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The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

Fukushima report: Plutonium should be in the leakage! 汚染水問題に関する小出先生のコメント、報道するラジオより。 追加報告:プルトニウムも汚染水に混じっているはず! (repost)

Op Ed by Mia (JANUK)

http://fukushimaappeal.blogspot.co.uk/

…..The last one was plutonium241, which had radiation dose about 50 times as much as the total of the other three(PU238, PU239 & PU240)…..

….The underground tanks were meant to store low level of radioactive water after being filtered through ALPS.  But they have been using them to store high level of radioactive water (including β (beta) emitting nuclide, Strontium and α (alpha)emitting nuclide, Plutonium)…..

  • Screenshot from 2013-04-20 01:27:03

Thursday, 18 April 2013

A MBS radio interview with Prof. Koide: the repeated leaking problems at Fukushima Crippled Plant. Additional report: Plutonium should be in the leakage! 汚染水問題に関する小出先生のコメント、報道するラジオより。 追加報告:プルトニウムも汚染水に混じっているはず!

(Extract)
The most recent report on the leakage problem said that about 22 liters of radioactive water had leaked from gaps between the pipes used to transfer it from underground water storage tank into an another tank, and that the level of radioactivity in the water was 290,000Bq/m3.  
This is so high that the leakage is unsafe to approach.  Prof. Koide commented that according to Japanese law, the safety level of radioactive water that can be discharged into the environment is 0.05Bq/m3, or 0./03Bq/m3 if it contains strontium, so it is easy to imagine how high 290,000Bq/m3 actually is!
Dousing it or injecting it with water is the only way of continuing to cool the molten fuel, and this requires 400tons of water every day.  Prof. Koide also observed that the leaks will carry on for as long as Tepco keeps using water to cool the molten fuel, possibly for at least 40 more years, or as long as it takes to decommission the plant.  
Screenshot from 2013-04-20 01:33:12
He also commented that although Tepco keeps making new tanks to combat the problem, this solution would not work for ever, and urged the company again to bring a tanker to store the water.
On top of the reported leakage problems, Prof. Koide reckons that there must have been many cracks in many different places in the trenches and pits and also in the concrete basements of the reactor and turbine buildings, which must have been damaged by the M9 earthquake in March 2011.  

April 28, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Supreme Court hears our case on UK’s illegal air pollution- But no mention of isotopic content?

March 7 2013

alt

The Supreme Court has heard our case against the Government for failing to meet legal limits for air quality.

Alan Andrews, ClientEarth lawyer, says: “The Judges were clearly convinced of the serious health implications of allowing air pollution to continue unabated. It was also apparent that the case raised a fundamental question about the rule of law. If the Supreme Court is unable to give an effective remedy to a clear and admitted breach of EU environmental law, there are grave constitutional consequences. There is now the distinct possibility that this will be referred to the European Court of Justice.

“Judgement has been reserved and we are hopeful this will be handed down before Easter.”

We brought the case was brought to make the Government take action to reduce air pollution, a public health issue that causes 29,000 early deaths each year – more than obesity and alcohol combined. Air pollution also stops children’s lungs from growing properly and is linked to low birth weight in newborns.

The case was also widely covered in the media. Read about it here on the BBC

http://www.clientearth.org/201303112139/news/latest-news/supreme-court-hears-our-case-on-uks-illegal-air-pollution-2139

On Appeal from the Court of Appeal Civil Division

Issue

Whether, as regards areas where compliance with nitrogen dioxide limits set out in Directive 2008/50/EC (the Air Quality Directive) cannot be achieved by 1 January 2010, the Air Quality Directive requires the Respondent to prepare an air quality plan which demonstrates compliance by 1 January 2015.

Facts

The Air Quality Directive requires Member States not to exceed certain limits on concentrations of nitrogen dioxide set for 1 January 2010. It also provides machinery by which that deadline can be postponed by a maximum of 5 years (to 1 January 2015) on condition that an air quality plan is established.

