Re: WIPP shipment through Albq. NM

[John Jacobus <crispy_bird@YAHOO.COM>]

Ruth, 

Thanks for the feedback.



I have spoken out at council meetings about road

construction behind my house.  One thing that I found

important is to tell the council members that you are

a voting member of the community.  I think that says

you have a vested interest in what they do, and they

should have a vested interest in what you say.  



I also think that if those who make presentation are

not from the community, that should be made clear.  I

don't know if that can be made part of the

presentation process, but it may be useful.



--- RuthWeiner@AOL.COM wrote:

> 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.  

> 

> 



=====

+++++++++++++++++++

"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

Thomas Jefferson



-- John

John Jacobus, MS

Certified Health Physicist

e-mail:  crispy_bird@yahoo.com



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