Felina

There are a lot of great loose-ends stories online about the Breaking Bad finale but my burning unanswered question this morning was what does the show's title, Felina, mean?  So I googled and got my answer. The tape in the glove compartment of the stolen Volvo gave the hint but it went over my head.....

(ibtimes) Eric Brown wrote last week ~ Decoding The 'Breaking Bad' Finale: Four Theories On What 'Felina' Means

The El Paso Theory
This is an interesting one. According to Previously.TV’s Andi Teran, “Felina” doesn’t refer to any chemical formula, but instead to Marty Robbins’ classic Western ballad, “El Paso.”
In the song, the unnamed cowboy narrator falls in unrequited love with a Mexican girl named Felina in the border town of El Paso, Texas, only to kill one of her suitors out of jealously. The gunslinger flees to “the badlands of New Mexico,” and when he returns to El Paso, he sneaks past a group of lawmen to the bar where Felina would dance. The song ends as Felina puts a bullet in the narrator’s heart, but she kisses him on the cheek one last time before he dies.
So how exactly does this song relate to “Breaking Bad?” According to Teran, Felina symbolizes Walt’s lust for power and control.
“Felina is a metaphor for Walt’s double life,” Teran writes. “As Heisenberg, Walt becomes obsessed with the power and money that a being a drug kingpin brings. This power is his Felina, his weakness. But its backbone is the obsessive (destructive) love he also has for his family.”
Breaking down the song stanza by stanza, Teran argues that “El Paso” mirrors the final season of “Breaking Bad” almost perfectly, including returning from an exile and avoiding the police. If the parallels are going to continue, someone close to Walt is going to shoot him by the end of “Felina,” and it might be someone you wouldn’t expect.
.........Listen to Marty Robbins’ “El Paso” and decide for yourself. Even if it turns out to be wrong, at least you listened to a fantastic song, right?

On Talking Bad last night, creator Vince Gilligan called the creation of the meth lab itself the one thing Walt loved, it was his precious (as in Gollum and his Precious, the Ring of Power) 

He’s with the thing he seems to love the most in the world, which is his work and his meth lab and he just doesn’t care about being caught because he knows he’s on the way out.

(image)

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Velda Jones-Potter Raises The Bar?

 (News Journal image)

Update III: Straub covered last night's 6 hour marathon but it seems as if there are still unanswered questions. For one, how much did Foxtail Fest pay to their security company? ~ Foxtail cost city more than $18,000

Update II: Comment rescue ~

I can't believe I voted for you one time! Ms. Jones-Potter, your son did all this and you didn't know about it until the end?? Wrong. Lady,; you are beginning to sound like you are stumbling over lies and you need to stop talking because the "more" you talk the more integrity you lose. I would venture to say that Dennis Williams was right and you do not want to admit that YOU and your family are wrong. This is the "second job" where your integrity is in question. I am probably not the only person in the state that thinks you need to go fade away in the sunset.

Update I: Potter's one-on-one with the News Journal (see below)

After appearing on her husband's Channel 28 leased-access television show, "Straight Talk", for the second week in a row yesterday and clamoring for the restoration of her character, integrity and reputation, Velda Potter released this presser ~

Velda Jones-Potter responds to members of Wilmington City Council regarding FoxTail Fest Inquiry’

Wilmington, Delaware- September 28, 2013 - Velda Jones-Potter responds to members of Wilmington City Council regarding Council’s Sept. 30 Inquiry of Facts Related to the FoxTail Festival. Today she issued the following. 

To: President Theopalis K. Gregory and Members of Council
Fr: Velda Jones-Potter
Re: Council’s Sept. 30 Inquiry of Facts Related to the FoxTail Festival

I am writing this in response to your release of information concerning individuals requested to appear at the inquiry and ‘What Council wants to learn from the session’.
In order to conduct the fact finding necessary it is important that the full spectrum of individuals with information pertinent to the issues at hand be among those requested to appear before the committee. Your list fails to include the following individuals who were present at meetings and otherwise involved in a way that may cause them to have information pertinent to this issue. I respectfully ask that they be included among those requested to appear.

- Tiffany Christopher, Special Events Coordinator – Mayor’s Office
- Tonya Phillips, Manager of Cultural Affairs - Mayor’s Office
- Kenny Briscoe, Director of Communications – Mayor’s Office
- Yvette Rouse, Promotion & Event Manager - Riverfront Development Corp.
- Sherman Lewis, Security – RDC
- Dan Zier, RDC
- Bud Freel, Councilman – City of Wilmington
- Sgt. Transue – Wilmington Police Dept.
- William McKim, Wilmington Fire Department
- Samuel Baise, Public Works Department
- Cory Ferrell, State 1 Security
- Ryan Robinson, Owner ‘Lavish’
- Dennis P. Williams, Mayor – City of Wilmington

Further, I suggest that it would be appropriate to invite representatives from FoxTail Fest and afford them an opportunity to speak in as much as they are accused of receiving services inappropriately.
I question why opportunity for public comment is not provided. This matter has been aired publicly from its very inception. It is the use of public funds that is at question. I suggest that the public should have opportunity to comment on this issue.
While I understand there will be additional questions asked during the inquiry, I am disturbed by what are presented as the “four major questions that must be addressed at Monday’s session”. The questions seeking information related to who made decisions to provide services seems entirely appropriate. However, I take exception to the questions inquiring “When will the City be repaid by FoxTail …” and “Are there sufficient safeguards in place to ensure….process will not be tampered with or circumvented in the future?” If this is to be a fair and transparent inquiry for the purpose of fact finding these questions are inappropriate. Implicit in the questions are assumptions that 1) monies are in fact owed the City by FoxTail and 2) that the event permitting and review process was tampered with or circumvented. I believe such conclusions should await the facts that are brought to light at Monday’s inquiry.
The comments in your release indicate that this matter is ‘hampering the operations of the government’ and that it is a ‘distraction from daily operations’. I have served in government twice and therefore I know firsthand the challenges and urgencies it faces. Further, no one wants to have this matter concluded in a timely manner more than me and my family. That notwithstanding, of greater importance than a ‘concise inquiry’ with swift closure, is a fair, thorough and transparent process that reveals the facts and gets to the truth.

 While Potter conveyed the content above to the television audience, she also spent a lot of time praising her son and the Foxtail event and drilled home the message superimposed across the screen: "The only question is who ordered the police?"