In June 2011, the Respondent had published draft air quality plans for public consultation. The draft overview statement said that of the 40 zones which exceeded the limits, compliance may be achieved by 2015 in 23 zones, 16 zones are expected to achieve compliance between 2015 and 2020, and compliance in the London zone is expected to be achieved before 2025.

The Appellant began judicial review proceedings at the end of July 2011. In September 2011 the Respondent submitted the final plans to the European Commission, with no major changes having been made to the draft plans. The Appellant argues that the Respondent was and is obliged to put to the Commission plans for reducing nitrogen dioxide levels by 1 January 2015. The Respondent argues that it was and is under no such obligation.

Subject Matter catchwords for indexing

EU law – environmental law – air quality – Directive 2008/50/EC

http://www.supremecourt.gov.uk/current-cases/CCCaseDetails/case_2012_0179.html

Possible effects from airborne particles and gases with radioactive content

https://nuclear-news.net/2013/04/24/london-pollution-levels-breach-eu-limits-and-radioactive-too/

And this

MOX causes Miscarriage!

UK Increase in miscarriage rates due to MOX nuclear fuels policy change!

This video shows the Statistics for Watford Hospital in terms of stillbirth and miscarriage on an annual basis since 2007..  This video is a follow up to the respiratory increase correlating with Fukushima Daichi meltdowns and Budapest Medical Isotope Institute in Hungary

more on video description

April 28, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Video: Situation in Fukushima is beyond imagination — Many young and old people dead from heart attacks — Young woman died of leukemia

Image source ; http://www.ratical.org/radiation/Chernobyl/HEofC25yrsAC.html

http://enenews.com/video-situation-in-fukushima-is-beyond-imagination-many-young-and-old-people-have-died-of-heart-attacks-young-woman-died-of-leukemia/

Published: April 28th, 2013 at 5:53 pm ET
By

Title: An Appeal from a Fukushima Woman: A Young Girl Died of Leukemia. Please Investigate What Is Happening in Fukushima
Source: FukushimaVoice
Date: April 28, 2013

From a weekly protest gathering outside the Prime Minister’s official residence. On April 12, 2013. […]

The situation is beyond imagination. Also, the press should research the issue about Fukushima.

Not too long ago, a young woman died of leukemia. […]

In addition, many people, young and old have died of heart attacks.

Therefore, the press should hurry and do good researches within Fukushima Prefecture before reporting. […]

Full report here (English translation of video etc)

Video of speech (Japanese only )

「 若い女の子が白血病で死にました、マスコミはちゃんと報道して下さい 」 2013.04.12

Published on 13 Apr 2013

説明 : この日は、午後6時26分から8時まで、首相官邸前を撮影しました。その後、8時過ぎ­から9時ま­で、自民党本部前を撮影しました。この映像は、首相官邸前で撮影したもの­です­。

撮影 : 清瀬 航輝 – Kiyose Kouki – [ http://kiyose-kouki.jimdo.com ]

(C) STARS LIFE 2013 All Rights Reserved.

[ 脱原発 , 反原発 , 再稼働反対 , 原発再稼働反対 , 大飯再稼働反対 , 大飯原発再稼働反対 , 反原発デモ , 脱原発デモ , 反原発抗議活動 , 脱原発抗議活動 , 首相官邸前 , 官邸前デモ , 官邸前抗議活動 , 経産省前テントひろば , 反原連 , 反被曝 , 脱被曝 , 安倍 晋三 , 安倍首相 , 安倍総理 , 核武装 , 自民党 , 自由民主党 ]

April 28, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Japanese Are Still Fighting Nuclear Power | Anti Nuclear Protest April 26 2013 Tokyo

 

Published on 27 Apr 2013

freedomwv

The battle against nuclear power rages on in Tokyo despite the best efforts of the Abe lead nationalist government in Japan. Ryan shows us that the Japanese anti nuclear movement is still alive and going strong!

In Miyagi the “Under 1 Bequerel/Kg Campaign For Children”  is still going strong too!

