Fun_People Archive
22 Oct
IAA (Instant Armchair Activism )

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 99 12:25:02 -0700
To: Fun_People
Precedence: bulk
Subject: IAA (Instant Armchair Activism )

X-Lib-of-Cong-ISSN: 1098-7649  -=[ Fun_People ]=-
X-http://www.langston.com/psl-bin/Fun_People.cgi
[Of course, should you want to actually write a sentence or two of your own,
 that would be dandy!  --psl]

Forwarded-by: Albert Kaufman <AlbertK@acadio.com>
From: Kristine Wong [mailto:kristinewong@yahoo.com]


    ARMCHAIR ACTIVISM, NO EFFORT--JUST A MOUSE CLICK AWAY!

The Dept of Energy wants to restart their reactors to produce plutonium at
the Hanford Nuclear site in Washington State. Clearly, this is an extremely
serious issue that affects us all. More nuclear waste production is
unneccessary and unsafe! Many describe Hanford as already being the most
polluted site in the Western Hemisphere.

It only takes a few seconds to make a difference. You can email this instant
letter to the Department of Energy by October 31. Their email is:
Nuclear.Infrastructure-PEIS@hq.doe.gov

Copy this instant letter, type in your signature, and send it off to them
by email. Voila! Instant armchair activism. We are trying to get people to
put testimony on the record that addresses the environmental injustice
aspects of more nuclear waste production at Hanford. Instead of cleaning it
up, they want to produce more plutonium. If you have any questions, please
email or call me at the Community Coalition for Environmental Justice (206)
720-0285.  Lastly, if you send an email letter, please cc:  ccej@halcyon.com
so that we can tally the number of letters that go out.

Kristine Wong
Community Coalition for Environmental Justice
105 14th Ave, Suite 2C
Seattle, WA 98112
-------------------------------------------------------
To the Department of Energy:

I am writing to communicate with you my opposition to your proposal to
restart the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) for Plutonium production. I
support the Community Coalition for Environmental Justices belief that
instead of producing more nuclear waste that will further destroy the
health, livelihoods, and viability of our environment, you must permanently
deactivate FFTF and instead spend the money on the clean up of Hanford.

Nine Native American Nations (the Coeur d'Alene, Colville, Kalispel,
Kootenai, Nez Perce, Spokane, Umatilla, Warm Springs, Yakama) live in the
vicinity of the Hanford Nuclear Site and the Columbia River.  Farmworkers,
many who are of Latino descent, also live in the Yakima area. Producing more
nuclear waste will only cause increased leakage of nuclear waste into the
Columbia River, which will further destroy  their land, and pose a serious
threat to the health of these communities. Native Americans living along
the Columbia also fish for food from the Columbia River. A study by the
Columbia Intertribal Fish Commission (CRIT FIC) a few years ago showed that
some Native peoples consume the entire fish. The Dept. of Energy needs to
include the exposure pathway of contaminated fish consumption in their
Environmental Impact Statement. To poison a traditional dietary staple such
as fish is to deny these groups of their cultural and traditional ways of
life. In addition, one must consider the possible synergistic
(multiplicative) health effects of farmworkers being exposed to both
pesticides and radioactive nuclear waste.

The Department of Energy must recognize that the land belonging to the
Native Nations around the Columbia River is their home. They do not want to
leave the area; this is the land from which they sustain themselves. On the
other hand, farmworkers living in the Yakima area do not have the luxury to
move away; they are living there to support themselves as well.  For these
reasons, I cannot support the Department of Energy willingly producing more
waste. To further desecrate the land and jeopardize the health of the
surrounding Native Nations and Latino farmworkers by dumping more nuclear
waste in their surroundings is a clear example of environmental racism that
must be stopped.

PERMANENTLY DEACTIVATE THE FFTF REACTOR, AND DO NOT
COMPROMISE THE HEALTH OF OUR COMMUNITIES!

Sincerely,

(your name here)
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