Potter tried to establish Foxtail's financials by presenting a copy of Brandon Potter's  $1,750.00 check to the Riverfront Development Corporation marked Maintenance Fee, a money order to the City of Wilmington for $350.00 ostensibly for permitting fees and an invoice to Service 1 Security, the private security firm whose owner, Cory Ferrell, supposedly attended each of the RDC meetings with Velda Potter. The invoice, while noting PAID IN FULL, included no proof of payment or dollar amount paid.There has been no payment to the city for security and no invoice received.

And finally, Potter ran with a story about Councilman Bud Freel's having personally approached the after party venue owner and vendor with questions about adequate security, actions she characterized as tampering, interfering and downright possibly sabotaging the event. She wondered aloud if Freel's "unsettling" activities influenced the lack of Wilmington Police volunteers signing up to work the overtime security detail for Foxtail Fest.

For me, Velda Jone-Potter's integrity and character were put into question during her primary campaign against Chip Flowers for State Treasurer when she ran one of the filthiest campaigns in recent memory. 

And it was laughable to hear Charles Potter's sidekick, Calvin Brown, tell Norman Oliver last night that he expected nothing less than for Mayor Dennis Williams to restore Velda to her former job with full compensation for the damages done to her reputation. Not gonna happen. [I'll put up a link to the Community Crossfire YouTube ASAP. - Herman Holloway seemed to be implying that Velda Potter really sucked at her job and would have better served the city as Finance Director, something she knows something about.]

And by all means don't miss Rhonda Graham's grovel-fest ~ Jones-Potter seeking answers of her own tonight

Velda Jones-Potter will be fighting for her profes­sional life this evening when Wilmington City Council convenes a hearing into her role in the planning of her son’s recent Foxtail Fest event two weeks ago. The fallout led to her losing her job. “My rep­utation, my in­tegrity, that’s of the upmost im­portance to me,” she said Sun­day sitting at a dining room table in her Brandywine Hills home. As Mayor Dennis Williams’s former chief policy strategist, she wants to vindicate her role in seeing that Brandon Potter’s first try as an event-planning entrepreneur went off smoothly. And she remains unrelenting in her belief that her role on behalf of her son was no ethical vio­lation. She said got involved at the last minute after learning he had been quietly developing the project among some friends from his high school days. That frightened her, and she feared he would not total­ly grasp his obligation to the city. It was Brandon’s maiden voyage as an entrepreneur, which meant he was following in his parents footsteps, which made them proud. Both she and State Rep. Charles Potter have long histories in the in­surance business and with a variety of consulting services related to housing and per­sonal finances. Gov. Jack Mar­kell supported Jones-Potter to replace him as Delaware’s treasurer when he ran and won his gubernatorial race.

But Jones-Potter saw her involvement with the city as double duty — to see that the city requirements were known and met. In effect she considered herself as repre­senting the city’s interest in planning meetings with the Riverfront Development Cor­poration, city policy and other parties. She conceded it was a mistake to think that fellow workers could accept that, for this event, she was wearing the hat of a concerned citizen­mother.........But this whole crisis has prompted Jones-Potter to ask questions of her own. As has been her style, she wants to focus on worker competence – in this case how the Wilming­ton Police Department plans for and coordinates public safety for large public events.
........This is an ugly and costly event in municipal life that will eventually slide away into history as a minor civic epi­sode. But for now it requires the kind of torturous public in­vestigation and airing with tough questions of all partici­pants this evening. Only then can the public invest its trust that Wilming­ton is capable of becoming a well-managed and large pub­lic safety asset in Delaware.

There's a news story as well: Kelly Bothum and Andrew Staub report ~ Jones-Potter challenges council

 The jabs at council continued, with Jones-Potter taking specific aim at Councilman Bud Freel.Jones-Potter questioned the need for Freel to speak with representatives of Club Lavish, which hosted an after party for Foxtail Fest attendees who paid an additional admission charge. “It’s a bit unnerving, the thought that someone in his capacity would be interfering,” Jones-Potter said.
.......Freel said he didn’t hear Jones-Potter’s comments, but said he looked into the after-party in advance when a resident brought it up to him. The club is in his district, and previous owners of the property had run afoul of the city’s nuisance ordinance, Freel said. With the possibility that Foxtail Fest could draw thousands of people – many of whom might also attend the after-party – Freel said he met with the owner of the venue and the property owner the week of the concert to talk about possible security issues and the club’s responsibilities. “As far as I’m concerned, I was doing my job as a district council member,” Freel said, adding he heard of no issues at the party.
John Rago, director of communications and policy development for council, said Jones-Potter’s comments won’t change the body’s plans for today’s inquiry.

 

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UD/TDC Update: UD, Alan Levin And Jack Markell Get A Taste Of People Power. Thank You Willett Kempton!

 

 (Amy Roe image Willett Kempton and John Kowalko)

WOW,  Jonathan Starkey tweeted this today ~ From @GovernorMarkell on data center: "The way it works is you don't put every new development up to a public vote." 

 With comment rescues ~

- I have elderly neighbors who have lived here 50 years and they are a wreck from all of this controversy. The people of Newark are being vilified by their own government for not wanting this monstrosity in, literally, their backyard. This company has built nothing- nada. They are a bunch of IT guys who plan on moving on from state to state and making millions, while the people of Newark are going to be subjected to whatever they choose to leave behind. None of the people who signed that petition believe what was told at the meeting that TDC presented. The noise will be nothing more than a conversation - a 24//7 conversation for the rest of our lives! For our government to plot behind our backs and then expect us to swallow this whole thing is a disgrace! Yes we are going to continue to protest, that is what our forefathers did and that is our right as citizens, since no one else in this state is doing it for us. We have had Bloom and Fisker shoved down our throats and now Markell wants to give an unknown entity another $7.50 million and states we are $55 million short on our budget this year. He was asked on WDEL the other day how many of these data centers has this company built - his answer I don't know. Yes, you do - NONE! I, frankly, have had enough!

- In those 2011 planning commission zoning notes the hypothetical, allowable power generation example was for an IKEA store backup generator, not anything remotely close to the scale of this proposed project. 

- Excellent reporting! A fossil fuel power plant should NEVER be located this close to homes, schools and playgrounds. The UofD plans to locate their nursing school on this same campus, within yards of this powerplant! As a parent of a UofD student, I am extremely concerned about my daughter's health while she is attending college.

• A comparison of greenhouse gas emissions
• A look at the proposed Wolf Technology Center

Here's (News Journal) Melissa Nann Burke and Wade Malcom's fantastic must-read report ~ Contention churns on over data center plan - "The conflict has pitted local officials against the state, residents against the university, and envi­ronmentalists against en­ergy- hungry “Big Data.”