Image source ; http://blog.japantimes.co.jp/japan-pulse/tag/nukes/

カゴメ トマトジュースのベクレル調査 MIRMC Report 23

Published on 27 Apr 2013

guardianofmiyagi

KAGOME 100% Tomato Juice

 

April 28, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Highest fallout levels in Tokyo since soon after Fukushima crisis began

http://enenews.com/highest-fallout-levels-in-tokyo-since-soon-after-fukushima-crisis-began

Published: April 27th, 2013 at 6:02 pm ET
By

Title: 環境放射線測定結果 – 1か月毎の降下物の放射能調査結果
Source: Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Public Health
Date: April 2013
h/t Fukushima Diary

Fallout level in Tokyo was the highest this March since May of 2011

ee also: Japan Study: Fukushima fallout “unlike the past nuclear accidents” — Radioactive silver prominently observed

April 28, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Imperial College University London hints to Prof Yamashita that they would destroy vital evidence of thyroid tissue samples in 2011

Op-Ed -Arclight2011

Published – Nuclear-news.net

28 April 2013
Screenshot from 2013-04-28 19:41:28

It makes me ashamed actually, the media coverage we have had that has added pressure to the Japanese who have had a lot of problems at the same time…”

some people in the future will actually not want the samples at all – the bioinformaticists amongst us will actually want data to look at, rather than the tissue samples themselves.”

“(but what about evidence for future litigation on behalf of the victims who were demonstrating outside the Symposium? Arclight2011)

Professor Geraldine Thomas at the Fukushima Symposium September 2011 (video link below)

Image source ; https://nuclear-news.net/2013/04/25/shunichi-yamashitas-311-speech-at-the-ncrp-meeting/

The below thread from Enenews shows an interesting discussion about caesium studies and caesium non-studies by the Japanese involving the Imperial College University London claiming no knowledge of data garnered from the Chernobyl accident. The UK thyroid Association works CLOSELY with Imperial College.. Very close! And the UK thyroid Association works closely with the Japanese Thyroid Association who did no research into radiation effects in the first years of the Fukushima disaster, according to their website.

http://enenews.com/journal-70000-reports-suspected-health-damage-every-year-germany-among-nuclear-workers-exposed-20-millisv/comment-page-1#comment-198295

Heres some of that reply from Imperial College University

“Belarus was an original partner in the project, but one of the conditions of the project was that each centre would provide samples to researchers. The Institute in Belarus did not do so and this is why they are no longer a partner.

Although Belarus is not included in the Tissue Bank, the incidence of thyroid cancer in Belarus is the subject of on-going research, including studies in Belarus supported by the Japanese.”

Does anyone have references to this Japanese data.. Imperial College University London doesnt seem to have it either???????…”

Extract of reply to my questions concerning the innapropriate  comment

“..some people in the future will actually not want the samples at all..”

when in fact there will be a need for the samples themselves by the victims of the tragedy and their lawyers…

Extract of response..

“….. Thank you for your email regarding Professor Geraldine Thomas’s work with the Chernobyl Tissue Bank.

“I have consulted Professor Thomas and answers to the questions that you have raised are as follows:

1. In your email, you ask about Professor Thomas ‘hinting that she would destroy vital evidence of tissue samples.’

Professor Thomas is actually explaining that researchers will be able to access existing research data as well as the samples themselves. Professor Thomas and her colleagues in the Chernobyl Tissue Bank are not planning to destroy tissue samples. To clarify what Professor Thomas says in the relevant section of her lecture, I have transcribed her words below (the words in bold represent my emphasis)……….”

“…..Because we’re now collating data back in, we have the opportunity not only to give you tissue samples, but we also have the ability to give you some existing research data that has already been collated and some people in the future will actually not want the samples at all – the bioinformaticists amongst us will actually want data to look at, rather than the tissue samples themselves.”

Far from wishing to destroy the samples or the data, the project has been working very closely with the Japanese to provide any information that may be useful to them to help with their studies on those exposed to radiation post Fukushima………”

“…Professor Thomas says that that there is no evidence for an increase in heart disease in the general population as a result of the radiation leak at Chernobyl. She has provided the following information, which may be useful:…..”

