• The EcoAction Committee held a webinar on Nuclear is a False Climate Solution on Monday, July 14.

Nuclear power is pushing for a big revival both is the US and worldwide, partially on the false premise that it is carbon free – ignoring its carbon footprint from the construction of the plants (cement); the mining, processing, and transportation of its uranium fuel; and the hundreds of thousands of years to store it deadly radioactive waste. It takes so long to build that it cannot come on line fast enough to prevent breaching the 1.5 C (or even 2 C target). It is also by far the most expensive form of electricity. There are also safety and environmental health problems with nuclear power.

Yet both parties at the national level have embraced expanding subsidies and support for nuclear power, partially arguing it is needed for baseline power. The Governor of New York just ordered the NY Power Authority to begin building a new nuclear power plant, partially in response to the need for increased electricity for a massive new chip plan (Micron) in Syracuse. Data center and crypto currency mining are also driving up the demand for electricity.

We will have three speakers for our event.

Anne Rabe is with Don’t Waste New York and is helping to coordinate the effort to stop nuclear power in New York Anne has worked for national and statewide environmental organizations for over 30 years and has done organizing and advocacy on environmental health issues, such as toxic waste Superfund sites, radioactive waste sites, green purchasing, pollution prevention, labor and environmental justice, zero waste, sludge and nuclear power.

Tim Judson is Executive Director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service. NIRS has served as the information and networking hub for people and organizations concerned about nuclear power, radioactive waste, radiation, and sustainable energy issues since 1978. Tim leads NIRS’s work on nuclear reactor and climate change issues and has written a series of reports on nuclear bailouts and sustainable energy.

Elizabeth Beecher is a tribal member of the Laguna Pueblo. She is also Oglala Lakota and Kickapoo. She is a Peacemaker & Poet, a Keeper of the Seven Generations. She speaks for the voiceless. She will share her personal experience which led her into anti-nuclear activism and share what she has learned about our collective people’s power and that power behind the power we are all up against.