Green Scales

World News and EJ

Well. Disaster preparedness and environmental justice and nuclear energy. We meet again. I will not pretend expertise on the nuclear situation in Japan, but I will say that there are plenty of concerns that many people have about the effects of radiation on people who happen to live near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Perhaps here in the United States it would be wise to think very carefully about the short and long term impacts of nuclear plants--not just when they are operating, but when they are not operating properly--on the people and places that they are near. 

Here's some information about what's going on from Beyond Nuclear, a group that wishes to rid the world of both nuclear weapons and nuclear power.

http://www.beyondnuclear.org/home/2011/3/12/fukushima-dai-ichi-unit-1-reactor-schematic.html

The Kindle Project also has some interesting posts about the environmental justice implications of the problems at Fukushima:
Arjun Makhijani writes about Fukushima

The end of his post reads:
The United States should move as much spent fuel out of the pools as possible into hardened and secure dry storage.  The tragedy in Japan is also a reminder that making plutonium and fission products just to boil water (which is what a nuclear reactor does) is not a prudent approach to electricity generation. While existing reactors will be needed to maintain the stability of electricity supply for some time (as is also evident from the earthquake-tsunami catastrophe in Japan), new reactor projects should be halted and existing reactors should be phased out along with coal and oil.  It is possible to do so economically in the next few decades, while maintaining the reliability of the electricity system and greatly improving its security, as I have shown in my book Carbon-Free and Nuclear Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy published in 2007, and in subsequent work that can be found on the IEER website, www.ieer.org.  Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free can be downloaded free at http://www.ieer.org/carbonfree/CarbonFreeNuclearFree.pdf.

Also useful is CNN's  Nuclear Disaster Glossary

And, oh yes, this is a Michigan blog, right? In case you are wondering, according to the Department of Energy, "Michigan ranks tenth in nuclear power generation among the states.  Its three power plants combine to provide over a quarter of the entire state's electricity."

Here's where the plants are, according to the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission:
http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/region-state/michigan.html

The above page also includes sites being "Decommissioned." They might not be operational, but as you may now know, that doesn't mean all the risk is gone yet.

Today! Growing Our Food Systems in Lansing

Check it out if you have time!

Checking back in--getting back online

Greetings, readers, and my apologies to those of you who have made comments in the past that have gone unanswered. Due to some kind of spam-filtering glitch, for at least the last year the shoe sales comments have come through loud and clear, while your interesting and engaging comments about environmental justice have been filtered away into the spam folder. Sigh.

All that's been fixed now, and I hope to start posting again soon.

Meanwhile, here's some interesting reading for you:

Great Lakes Echo

DNRE Issues Mchigan Environmental Justice Plan (December 2010)

More to come soon! Thanks for reading...

Recent EJ news: October

Where to begin?

The recent toxic spill in Hungary is nothing less than horrifying. A waste pond burst its holding walls, filling the streets of a Hungarian town with waste from the local alumina plant.  There's a lot of coverage out there, including

PBS's Toxic Sludge From Hungary Spill Coats Villages, Threatens Danube

Video from Russia Today

and Reuters: Toxic Hungarian sludge spill reaches River Danube

Lansing's City Pulse has been covering the local utilities' attempts to move some coal ash--and the community's concerns as they do that. I'd link to these articles but it appears that City Pulse has put up a pay wall; so search for Andy B's "Hard Rain--" and pay if you will.

City Pulse website

Look for more soon on Michigan wind farms, Lansing bike advocates' wish lists for Lansing road changes, and more!

 

Kalamazoo Oil Spill

Oil has spilled right here in Michigan, and the state is still reacting to the spill. Instead of trying to report on the story, I'll point you to a few people who are already doing that. Meanwhile, what do you think are the most important environmental justice questions around this spill? How much of justice comes from information--accurate, fast, and complete sharing of details of the spill? How can residents' concerns about their air and water be fairly addressed? And what about those who want to help animals covered in oil and are being told not to?

I'll start with a few informational links about the spill:
MLive/ Kalamazoo Gazette: Oil Spill Update

Detroit Free Press: Oil Spill Near Kalamazoo River Causes Stench, Mess

and their photo gallery

Todd Heywood of Michigan Messenger has several stories on the spill; here's one.

The Great Lakes Echo, a local environmental news producer and aggregator, also has a few links to stories about the spill.

Environmental and other groups are using this opportunity to influence upcoming primary elections.The Michigan Environmental Council sent a message that included this opening paragraph:

The West Michigan oil disaster – more than 800,000 gallons spewed into the Kalamazoo River system – underscores the need for voters to elect state and federal lawmakers next week who are committed to adequately funding environmental protection. Voters should also favor candidates who support strong energy conservation and alternative fuels standards that lessen our dependence on imported oil.

Congressman Mark Schauer has been outspoken on the spill as well, issuing a statement that opens by saying "I am gravely concerned about this devastating oil spill that occurred here in Calhoun County."

And Governor Granholm has been tweeting about the spill, including warning would-be wildlife scrubbing volunteers to leave the cleaning of birds and mammals to those who are trained for these kinds of events. 

She has also activated the State Emergency Operations Center " to ensure all state resources are readily available to protect public health and the environment in response to the oil spill" and shared the following: "Residents with concerns or who wish to report affected wildlife are encouraged to call 1-800-306-6837, which has been set up by Enbridge."

The Twitter hashtag for the spill is #riveroil

And in case you're wondering, at the time this piece was published, the Kalamazoo Oil Spill was quite a hot topic on google searches:

kalamazoo river oil spill
13th most popular search in the past hour.