Re: Radiophobia wins again

[Steven Dapra <sjd@swcp.com>]

Jan. 24



	(See Ruth Weiner's posting below.)



	Thank you, Ruth, for your compliment.



	I must give credit where credit is due.  Ruth sent me an e-mail about WIPP

transportation, truck and driver standards, and so forth; and from this I

derived my presentation to the City Council.  Since my text was only about

150 words and I had rehearsed it a few times I could look up from time to

time and address myself directly to a councilor, and twice I addressed

myself to the councilor who introduced the memorial.  On both occasions he

was obviously uncomfortable, and the second time he broke eye contact and

looked out into the audience.  Naturally I can't prove anything, but I know

full well that he knows his memorial has no merit.



	To an extent, I concur with Ruth's first point:  a memorial doesn't mean

anything and it has no force.  But on a deeper level (and I'm certain you

will agree with me Ruth) this memorial is effective because it adds fuel to

the fire of the anti-nuclear campaign.  The anti-WIPPers (and anti-nukers

in general) won a moral victory.



	As I noted in my initial posting, one of the councilors who supported the

anti-WIPP memorial is a mechanical engineer, and he voted for the memorial

because, he said, the DOE has a poor record of gaining public trust.



	First, the anti-WIPP elements are not only anti-nuclear, they are

anti-technology in general - for example, they are opposed to genetically

engineered crops, power plants, and most large-scale industrial projects.

Ponder, if you will, the incongruity of a mechanical engineer, whose

livelihood depends on modern technology, supporting the wishes of a group

of technophobes, and doing so for a reason that to some extent is based on

emotion:  that the DOE is inept at public relations.



	Second, this councilor is a legislator.  Would it be correct to say that

public trust in legislative bodies is at an all time low?  Yet this

legislator bases his vote on what he perceives to be a lack of public trust

in a government agency.  There's another incongruity for you to ponder.



Steven Dapra

sjd@swcp.com



- - - - - - - - - - - - -





I was at the meeting also, and Steve and I both made presentations (he was

very eloquent.  The good news about the memorial (and there is some) is:



1.  A memorial doesn't mean anything.  It has no force.  It is a way of

grandstanding to a certain constituenty.

2.  Press coverage was even-handed and not lurid.

3.  I have written long letters on the subject of the TRU transportation to

the City Council, and have had response from several.  The anti-nukes

appear to be losing credibility with some members of the Council, who

recognize that in fact perception is NOT reality.



I think it is important to contact one's own legislator (at whatever

government level).  Had this memorial been an ordinance, which has real

force, I believe the outcome would have been different.  









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