless it becomes one's primary leisure time activity (I guess that is what it is for me, occasionally)there is just too little time for it.  



Ruth





-- 

Ruth F. Weiner

ruthweiner@aol.com

505-856-5011

(o)505-284-8406

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