 “The way it works is you don’t put every new development up to a public vote,” Gov. Jack Markell said last week. “This is why you have environmental regulations, and this is why you have land-use regulations.” Residents remain determined, collecting more than 900 petition signatures, holding protests and pressuring public officials to stop the project. Many of the estimated 5,560 residents within a mile of the site fear the data center’s 248-megawatt, gas-fired plant poses a threat to their health, property values and quality of life. The facility would rank among Delaware’s top 10 emitters of greenhouse gases, even if the company captures the bulk of its carbon output, according to a News Journal analysis of data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

.........Markell and a top adviser say the community is gambling not just 340 new jobs – 290 full time – but Delaware’s ability to attract future economic-development opportunities.“Newark or any place that shoots this down could get a reputation,” said Alan Levin, Markell’s economic development director. “When you say, ‘I like this, but I don’t like that,’ it becomes very difficult for economic development. It becomes purely subjective.”........The project has spotlighted Newark’s inability to control what the University of Delaware does with its property. Roughly 40 percent of Newark’s footprint is university land, and UD has historically argued its state charter exempts it from local zoning restrictions, including Newark’s..........“You’re talking about add­ing 20 per­cent to the power generation capaci­ty to the whole state,” said UD professor Willett Kempton, who studies the electric system, including generation. “You could run five Newarks on this single power plant.”........The company chose Newark because the site was zoned for their pur­poses

.........“The American utility system is very high relia­bility, especially com­pared to the rest of the world, at 99-plus percent. The problem with these types of loads is that data centers don’t believe that’s good enough.” Project opponents question why the compa­ny needs to generate its own power when Wolf could tie into three elec­tric feeds at the property. “It’s highly unlikely that all three of those would go down at once,” Kempton said. “Each one provides 180 megawatts, and that’s enough to run all your IT equipment and all your air conditioning, without building your own power plant. The state­ment that it’s not reliable, is not credible to power professionals."

The monkey wrench? City of Newark Council members voted Monday to exert oversight over any TDC power purchase agreement ~

The Data Centers is ne­gotiating an agreement to sell 50 megawatts to the Delaware Electric Muni­cipal Cooperative........ The power deal with DEMEC is a “critical” piece for investors con­sidering the project, ac­cording to Levin of DE­DO. “That’s the biggest con­dition predicating their ability to get funding,” he said. “It’s the only way their model works.” ........“I just want to move the discussion into a pub­lic forum, rather than al­lowing this to move for­ward behind closed doors,” Councilman Mark Morehead said. City Council has been looking into how The Data Centers’ business model could affect Newark’s ex­clusive right under its charter to provide elec­tric utility services within city limits, Morehead said.

.........The potential for pow­er generation also came up during a meeting of the Newark Planning Com­mission when it reviewed details of a special zoning district for the STAR Campus in 2011, accord­ing to meeting minutes. Commissioners dis­cussed a hypothetical sce­nario involving an on-site generation system – wind, electric and even nuclear power. Then-Planning Di­rector Roy Lopata said it would be permitted. The commissioners ultimate­ly recommended the zon­ing language to Council, which unanimously adopted it into the city code last year. “What was missing from the discussion was a concept of scale,” said Councilman Doug Tuttle, whose dis­trict in­cludes the STAR Cam­pus. “Frank­ly, we may not have paid as much atten­tion as you might think.”

The UD says it's got the right to be whatever it feels like whenever it serves any which way it wants to lean ~

 [Residents] say [a fossil-fuel-burning plant] is inconsistent with the educational and sustainable vision for the STAR Campus. UD, however, never in­tended STAR to be a tradi­tional extension of its aca­demic campus. The school paid $24.2 million cash for the former assembly plant in 2009 and is recruiting outside entities to fund all construction on the site. “Our resources will not be reinvested into this site,”

Digital recordings of last Tuesday's Town Hall meeting and the September 23rd Newark City Council meeting will be posted soon - look for them online.

No Newark Power Plant reports ~ Newark City Council takes first stand on power plant

Newark City Council members used uncharacteristically strong language at the Monday, September 23, 2013 City Council Meeting about the steps taken by city staff to support a 248MW natural gas fired power plant on the University of Delaware’s STAR Campus, which is just a few hundred feet from homes and city parks.
“This process was done incorrectly” echoed several Council members who made a decision at the meeting that all purchased power agreements (PPA) should be brought before City Council in the future.   This decision was met with applause from the full house of residents at the meeting.
City Council’s direct oversight over The Data Centers LLC’s PPA with Delaware Municipal Electric Corporation (DEMEC) is the City Council’s first stand on the power plant issue.
Delaware’s nine municipalities that participate in the DEMEC are exempted from oversight by the Public Service Commission.  Instead, it is the responsibility of City Council to oversee utility affairs.
Using the Freedom of Information Act, Newark resident Amy Roe learned that DEMEC sent a letter of intent with The Data Centers LLC in December 2012 to purchase 60 MW of power from the facility.  DEMEC later advised the City Manager by email that City Council approval was not required for the project.  This information was presented at the City Council meeting on July 22, and again on September 23 by Dr. Roe, accompanied by a plea for City Council to exercise their responsibility to oversee utility decisions.

• December 17, 2012 DEMEC Letter of Intent
• June 21, 2013 email from DEMEC
• July 22, 2013 City Council Minutes, see pages 1-3

Several members of the public also spoke at the City Council meeting about the need for City Council to take action.  Nancy Willing asked about the legislative intent of the Council’s decision to adopt STC zoning rules for the STAR Campus in March 2012.  Jen Wallace asked specific questions about the contract between the City and the University for electricity sales, and Rob Gifford pointed out serious errors in the City’s confidentiality agreement with The Data Centers LLC in July 2012.  Beth Sheridan of Arbour Park asked Council to be proactive on the power plant issue.
During his statement about the project, Councilman Mark Morehead (District 1) described his concern about how the decisions of a small number of people (meaning city staff) have been a direct threat to our way of government.
Councilman Doug Tuttle (District 3) spoke about his concern about the proximity to his neighbors on Shull Drive and in Arbor Park.  Missing from the discussion, he said, has been any concept of the scale of the power plant.
Councilman Jerry Clifton (District 2) commented about the precedent-setting nature of the power plant, and his fear that further projects could be built on the rest of STAR Campus.
Councilman Stu Markham (District 6) described how he would be using a spreadsheet to evaluate the pros and cons of the power plant.
Several City Councilman referred to the University of Delaware as an 800 pound gorilla.  Residents were encouraged to direct advocacy efforts towards the University.

