The Jungle

["Richard G. Piccolo" <rgp2m@poe.acc.virginia.edu>]

The reason that the Greenpeaces, Sierra Clubs and others serve
a purpose is because sometimes the Gatekeeper loses sight of
his or her purpose.

Not pointing to any-one industry but:

1) In our own industry - Brown's Ferry - redefined the way
fires and emergencies are handled in MANY industries. TVA
finally put out the fire, but I don't really think that they
spearheaded the Appendix R stuff and revisited the whole loss
of off-site power question.

2) TMI-2 prompted dedicated nuclear organizations within
utilities. A needed change in anyone's opinion.

3) Airbags and seatbelts certainly weren't the result of
brainstorms from the big 3. Same with fuel efficient cars.

4) The price of drugs didn't come down because the drug
companies wanted them to drop. Competition and some complaints
from the ol' consumer. Same with the price of any commodity.
Explain to me how Joe's refinery can a) wildcat 30 oil wells in
the mideast and have one good one; b) truck in tons of drilling
equipment; c) pump that oil into a holding facility; d) pump it
onto a tanker sitting in the Persian Gulf; e) pay for the
tanker and its crew; f) ship it to the local refinery and
distill it into diesel, kerosene, gasoline, naptha, and other
stuff; g) ship it half-way around the world to Norfolk; h)
off-load it to the port facilities; i) pay for storage until it
is needed somewhere in Nebraska; j) pump it into a tanker truck
and drive it to Nebraska. And then sell it for $1.19 a gallon!

Then, the schmo who owns a spring somewhere in Arkansas bottles
the water right out of the ground and sells it down the street
for $1.69 a gallon.

What is my point? Hell if I know, but this has always puzzled
me. 
Oh, I know. Gulf war. The price went up 30, 40 cents a gallon.
They claimed their prices went up. Well, heck. They have that
commodity stockpiled and there was a little profiteering going
on. Grassrooters complained and then
Congress found out and said to the oil companies "STOP IT," and
they did. The next week, gas was back to $1.19 a gallon. So,
big business is in the business to make money. Grassroots and 
regulators keep everybody more honest than they would be
without their influence.

5) Ergonomics in the world. In particular, I remember working
MANY 84 hour weeks at the plant back in the 70's. That really
isn't very safe. Good for the wallet though - You betcha!
Despite the proof of reduced mental awareness, it took the NRC
to tell the plants that 84 hours a week was history.

6) "The Jungle" - you think that the meat packers made all those
changes voluntarily without Upton Sinclair and the unions?

7) For some reason I sort of appreciate Greenpeace's efforts in
stopping the seal clubbing that was so popular with the egos
that wanted to wear white fur. Does anyone really want that to
keep up. What if I started skinning stray cats and dogs for
fur? Would I get much support for that? It really is the same
thing. Really. What does society accept and what does it
cringe at? Monty Burns and the pups from Santa's Little 
Helper to wit. 

8) Genocide does not stop unless someone else stops it. Do you
believe that Bosnia, Rwanda, Zaire, Armenia, Hitler, Stalin and all
those others stopped the murder, rape and genocide because they
grew tired of it? No, some version of a "grassroots"
organization said ENOUGH!!! Notice how Western Europe and the
U.S. have stayed out of this, even though is it horrible. Why?
Well money and economic interest. Why Kuwait and not Bosnia? It
has taken the Red Cross and other Grassrooters to break up that
sick party. And in the eyes of the people doing the killing and
torture, these groups "just don't really understand the problem" 
And, yes, war really is closely
related to money. And money is power. So, this counts. And I
know that this comparison is a far cry from this thread, but,
look, outsiders serve a purpose. 

9) Benzene, alcohol, carbon tetrachloride, cigarettes, drunk drivers,
cutting down old growth timber so it can be sold for $1.00!,
fertilizer run off, DDT, landfills, ocean dumping for municipal
waste, Agent Orange, changing your oil in your own driveway and
dumping the oil, roadside dumping of tons and tons of stuff,
carpet glues in buildings that only bring in 1 hour of fresh
air per day, child labor, child slavery, abuse, strip mining
and leacheates into pristine water, poaching...

You know, the people who make money off of all these activities
do not stop on their own. It really does take people who are
activists to do it. And these are the Greenpeacers and others.

Now, I deplore the tree spiking and transmission tower
sabotage, that is absolutely criminal.
But, I know that my life is a little better for the
many things that are addressed by these groups. 

And speaking of environmentalists making gobs and gobs of
money. I sort of doubt that they do. Sure, some of them do.
Even a lot of them do. But, let's think about this for a
few...The average reader of this group has a pretty good job,
benefits that include life and health insurance, probably a
good vacation package, a couple of cars, a reasonably nice
place to work, plenty of time to spend on the ol' Radsafe
listserver and wax philosophically, some modicum of job
security for a long time. All in all, not a bad gig. 
I don't think
for a minute that any intervenor has all this going for him or
her. I doubt they make the big bucks. You really think the guy
out there in a Zodiac standing between an Icelandic whaler and
a right whale makes even 20K a year? Much less the benefits.
I sure don't. He is doing
that for the same reason you are irritated at him. Because he
believes in it - and I sort of admire that in a person. I doubt
you will see me in the North Atlantic facing down a charge
propelled harpoon. Heck, even if this guy if off his nut, I
admire him for his conviction of purpose. (And this is quite a
different type of conviction than those in power in Bosnia,
Zaire etc. There is no comparison and I hope we all can
recognize that. I mean, do you think Milosevic gives a thought
to a whale?"

The good comes with the bad. Jeez, let's not get too much
tunnel vision in this whole discussion of the wonderful world
of nuclear stuff. The reality is that if all the HPs in the
world packed up our little HP kits and disappeared, each and
every employer will likely be tempted to take a few shortcuts
that compromise the environment and workers. 

The proof is out there. Look at all the contaminated sites that
are being cleaned. Look at all the bona fide environmental
messes that we have to either live with or just flat out
accept. 

Don't tell me that the industrial world is altruistic and clean
living. It just ain't so. Pick up the paper any day of the week
and give it a read. If it were not for regulators and the
public the country would be divided into a group of robber
barons and every one else. (A la "the cook, the thief, his
wife, her lover.")

And while I know that many of the readers
of this newsgroup are wondering what the hell I am thinking and
how this relates to HP, well, to me it does. There is a
reasonable balance of power in this world, i.e., intervenors
and the guys who have all the money.  

Believe me, I think a bunch of them are idiots. I was quite
happy when the Clamshell Alliance went "poof." I also think a
bunch of us have equally bought into our own stuff...that we
know what is best for others.

It is sort of like the poker game between the cardsharp and the
newbie.

Sharper: "Hey, buddy, you want to play cards?"

Newbie: "Sure, but I don't really know how."

Sharper: "Oh heck, that's okay, I'll tell you when you win."

So, what is my point? Grassrooters and Greenpeacers, 
for all the aggravating things that they do to our 
precious nuclear enterprises, have also done some pretty good
things too. There is a good balance between the Fortune 500 and
the environmentalists. The reality is that these guys and
us guys all have the same end-point as a goal - a safe place to
live and work. We just do it in different ways.

Rick Piccolo, CHP, RSO
and a bunch of other esoteric stuff too.
-- 
Reply via email to: piccolo@virginia.edu