More of the reply from Imperial College UL here with some comments

http://enenews.com/cnn-fukushima-mothers-outraged-infants-being-exposed-radiation-officials-considering-widespread-testing-breast-milk/comment-page-1#comment-185547

And heres a worker from the duckpins mission to Chernobyl talking about similar symptoms and illness being found at Fukushima Prefecture last year..

Radiation Causing Unusual Changes: What’s Happening to Children

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqvy6f_radiation-causing-unusual-changes-what-s-happening-to-children-now-jul-14-2011-yyyyyyyyyyy_news

The point G Thomas was trying to make in her reply to me was that Cs137 the isotope, does not cause heart problems, and she goes on to state that stable caesium does have an effect..

Also her wording of “destroy the thyroid samples because we dont really need them, we just want the statistics to work with” (my take on her general point) and in the link is her exact wording..

It took nearly 4 days in an university to “properly” phrase the reply :) lol! and Richard Wakeford and friends helped her with the statistical facts ..

Continue reading

April 28, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Long Shadow of Chernobyl (2): German and Belarusian Researchers Say 64% of 229 Belarusian Children with High-Risk Thyroid Cancer in Complete Remission, 30% in Near-Complete Remission

Not so anonymous said 🙂

On Sunday the 27 April 2013 in a little room somewhere off Grays Inn road London, a meeting took place. In this meeting was Ms Tamara Krasitskava of the Ukrainian NGO “Zemlyaki”.

In this meeting she qouted that only 40 percent of the evacuees that moved to Kiev after the disaster are alive today! And lets leave the statistics out of it for a moment and we find out of 44,000 evacuated to Kiev only 19,000 are left alive. None made it much passed 40 years old. And if you need statistics because it helps to swallow this level of carnage, please feel free to contact the IAEA .

Of course, this doesnt account for illness caused by… erm .. hope you dont mind me saying… radiation stuff..

Interestingly, Tamaras avoided statistical things and stuck to old fashioned addition and subtraction, to make things clear !

3.2 million with health effects and this includes 1 million children..

That statistic tells me that children are effected more than adults.. but i suppose you could read statistics any old way.. if you are Richard Wakeford or someone like that! imo  very clever guy grrr! (from the comments)

Anonymous said…
So cured. So why is my daughter, who also has radiation caused thyroid cancer told she has a 50 percent chance of reoccurance, has to have radiation treatments every three years..has to TAKE THYROID replacement daily, has severe issues with keeping thyroid function “normal”, has damage to the parathyroid glands from surgery *cant regulate calcuim“, should NOT have children…or probably can not get pregnant. THIS IS NORMAL AND OKAY? What a polly anna report… (From the comments)

For what it’s worth, on the anniversary day of the accident.

http://ex-skf.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/long-shadow-of-chernobyl-2-german-and.html

From Science Daily (4/24/2013; emphasis is mine):

Chernobyl Follow-Up Study Finds High Survival Rate Among Young Thyroid Cancer Patients

Apr. 24, 2013 — More than a quarter of a century after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, many children and teenagers who developed thyroid cancer due to radiation are in complete or near remission, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

Following the April 26, 1986 explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the former Soviet Union, the number of children and teenagers diagnosed with differentiated thyroid cancer spiked in Ukraine, Belarus and western areas of Russia. Most of the patients developed the papillary subtype of differentiated thyroid cancer. Although this cancer tends to be more aggressive in children than adults, nearly all of the patients tracked in the study responded favorably to treatment.

Even though some patients did not receive optimal treatment initially, the vast majority went into remission after receiving state-of-the-art radiodine treatment and follow-up care,” said study lead author Christoph Reiners, MD, of the University of Würzburg, Germany. “Many patients recovered from advanced cancers. Of this group, 97 percent had cancer spread to the lymph nodes, and 43 percent had cancer metastasize in the lungs.”

The observational study followed the treatment and outcomes of 229 Belarusian children and adolescents who underwent surgery in Belarus and radioiodine therapy in Germany. The study participants were among the highest-risk young patients exposed to radiation from the accident.

Despite the risk, 64 percent of the patients are in complete remission and 30 percent nearly complete remission of their cancer. One patient died of lung fibrosis, a side effect of cancer treatment. Only two had cancer recurrences.