Also read Sierra Club's As Knowledge of Newark Power Plant Grows, So Do Concerns | Delaware Chapter

And their Town Hall tweets and photos ~ https://twitter.com/desierraclub

Plus Kavips' Radioactive Fallout From Power Plant Meeting

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Community Crossfire's Norman Oliver Says He Supports Tom Gordon 100% In Apology Call Over Lisa Diller And John Cartier's NCC Council Committee Conduct

Norman Oliver told me he is kickin' it tonight with a discussion (and audio replay) of New Castle County Councilwoman Lisa Diller's latest public meltdown [See: Gordon Strongly Encourages An Apology From 5th District Councilwoman Lisa Diller For Hostility Toward Administration Staffers]


DEM-fave apologists are trying to spin this as a "Tommy Gordon is big bully" meme [Cassandra Marshall's A Small Request for County Councilwoman Lisa Diller] but it won't fly. Diller is the bully here and Community Crossfire is where you can tune in to listen. Their show will also be posted soon after on YouTube which you can find HERE at Comm Crossfire on facebook.

Meanwhile, the last Crossfire YouTube posted was the September 15th show with Education Secretary Mark Murphy, in case you missed it.

 Kavips had an interesting post about it. As did Kilroy ~ DE Sec Ed Murphy lifts the spirits of Wilmington parents.

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A Day Of Action In Philly Tomorrow Against Corporate Greed In Education

Philadelphia School Partnership, Gates Foundation, Mastery Charter School and other advocates of corporate education reform will gather at the Union League, long time symbol of rule by upper class elites.

A Day of Action Against Corporate Greed in Education

On Monday the corporate school reform crowd are holding a closed door assembly of rich people and their foundations to further their aim of unfettered charter school growth, privatization and union busting.   Meanwhile our public schools are being systematically starved of resources.
The connections between the condition of our public schools and the growth of corporate influence in public education are becoming clearer to more and more people.   And their fighting back.   On Monday four things are happening.

Fight For Philly Action at 12:30pm at Grover Cleveland Mastery Charter (19th and Erie Ave)  The conference participants will be touring this school at this time and an “unwelcome” is planned.   For more information visit the Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/events/1383118675256438/

Support Khepera Charter School Teachers in Their Fight for a Fair Contract
Assemble at 3:30, Bargaining Session at 4:00
Khepera Middle School Campus (144 Carpenter Lane)   School staff at  Khepera Charter, one of the few unionized charters in the city, have been working for a year without a contract in the face of the administration demanding give backs that will hurt students and teachers alike.  The staff, along with some parents, are picketing and during the negotiation session.   They have called for community supporters to join them.

Youth Action: Bring The Noise   Students are planning to send the corporate reformers a message by staging a loud protest from 4:30 to 6pm at the Union League, targeting the budget cuts, tax breaks for corporations and expanded prison construction.   For more details visit their event page at: http://www.facebook.com/events/185020475017297/

Alliance For Philadelphia Public Schools is holding a rally and picket at 5p.m., also at the Union League,  to “speak out against corporate control of our public schools and to fight for fully funded public schools!”
PCAPS supports all of these initiatives and urges people to come out in the spirit of building broad, grass roots, resistance to the corporate agenda of austerity and privatization.   This agenda is being advanced in the guise of charitable giving and philantropy.  Our schools need full and fair funding, not charity by self interested parties.   If hedge funds and corporations want to help public education we suggest they pay their taxes like the rest of us.

Un-welcome Corporate Education Reformers Event on facebook.

(h/t Delaware BATs)

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Tomorrow, Wilmington City Council Holds 5PM Foxtail Fest Hearing And NCC Holds 6PM Regional Bear-Glasgow Community Meeting

Monday night is another one of those tri-meeting evenings! I will attend a Residents Against the Power plant meeting in Newark.

But equally compelling are the Wilmington City Council 5PM hearing on the Foxtail Fest debacle ~ Wilmington Council asks Mayor Williams to answer Foxtail questions at hearing

Wilmington City Council President Theo Gregory said today that he hopes Monday’s public hearing to address the Foxtail Fest brings out “facts and information to bring this matter to a close and, most importantly, prevents this type of situation from happening again. “City Council looks forward to concluding its inquiry in a timely manner,” Gregory said in a statement. “The Council, and I am sure Mayor Williams, do not relish being in this situation, but I know we all agree that it is best to conduct a thorough and transparent inquiry and then move forward together in governing the City.”
The city provided police officers, public works employees and a staffed ambulance for the Sept. 14 concert, which was co-organized by the son of Velda Jones-Potter, who at the time was Williams’ chief strategist. Jones-Potter, who has acknowledged she served as a representative for Foxtail Fest, was dismissed Friday. Two days later, while appearing on her husband’s leased-access television show, she said she represented her son’s festival as a private citizen, not as the mayor’s aide.
In addition to Jones-Potter, those requested to appear before Council include John Matlusky, the mayor’s chief of staff; Charlotte Barnes, the special assistant to Matlusky; Police Chief Christine Dunning and her two inspectors, Bobby Cummings and Victor Ayala; Fire Chief Anthony Goode; Public Works Commissioner Cleon L. Cauley Sr.; and Megan McGlinchey, operations director for the Riverfront Development Corporation.
The hearing, which begins at 5 p.m. in Council chambers, could offer the first detailed accounting decisions made in regard to Foxtail Fest. Despite Williams’ assertion during an appearance on the WDEL radio station that “we have nothing to hide,” his administration has declined to disclose the exact personnel costs associated with Foxtail Fest. The mayor’s office has not answered the question of who authorized the use of public resources at the for-profit event. Beyond the brief radio interview, Williams has addressed the situation only in written statements or comments made through his spokeswoman.
Council will not take public comment during the hearings but said residents can offer information or comments about Foxtail by calling the Council office at 302-576-2140 or by emailing foxtail@WilmingtonDE.gov, according to the release.

And the NCC Regional Bear-Glasgow community meeting at 6PM ~

New Castle County regional meeting for Bear-Glasgow moved to Word of Life Christian Center

New Castle County Executive Tom Gordon's regional community meeting on Monday for the Bear-Glasgow area has been moved to a new location – The Word of Life Christian Center at 854 Old Baltimore Pike in Newark.

The meeting is still scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. and end at 8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 27.

County Executive Gordon directed the New Castle County Department of Public Safety and the Office of Community Governing to hold regional community meetings that discuss the County’s predictive policing, storm preparation, code enforcement and constituent services. County staff will also speak about the benefits of the County’s participation in the “Smart911” program, as well as civil penalties caused by code violations.

 

For the convenience of New Castle County citizens, five meetings have been scheduled throughout various parts of the County. Monday's meeting will be the second one held thus far.

Civic groups and maintenance corporations, from each major area, may attend these regional meetings to learn about valuable governmental functions and services.

