Senator Cantwell of Washington Pleads for Sanity---Please Listen
I've written briefly here already about the megatonnage madness that has been abrewing at the Savannah River Site H-bomb factory these last fifty years. The history and political economy of this matter is the subject of a primary series of posts that I have begun to create. In some sense, no other subject is of higher import than this one---climate change, war in general, genetically modifying ourselves out of existence, dozens of possible pathways to destruction are possible to imagine. None of them, however, are of a higher order of magnitude than this question of plutonium and plutocracy versus popular democracy.
An aspect of this unfolding now is the satanic poison we have visited on a crossroads of some of the most imporant watersheds on earth. Everything is leaking at SRS, and this slow-moving cataclysm will only worsen as we wait. We may thus have nuclear war or slow poison from a continued commitment to plutonium, either of which guarantee utterly disastrous conseqences. THE UPSHOT OF ALL THIS, OF COURSE, IF SOMEONE IS NOT BRAIN DEAD, IS TO TAKE A STAND TO END THE NUCLEAR AGE NOW AND FIGURE OUT A STRATEGY TO MANAGE TO SURVIVE IN SPITE OF THE VOMITOUS WE'VE CREATED.
Note, of course, that this last rant is a personal opinion, not the opinion of Senator Cantwell or many of the others who, for reasons almost as sinisters as the godfathers of megadeath want to STORE the shit on sacred Navajo grounds at Yucca Mountain. Clearly, if we, as citizens, don't involve ourselves in these difficult issues, then whatever happens will have the unpleasant sensory aspect of being shoved down our throats, or, more graphically, of anal rape without the courtesy of lubrication.
Thus, I'm involved, in all sorts of ways. I'm still walking between August 6-9, between Atlanta and Aiken. I write, I read, I pass along what comes to me. The note below has come to me. What Senator Graham asks is brutal madness in the most favorable light. Senator Cantwell is no ignoramus about radioactive waste. The good people of Washington had the sense ot organize themselves to shut down their H-bomb factory, at Hanford. We need to do the same at SRS, and what that means is stopping this bill AND THEN INSISTING ON A PROCESS OF DEMOCRACY AND SCIENCE TO DIG OURSELVES OUT OF THIS PIT OF SELF-DESTRUCTION THAT SOME OF US STILL CLING TO LIKE THE PIT ITSELF WAS MAMA'S SWEET TITTY.
"That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!!"
----- Original Message -----
From: Maria_Cantwell@cantwell.senate.gov
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2004 9:52 AM
Subject: From the Office of Senator Cantwell
Dear Friend:
I'm writing to tell you about an urgent issue with dire consequences for the
environment. The Department of Energy (DOE) is pushing a plan to leave
highly radioactive nuclear waste in leaking underground tanks, rather than
properly cleaning it up.
For years, the DOE has sought the authority to reclassify high-level
nuclear waste as "incidental" waste. This would relieve DOE of its
obligation to dispose of radioactive nuclear waste in sites such as Hanford.
...
But over the last few weeks, DOE officials have teamed up with a few members
of the Senate Armed Services committee to try to sneak language into the
Department of Defense reauthorization bill which would allow DOE to
accomplish its long-standing goal of short-cutting the cleanup process. This
attempted end-run around the legislative process has taken place behind
closed doors, without public hearings. Last week I fought their sneak attack
on the Senate floor, ... (You can read my statement on the Senate floor on
my web site at
http://cantwell.senate.gov/news/releases/2004_05_20_nuclearwast e.html .)
I'm going to keep up the fight, and now, you can help. I will soon send a
letter to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and Senate leaders, urging them
to withdraw their support for the proposed reclassification of nuclear
waste. I invite you to join me in sending a strong message about the
importance of this issue by co-signing my letter through my web site's
online petition. Together, we can stop this end-run in its tracks.
To co-sign my letter, please visit my web site at
http://cantwell.senate.gov/contact/nuclearwaste_petition.html
Thank you for your support, and I will keep you updated on this issue.
Sincerely,
Maria Cantwell
United States Senator