The findings suggest victims of more recent nuclear accidents like the 2011 Fukushima accident in Japan face lower risk of developing advanced-stage thyroid cancer, Reiners said.

(Full article at the link)

From Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (JCEM) (4/24/2013; emphasis is mine):

Twenty-Five Years after Chernobyl: Outcome of Radioiodine Treatment in Children and Adolescents with Very-High-Risk Radiation-Induced Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma

Christoph Reiners, MD1,
Johannes Biko, MD1,
Heribert Haenscheid, PhD1,
Helge Hebestreit, MD2,
Stalina Kirinjuk, MD3,
Oleg Baranowski, MD3,
Robert J. Marlowe, BA4,
Ewgeni Demidchik, MD5,†,
Valentina Drozd, MD6 and
Yuri Demidchik, MD7

– Author Affiliations

1Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Würzburg, Germany;
2Department of Pediatrics, University of Würzburg, Germany;
3Hospital for Oncology, Thyroid Cancer Center, Minsk, Belarus;
4Spencer-Fountayne Corporation, Jersey City, NJ, USA;
5National Academy of Sciences, Minsk, Belarus;
6International Fund Help for Patients with Radiation Induced Thyroid Cancer “Arnica”, Minsk, Belarus;
7Belarusian Medical Academy of Post-Graduate Education, Minsk, Belarus

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Prof.Dr.Dr.med.h.c. Christoph Reiners, Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Würzburg, Oberdürrbacherstr. 6, D-97080 Würzburg, Germany, Tel. +49 931 201 55001, Fax. +49 931 201 655001, E-mail: reinersc@klinik.uni-wuerzburg.de.

Abstract

Context: After severe reactor emergencies with release of radioactive iodine, elevated thyroid cancer risk in children and adolescents is considered the main health consequence for the population exposed.

Design: We studied thyroid cancer outcome after 11.3 years’ median follow-up in a selected, very high-risk cohort, 234 Chernobyl-exposed Belarusian children and adolescents undergoing post-surgical radioiodine therapy (RIT) in Germany.

Interventions: Cumulatively 100 (134) children with (without) distant metastasis received a median 4 (2) RITs and 16.9 (6.6) GBq, corresponding to 368 (141) MBq/kg iodine-131.

Main Outcome Measures: Outcomes were response to therapy and disease status, mortality, and treatment toxicity.

Results: Of 229 patients evaluable for outcome, 147 (64.2%) attained complete remission (negative iodine-131 whole-body scan and TSH-stimulated serum Tg <1 μ g /L), 69 (30.1%) showed nearly complete remission (complete response, except stimulated Tg 1–10 μ g/L), and 11 (4.8%) had partial remission (Tg >10 μ g/L, decrease from baseline in radioiodine uptake intensity in ≥ 1 focus, in tumour volume, or in Tg). Except two recurrences (0.9%) after partial remission, no recurrences, progression, or disease-specific mortality were noted. One patient died of lung fibrosis 16 years post-therapy, two of apparently thyroid cancer-unrelated causes. The only RIT side effect observed was pulmonary fibrosis in 5/69 patients (7.2%) with disseminated lung metastases undergoing intensive pulmonary surveillance.

Conclusions: Experience of a large, very-high-risk paediatric cohort with radiation-induced differentiated thyroid carcinoma suggests that even when such disease is advanced and initially suboptimally treated, response to subsequent RIT and final outcomes are mostly favourable.

April 28, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | 4 Comments

UK URENCO being sold for peanuts on the pound! But is it really a bargain?

Image source ; “..Responsibility for the government’s stake in Urenco was shifted from the Department for Energy and Climate Change to Business, Innovation and Skills in January..”

I thought i would point out that the price of Urenco is dropping.. the different currencies below show the bottom price as having dropped to 2.5 billion dollars and that means ..

2,500,000.00 USD = 1,614,987.08 GBP

O00ps! its a sale!!