 

“We want people to know what resources are available to them in times of emergency or a crisis, not to mention the constituent services of which they can avail themselves,” County Executive Gordon said. “We also want them to know how the New Castle County Police Division has used state-of-the-art technology to pr

edict where crime would occur, thereby reducing, by double digits, the amount of crime in the County.”

 

Those scheduled to give remarks:
County Executive Gordon, Councilman David Tackett, Director of Public Safety Joseph Bryant Jr., Police Chief Col. Elmer Setting, Emergency Communications Chief Jeff Miller, Emergency Medical Services Chief Larry Tan, Emergency Management Coordinator David Carpenter Jr., Assistant Land Use Administrator Al Washington, and Executive Assistant Bill Shahan, of the Office of Community Governing.

 

The dates and locations are:

Monday, Sept. 30 (Bear-Glasgow), The Word of Life Christian Center, 854 Old Baltimore Pike, Newark, DE
Wednesday, October 2 (Middletown), Appoquinimink Library, 51 North Broad Street, Middletown, DE
Thursday, October 3 (New Castle), Garfield Park PAL, 6 Karlyn Drive, New Castle, DE
Wednesday, October 16 (North), Brandywine Hundred, Talleyville Fire Co, 3919 Concord Pike Wilmington, DE

 

The Western regional meetingwas held Sept. 23 at the Hockessin PAL Center in Hockessin, DE.

 

Please click on the link below for a map that depict the boundaries of the 5 regional districts:
http://nccde.maps.arcgis.com/apps/OnePane/basicviewer/index.html?appid=730fad54034e443e8f3f0023b41c0d2b

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DNREC Chasing California's Vehicle Emission Standards To Meet Clean Air Act Compliance

Delaware State House of Representatives Republican Caucus sent this along ~

Environmental Officials Looking to California for Clean Vehicle Rules

In their quest to comply with the federal Clean Air Act, Delaware environmental regulators are considering adopting the most restrictive vehicle emission standards in the nation.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) has proposed adopting California's Low Emission Vehicle III (LEV III) standard and the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) standard.  The California Low Emission rules would take effect beginning with the 2015 vehicle model year, which starts in 2014.  The Greenhouse Gas standard would take effect in model year 2017.

Delaware is already operating under an earlier version of California's vehicle emission standards (LEV II), but the new rules would further restrict the levels of volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides -- components responsible for the formation of ground-level ozone.   The new standards would result in a projected 75 percent reduction in the two pollutants by model year 2025.

The proposed regulations would also set lower vehicle emission limits on fine particulates (a 90 percent reduction by 2025) and carbon dioxide (a 34 percent reduction).

DNREC planning supervisor Valerie Gray told several dozen people assembled for a public hearing in Dover this week that the new standards will help the state meet federal air quality goals.  Parts of Delaware are struggling to comply with ozone and fine particle pollutant mandates.

"Mobile sources (cars and light trucks) are becoming more and more of a bigger source of our pollution in Delaware," Ms. Gray said.

DNREC Engineer Deanna Morozowich cited 2008 emissions data (the latest available) at the hearing, showing vehicles accounted for 56 percent of carbon dioxide, 27 percent of volatile organic compounds, and 40 percent of nitrogen oxides emitted in the state.

States challenged to meet air pollution requirements have two options for controlling vehicle emissions:  follow the federal standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or adopt the standards set by the California Air Resources Board.  Under the Clean Air Act, California is permitted to set its own vehicle emissions standards providing they meet or exceed those at the federal level.  Other states can adopt the California standards, but only if they are accepted without revision. 

"We can either have California or federal [standards] and the federal standard currently is not restrictive enough at this time to assist us in attaining ozone attainment," Ms. Gray said.

Delaware is attempting to follow the lead of Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Oregon, Washington, and the District of Columbia, which have already adopted the California Low Emission Vehicle III standards.

Ms. Gray said if Delaware does not demonstrate a good faith effort to comply with the Clean Air Act, federal funds may be withheld.  In the worst case scenario, she said the EPA could impose regulations on Delaware.

The EPA has proposed national vehicle emissions standards equaling California's Low Emission Vehicle III.  The EPA's Tier 3 standards are expected to be adopted before mid-2014 and would begin with the 2017 model year, two years later than the proposal DNREC is currently considering.

Critics of DNREC's approach to meeting the federal mandates say vehicles are only one component of Delaware's air pollution equation.  They argue the state could consider focusing on other pollution sources and allow the federal vehicle emission rules to be implemented as scheduled.

Some of those testifying at the hearing questioned whether tightening Delaware's vehicle emission standards would benefit air quality.  According to EPA sources, pollutants like ozone can be transported long distances by the wind, which is one of the main reasons rural Sussex County regularly fails to meet federal ozone standards.  With prevailing westerly winds carrying pollution from the Washington D.C. and Baltimore metro areas, detractors say Delaware's actions will result in little local improvement.

DNREC officials counter that criticism by noting they can only deal with the factors over which they have control.

Air quality in The First State may also benefit from the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule.  The two-year-old federal regulation requires 20 contiguous states surrounding Delaware to limit the emission of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide.

The expense Delaware's proposed vehicle emission regulations will impose on consumers is a major point of contention.

DNREC's Deanna Morozowich said the new regulations will add about $1,900 to the average cost of a new car.  However, she said vehicle improvements, including greater fuel efficiency, will more than pay for the expense over the vehicle's lifetime.

That assessment was repeatedly challenged at the hearing.

"We are going to pay not $1,900 more [but] $3,000 per new car ... for illusory benefits," said John Nichols of Middletown, who also questioned some of the underlying science supporting the need for the emission standards.

Brandon Speake questioned DNREC's evaluation, noting that if the benefits were as apparent as claimed, the lower-emission vehicles should attract a customer base by virtue of their cost-saving appeal.  "Why do you have to have these regulations to force us to buy something like that?" he asked.

Scott Speake Jr., who works as a mechanic, said DNREC failed to consider the expense of maintaining the emissions control system in their calculations.  "As a mechanic, I can tell you cars don't last forever and what happens to the emission control devices ... when the car gets down the road and is no longer under warranty?"

While the new regulations would mandate an upgraded vehicle warranty of 150,000 miles covering the emission controls, several citizens at the meeting said they suspected the increased cost of the longer coverage would be passed along to consumers.

"My question would be: 'What is this going to cost the state?" said Lincoln Willis, a manager with the Willis Automotive Group.  "The state is a significant buyer of vehicles, all of which will carry the additional cost of complying with these regulations."

There were also fears about the impact of the new regulations on the used car market.  Since the regulations will apply only to new vehicles beginning with the 2015 model year, several citizens speculated consumers would have an incentive to purchase vehicles pre-dating the requirement.

"I work for a garbage company and in 2007 they (the federal government) adopted emissions standards for diesel engines in heavy trucks," Scott Speake Jr. said.  "We avoid ... buying anything newer than a 2007 due to the cost and the problems with the emissions on those vehicles. ... Other than the major two trash companies in the area, everybody else has done the same thing we have. ... Because of that, it has driven the cost of used trucks way higher than they were pre-2007."

John Nichols said the higher costs imposed by the new standards will burden working Delawareans.  "The used car market is going to go up.  The price of these vehicles is going to go up. ... It's a terribly regressive tax."

DNREC's proposal is not without its supporters.

Stephanie Herron, representing the Delaware Chapter of the Sierra Club, said the 1,400 member organization was not only in favor of the new regulations; it wanted the agency to go further.  "We urge you to build on these efforts and to advance policies that speed the adoption of the zero emission vehicles within Delaware."

California air regulators have imposed a requirement that at least 15.4 percent of all new cars sold in the state in 2025 consist of Zero Emission Vehicles (electric).  Ms. Gray said as the result of an agreement with the Delaware Automobile Dealers Association, DNREC will not pursue such a requirement.  However, she said the agency is considering a voluntary program that would encourage the sale of electric cars through monetary incentives.  She said one path for funding the incentives could come from a cap-and-trade emissions program Delaware imposes on power plant operators (the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative). 

According to Mr. Willis, electric vehicles accounted for less than one percent of Delaware new car sales last year.

Public comment on DNREC's vehicle emissions proposal remains open through the close of business on October 8th.

Written comments can be mailed or e-mailed to:

Deanna Cuccinello
655 S. Bay Road, Suite 5N
Dover, DE 19901
(302) 739-9402  

Deanna.morozowich@state.de.us

Public Hearing Result of 

Legislative Objections

Monday's public hearing on the state's proposed vehicle emissions regulations might not have taken place were it not for a bipartisan effort led by a Sussex County lawmaker.

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) had originally wanted to automatically adopt vehicle emissions regulations issued by the California Air Resources Board, without public input. 

State Rep. Ruth Briggs King, R-Georgetown, and other state legislators objected to what they saw as a relinquishment of Delaware's regulatory authority to another state.

State Rep.  Ruth Briggs King

"I was also concerned that the agency seemed ready to abandon the public comment process," Rep. King said.  "I do not believe DNREC had any malicious intent, but the course they chose essentially gagged the public.  That was not acceptable to me nor many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle."

In response, Rep. Briggs King sponsored House Bill 279 in 2012 and reintroduced the legislation as House Bill 5 this past January.  The measure would have required legislative approval of any California car emission regulations DNREC wanted to promulgate here.

"Those bills brought DNREC to the table and sparked a dialogue," Rep. Briggs King said.  "In the end, I agreed to table the bill in exchange for DNREC's pledge that any California pollution rule they wanted to emulate would involve full public participation -- just like any proposed regulation."

Rep. Briggs King said Monday's hearing on the California's Low Emission Vehicle III standard was a reflection of DNREC's policy shift. 

She added that the power of many state agencies to promulgate regulations concerns her.  "The General Assembly has trusted these agencies with broad authority and discretion.  Regulations can carry the weight of law and have big consequences for our citizens and businesses.  We need to consider if it is time to establish a check against this far-reaching power in the form of targeted legislative oversight."

Meanwhile, (The Guardian)  reports ~ IPCC climate report: human impact is 'unequivocal'

With a Statement from Senator Coons on findings of key study on climate science:

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) released the following statement in response to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report on the latest climate science. The report concludes with 95 percent certainty that human activity is causing climate change:

“For decades, a growing chorus of scientists has warned that rising global greenhouse gas emissions would lead to devastating environmental consequences for our planet. Today, the world’s leading climate scientists affirmed with near certainty that climate change has been caused predominantly by humans. The time to debate the reality of climate change is over. From the Arctic to the shorelines of Delaware, we have watched rising sea levels and extreme weather events threaten to destroy habitats, communities, businesses, and infrastructure. We have a responsibility to our planet, to each other, and to future generations to work together to slow this process and lessen its impact. I will continue working to support the study and analysis of climate change, as well as efforts to reduce global carbon emissions and help communities plan for and adapt to the effects of climate change.”

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for the assessment of climate change, established in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization. More than 2,000 scientists contributed to the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report.

And (News Journal) Jeff Montgomery and Molly Murray report ~ Warming worries for Delaware 

Continued high carbon dioxide emissions, the IPCC’s summary said, could produce a more-than 3-foot aver­age increase in sea level rise globally by 2100, with the rise continuing for centuries. The new sea-level assess­ment rose by about a foot from 2007 af­ter adding in the influence of ice melt and other factors. Delaware and other states already are using the higher forecasts, based on more-recent re­gional estimates.........Delaware is the lowest lying state in the nation. Its extensive river miles and coastal areas make it vulnerable to flooding, even more so under even modest sea level rise pro­jections.
Earlier this month Gov. Jack Markell ordered a long-term push to prepare Delaware for the effects of global climate change and sea level rise. He signed an executive order directing state agencies to prepare for the long­term consequences of cli­mate change.

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The Cost Of Doing Business In Delaware......On Bloom Energy, Delmarva Power, Grid Reliability And The Data Centers LLC

1. More bad news for Delmarva Power customers.....

   
   

   (News Journal) Aaron Nathans reports ~ Bloom charge for Delmarva customers soars

   Residential power customers will pay an average of $4.37 in November, up from $1.08 a year ago. The dramatic increase comes as policymakers sharpened their critique of the economic development project as a drag on ratepayers who are still struggling to pay their bills.
   The Public Service Commission staff released the monthly surcharge information for November, filed by Delmarva, on Friday. One of the four commissioners, Jay Lester, said the lower cost projections that commissioners saw in 2011, before they approved the surcharge, were well-intended, but “I didn’t think it would go anywhere near this high.”
   Rep. John Kowalko, D-Newark, said of the projections in 2011: “There was either an inept accounting of what the actual charge would be, or a deliberate misrepresentation of what the amount would be. I don’t know the answer,” Kowalko said.
   The surcharge is helping to support Bloom’s recently opened manufacturing facility on the former Chrysler plant site in Newark, where Bloom will cut the ceremonial ribbon on Oct. 16, and where the company expects to hire 900 people by September 2016.
   In 2011, lawmakers and the Public Service Commission allowed a Bloom subsidiary to install an electric project totaling 30 megawatts at two Delmarva substations in New Castle County, helping Delmarva reduce its state renewable power purchase obligations.
   Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Collin O’Mara said the higher surcharge is a product of natural gas rates and electricity prices remaining far lower than independent experts predicted a few years ago. The Bloom project has job benefits, as well as supporting electrical reliability, and helps avoid other costs, including driving down electrical congestion charges on the Delmarva Peninsula, he said.
   The Bloom surcharge tends to go up as electricity prices go down, and vice versa. O’Mara noted that overall electricity prices are down for Delmarva customers, and when they go back up, “Delaware customers will reap savings from this project, in addition to the jobs, reliability, and air quality benefits.”