…The move marks a step towards a deal that could net British taxpayers as much as £3bn, according to estimates that value the entire company at £8bn-£10bn….
july 2012

and

….Bidders are lining up for for Urenco’s privatisation, which could put £4bn in the UK chancellor’s coffers….
17 March 2013

and

….Analysts estimate that the Buckinghamshire, UK-based uranium enrichment firm is worth between 2.5 billion euros and 3.6 billion euros ($3.27 billion to $4.70 billion), but some of the sellers are hoping for as much as 12 billion euros…..
Sun Mar 17, 2013

Links source collected at

http://uranium-news.com/2013/04/28/uk-uranium-firm-puts-pressure-on-japan-to-keep-nuclear-power/#comment-8980

Why is the uk selling Urenco?.. Do they know something we don’t??

https://nuclear-news.net/2013/04/24/london-pollution-levels-breach-eu-limits-and-radioactive-too/

Its just a thought but I have cone across some shocking preliminary statistics from a UK hospital. Miscarriage and stillbirth statistics running over the period of the great UK MOX renaissance (since 2007)!! should be posted later today..

The respiratory “admission to ICU” stats are on the pollution link.. Time to FOI Health departments for these statistics at a hospital near you perhaps? .. That could be interesting.. imo

You can see why nuclear-news.net (world) and antinuclear.net (australian) are being targetted
here is the link to show how the legal crowd deal with bloggers.. or are trying too!? :)

Legal firm Ashurst threatening Australian nuclear/uranium critic

Among other things, the Ashurst letter accused the anti-nuclear campaigner of imputing that Mr Walker was ‘’insensitive’’.

https://nuclear-news.net/2012/12/22/legal-firm-ashurst-threatening-australian-nuclearuranium-critic/

And Ashursts Australia are employed by an extremely broke Palladin Mining?? or is someone else paying the legal fee??

Areva boss Luc Oursel quietly bullies the UK to stop supporting the poor!! …and support nuclear!

…..Until now, it was widely assumed that EDF was leading the call for subsidies for new nuclear. But a new document reveals that last November, Areva‘s chief executive officer, Luc Oursel, lobbied the European Environment Commissioner, Connie Hedagaard, for financial help for the construction of new nuclear power stations…..

….Mr Oursel also called for the “progressive removal” of “a stack of ad hoc tariff distortions” – such as “subsidies for renewables [and] energy poverty”…..

Luc Oursel

https://nuclear-news.net/2013/03/17/areva-boss-luc-oursel-quietly-bullies-the-uk-to-stop-supporting-the-poor-but-support-nuclear/

its only a guess mind you! ;)

April 28, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Radiation researcher got thyroid cysts – Japan

Radiation researcher in Ibaraki got two thyroid cysts http://fukushima-diary.com/2013/04/radiation-researcher-in-ibaraki-got-two-thyroid-cysts/  by Mochizuki on April 23rd, 2013   Fukushima Diary is following this radiation researcher of citizen.(cf, [It happens] 0.60~0.80 μSv/h measured from a man in Ibaraki directly on his body [URL])

(cf, Radiation researcher “Social welfare service corporation for children stopped us from measuring radiation” [URL])

They had the thyroid test in Iwaki city Fukushima. The laboratory is “Iwaki citizens’ radiation measurement station -Tarachine”. It’s supported by the chief editor of Days Japan, Hirokawa and the citizens in Iwaki city.

The laboratory offers whole body counter test, food test and ultrasound scan of thyroid.

The result of the thyroid test shows the researcher has 4mm of a thyroid cyst on the right side and 2mm of a cyst on the left side.

The researcher has been in the highly contaminated areas. Unfortunately, he might have been affected.

 

April 28, 2013 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Problems with USA – South Korea nuclear partnership

Washington, Seoul Seek To Extend Nuclear Partnership, VOA  Scott Stearns April 26th, 2013 The United States and South Korea are major partners when it comes to the manufacture and sale of civilian nuclear power equipment. But that partnership, and maybe much more, could come under pressure if the two can’t come up with a broader agreement on licensing nuclear technology.