(DE, Inc.) ~ PSC staff: Delmarva upgrades could cost $19 a month 

The Public Service Commission doesn't believe DPL needs this for reliability and will increase profitability with the upgrades.

Attend the public hearing 7PM October 16th At UD's Arsht Hall in Wilmington or click the link above for how to write in comments.


Meanwhile, why the hell isn't UD/TDC Newark campus data center planning on using Bloom Boxes instead of burning fossil fuel in the middle of my city??????

(Business Bulletin) Doug Rainey reports ~ eBay data center powered by Bloom servers

According to the company, the facility will be critical in achieving its target of enabling $300 billion in commerce volume by 2015.The data center will be the first facility of its kind in the world to use Bloom Energy Servers as on-site, primary power. “It tangibly advances our vision for a more environmentally sustainable commerce future,” the company wrote in its environmental blog.The company also worked with Dell and HP on state-of-the-art technology for servers.The Bloom fuel cells are expected to result in approximately 49 percent less CO2 emissions than the first-phase data center while reducing the risk of outages.Another project from eBay aims to capture head from the natural gas pipeline that powers the Bloom servers to provide additional electricity.The company is investing in an alternative energy company that convert the waste heat to electricity.

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Nuke Power Update: Please Pay Attention To Fukushima's Unit Four Fuel Pool Crisis

(Forbes image)

(NationOfChange) Christina Sarich reports ~

Fukushima Disaster Reaches Epic Proportions

Within as few as 60 days, Tepco will begin trying to remove more than 1500 spent fuel rods from a badly damaged area of the nuclear reactor.........Now, there is news of Fukushima’s damaged Unit 4 pool, that a Yale professor warns “is in perilous danger and could threaten all of humanity for thousands of years.” This is one of the biggest crises we’ve faced as a human race, as some have put it, since the disarming of the Soviet Union or the Cuban Missile Crisis. We need every activist to call for immediate action and all resources to be provided to the Fukushima plant without further finger pointing at the plant’s owner, Tokyo Electric (Tepco) in order for this calamity to be averted.

“[...] Much more serious is the danger that the spent fuel rod pool at the top of the nuclear plant number four will collapse in a storm or an earthquake, or in a failed attempt to carefully remove each of the 1,535 rods and safely transport them to the common storage pool 50 meters away. Conditions in the unit 4 pool, 100 feet from the ground, are perilous, and if any two of the rods touch it could cause a nuclear reaction that would be uncontrollable. The radiation emitted from all these rods, if they are not continually cool and kept separate, would require the evacuation of surrounding areas including Tokyo. Because of the radiation at the site the 6,375 rods in the common storage pool could not be continuously cooled; they would fission and all of humanity will be threatened, for thousands of years.”
Tepco has alluded to the fact that they don’t have the resources or expertise to try to remove these fuel rods safely, even though early on they tried to downplay the seriousness of the Fukushima event. The company already faces bankruptcy, but there is a much larger matter at hand. If the rods are not removed properly, more than 400 tons of fuel in that pool could spew out more than 15,000 times the radiation that was released at Hiroshima. We can’t leave this to Tepco and the Japanese government to handle. It is no longer a ‘foreign’ issue, but a worldwide concern to be taken extremely seriously.

Future of Japan depends on stopping Fukushima leaks, PM tells workers

Shinzo Abe visits stricken site amid rising doubts about plant operator's ability to conduct cleanup operation alone

(TruthOut) ~ Nuclear Crisis at Fukushima Could Spew Out More Than 15,000 Times as Much Radiation as Hiroshima Bombing

There is no excuse for not acting. All the resources our species can muster must be focused on the fuel pool at Fukushima Unit 4.
Fukushima's owner, Tokyo Electric (Tepco), says that within as few as 60 days it may begin trying to remove more than 1300 spent fuel rods from a badly damaged pool perched 100 feet in the air. The pool rests on a badly damaged building that is tilting, sinking and could easily come down in the next earthquake, if not on its own.
Some 400 tons of fuel in that pool could spew out more than 15,000 times as much radiation as was released at Hiroshima.
The one thing certain about this crisis is that Tepco does not have the scientific, engineering or financial resources to handle it. Nor does the Japanese government. The situation demands a coordinated worldwide effort of the best scientists and engineers our species can muster.

........The engineering and scientific barriers to emptying the Unit Four fuel pool are unique and daunting, says Gundersen. But it must be done to 100% perfection.
Should the attempt fail, the rods could be exposed to air and catch fire, releasing horrific quantities of radiation into the atmosphere. The pool could come crashing to the ground, dumping the rods together into a pile that could fission and possibly explode. The resulting radioactive cloud would threaten the health and safety of all us.
Chernobyl's first 1986 fallout reached California within ten days. Fukushima's in 2011 arrived in less than a week. A new fuel fire at Unit 4 would pour out a continuous stream of lethal radioactive poisons for centuries.
Former Ambassador Mitsuhei Murata says full-scale releases from Fukushima "would destroy the world environment and our civilization. This is not rocket science, nor does it connect to the pugilistic debate over nuclear power plants. This is an issue of human survival."
Neither Tokyo Electric nor the government of Japan can go this alone. There is no excuse for deploying anything less than a coordinated team of the planet's best scientists and engineers.
We have two months or less to act.

• 
  French Fukushima cartoon offends Japan
  Japan to lodge complaint with French embassy over newspaper cartoon linking nuclear disaster and 2020 Olympics bid
• South Korea bans fish imports from Japan's Fukushima region
• Fukushima farce reveals nuclear industry's fatal flaw
• Japan earmarks £300m+ for Fukushima cleanup
•  Fukushima: Japan struggles to stop contamination spreading – interactive
• Fukushima radiation levels 18 times higher than previously though
  
  

And a petition from the Sierra Club - Nuclear waste in our communities?

I first learned about "atomic waste" in my high chair; I grew up in the fifties in Washington State and my grandfather frequently had business at the Hanford Reservation (now the most contaminated nuclear waste site in North America). I remember my mother arguing with him about the dangers of nuclear waste: she was concerned about the health of the Columbia River; he trusted that the plant would be safe.

But my mother was right: the tanks containing highly radioactive waste are leaking, and the Columbia River is at risk.¹

We now have the opportunity to protect communities across the nation from radioactive waste. Please take action today!

The reactors at Hanford are now closed. But when I discovered that another nuclear reactor (the same kind used at Fukushima) now operates within miles of the Columbia River, I was motivated to take action to protect the river, and began organizing in my community. I was dismayed when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently relicensed the Columbia Generating Station for another 20 years -- even though they don’t have a solid plan for storing the waste safely.

Fortunately the courts are now requiring the NRC to have a moratorium on licensing until they do an environmental impact statement on the radioactive waste. Now we have a chance to protect the river by demanding that the waste be stored safely.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is now developing new rules for the long-term storage of highly radioactive waste from the nation’s nuclear reactors. These rules will determine whether or not your state becomes a transportation route for thousands of shipments of highly radioactive waste on super-trucks, or a storage site for some or all of the 70,000+ tons of radioactive waste.     

The federal government is now taking public comments on these rules: please tell the NRC to enact strong rules to protect our communities and environment.

We have a very unique opportunity to have a say in how our country handles radioactive waste from nuclear reactors in the future.  If we don't step up and comment, we will have lost our ability to protect our grandchildren, and many generations to come, from the deadly dangers of radiation.

Let the NRC know that we are not confident with the current way they have regulated radioactive waste – they need to do more.

Thank you for everything you do for the environment,

Leslie March
Sierra Club Nuclear Program Volunteer Lead

And more news from the Nuclear Information and Resource Service ~

New Action to Stop $8.3 Billion Nuclear Taxpayer Loan

Vogtle loan CAN be stopped; let's pump up the volume!

The proposed $8.3 Billion taxpayer loan for construction of Georgia's Vogtle nuclear reactors is teetering on the edge; so NIRS is teaming up with CredoAction in a new action to tip it over entirely.

You may remember that the loan was announced, with great fanfare, by President Obama in February 2010, as part of his stated "all of the above" energy strategy. It came from the Department of Energy's $18.5 Billion loan guarantee fund and was supposed to herald the "nuclear renaissance." Today, fully 3 1/2 years later, the loan has still not been granted, nor has any other loan for new reactor construction.

Why? Because Southern Company, the lead utility in the Vogtle project, wants a sweetheart deal that would not only give it well below-market interest rates, but also put all of the risk on taxpayers rather than themselves. Indeed, Southern Company officials have said at least five times that they don't even need the loan--they're already using ratepayers as their private bank under Georgia's "early cost recovery" law. If that were true, then why should taxpayers be involved at all? But Southern's other partners, which own about 40% of the project, do need the federal loan.

This is the time to tell President Obama and Energy Secretary Moniz to finally give up on this fiasco--before taxpayer money is put at risk. No extension, no loan. Even if you've sent a letter on this issue before, this is a new action. Please act now.

The White House's own Office of Management and Budget, which along with the Department of Energy must approve the loan, has balked at the riskiness of the proposed loan and the final deadline for loan approval has been extended several times over the years. The next deadline is coming up on September 30, 2013.

Vogtle received its construction license in February 2012. It is already nearly two years behind schedule and somewhere between $700 million and $1.6 billion over budget, depending on who's counting. Given the history of large nuclear construction projects in the U.S. and abroad, more delay and cost overruns can be expected. The first two Vogtle reactors actually finished at more than 1200% over budget.

Since President Obama's February 2010 loan announcement, the nuclear "renaissance" has collapsed. During 2013 alone, six proposed new reactors were dropped for various reasons, five operating reactors announced permanent shutdowns, and utilities gave up on power uprates for five more reactors. The nuclear "renaissance" now consists of two reactors at Summer in South Carolina, a Tennessee Valley Authority reactor that began construction more than 30 years ago, and Vogtle. The marketplace has spoken and nuclear power has lost. Not only is natural gas a current (and dirty) competitor, but costs of clean renewables like solar and wind have plummeted and are viable alternatives, while energy efficiency programs are keeping new demand far lower than projected when the Vogtle project was first announced.

This is the time to tell President Obama and Energy Secretary Moniz to finally give up on this fiasco--before taxpayer money is put at risk. No extension, no loan. Act now. Your voice matters.

NRC to hold "Waste Confidence" meetings across U.S.

Join us and pack the meetings! Tell NRC: we have no confidence in your radioactive waste policy.

Make the reactor licensing moratorium permanent!

Plus: New international petition on Fukushima

As you probably know, since the summer of 2012, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been unable to issue licenses for new reactors, nor renewals for existing licenses. A federal court threw out the underpinning of the agency's radioactive waste policy--its "waste confidence" rule. That rule had stated that the NRC was confident that high-level radioactive waste always would be stored or disposed safely, and thus could continue to be generated.

But the court found that with the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site effectively cancelled and no alternative in place, the NRC could not be "confident" of permanent disposal. Moreover, the court ruled that the NRC had no technical basis for asserting that current on-site storage practices in fuel pools and dry casks would be safe for the indefinite future. This ruling forced the current moratorium on licensing.

The NRC has now prepared a Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (DGEIS) as part of the process of replacing its "waste confidence" rule and it hopes to finalize this document and resume licensing during 2014. During October and November, the agency will hold 12 public meetings around the country to explain and receive public comment on this document. The NRC is also accepting written comments through November 27 (we will set up an action page to help you comment before the deadline, we'll let you know when it's ready).

These meetings are our opportunity to point out the many technical and logical shortcomings in this new document, and to call for making the licensing moratorium permanent. The only radioactive waste option we have confidence in is to stop making it! There will be protests outside and public involvement inside each one of these meetings. We hope you will join us and help pack every meeting!

On our new waste confidence home page, you will find draft press releases, alerts and other information for each meeting; a link to a full schedule and locations of each meeting; a link to download the entire DGEIS if you'd like; and more. We will be adding talking points and other information to this page in coming days.

Some groups already have started organizing for these meetings; whether you're part of an organization or just a concerned person, it's time to join together and make the strongest public statement possible at every one of these meetings.

New Fukushima petition
Our colleagues in Japan, including Green Action, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and more, are sponsoring a new international petition calling on the Japanese government to take immediate action, including bringing in international experts, to stop the radioactive water leaks to the ocean. In addition, the petition calls for an end to efforts to restart Japanese reactors and to export Japanese reactors.

Please join NIRS in supporting and signing this petition. You can do so here.

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