A big part of the problem, not surprisingly, is North Korea and its already advanced nuclear weapons program…….. http://blogs.voanews.com/state-department-news/2013/04/26/washington-seoul-seek-to-extend-nuclear-partnership/

April 28, 2013 Posted by | politics international, South Korea | Leave a comment

Even US conservatives supporting fair tax deal for renewable energy

renewable_energyLevel Playing Field for Renewable Energy Design Build, By Marc Howe, 27 April 13 Conservative politicians in Washington have expressed strong support for legislation which will put renewable energy companies on a level playing field with fossil fuel providers.

The new legislation proposed by Senators Christopher Coons, D-Del., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, will expand the use of “master-limited partnerships” (MLPs), which confer major tax advantages to companies from oil, natural gas and coal mining projects to renewable energy projects as well.

MLPs are taxed only once via shareholders, as compared to listed limited liability corporations, which are taxed at both the shareholder and corporate levels.

Conservatives have come out in support of the bill, despite a recent stoush with President Barack Obama over his support for California solar power company Solyndra, which gave the impression that the GOP harboured strong reservations about renewable energy. Americans for Prosperity, a political advocacy group founded by the arch-conservative Koch brothers is a prime example. The group castigated Obama over Solyndrda and has expressed unwavering opposition to climate change legislation, yet is all for the extension of MLPs to renewable energy firms.

“There should be a level playing field and people should have access to similar tax and business structures,” says James Valvo, director of policy for Americans for Prosperity.

 “MLP’s are the place where renewables really are being disadvantaged.”…… Republican representatives are throwing their weight behind the move. Texas Republican Representative Ted Poe is a co-sponsor of the House bill for expanding MLPs to include renewable energy, while Republican Mike Pompeo, US Representative for the Kansas congressional district which his home to Koch Industries, has also voiced his support.

“I support including all energy sources, including renewables, in the definition of entities eligible for the [MLP] tax treatment,” Pompeo said. http://designbuildsource.com.au/level-playing-field-for-renewable-energy

April 28, 2013 Posted by | renewable, USA | Leave a comment

Front Groups do the Dirty Work for Oil and Gas Industry

The Oil And Gas Industry’s Assault On Renewable Energy, Environmental Defense Fund  Jim Marston  April 26, 2013   “………So far, 29 states have implemented Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) programs that require increased production of energy from renewable sources such as solar, wind, geothermal and biomass.  They’ve been adopted in red states and blue – from California to Texas to Maine – through democratic processes and with popular support.  RPS programs have helped jumpstart an industry that is spurring economic development, creating American jobs, boosting energy independence and cutting our carbon footprint.

A Bloomberg article released Tuesday details how the oil and gas industry, through some self-described free market organizations that they fund, are trying to engineer a legislative massacre of these policies in more than a dozen states.

Hearland-front-group

The groups may sound familiar: American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which is currently pushing legislation around the country that would mandate the teaching of climate change denial in public school systems, and The Heartland Institute, which ran a billboard campaignlast year comparing global warming “admitters” to Osama bin Laden and Charles Manson.  Both have long opposed sensible energy policies.  And their funders will sound familiar, too:  the oil, gas and coal industries and their owners like the Koch Brothers.

With this new campaign, though, they are not influencing legislation to fill young minds with false propaganda or attacking climate legislation. They’re attacking renewable energy.  Why?  Apparently, an industry that the naysayers loved to call a loser is now threatening fossil fuel profits…..  http://www.edf.org/blog/2013/04/26/oil-and-gas-industry%E2%80%99s-assault-renewable-energy

April 28, 2013 Posted by | spinbuster, USA | Leave a comment

Nuclear weapons industry exploits dogs, as well as humans

ethics-nuclearSecurity dogs overworked at nuclear site, report says http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-bomb-dogs-overworked-20130426,0,7319317.story By Julie Cart April 26, 2013  Dogs trained to search for explosives and other substances were pushed “beyond their physical capacity” while working last year at a federal facility that handles, processes and stores highly enriched uranium, according to a report released this week.

The Energy Department’s inspector general found that canine security teams at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., were overworked, citing an instance in which a handler and a dog conducted 102 vehicle searches over a two-hour period.

Workers for the private contractor providing the dogs told investigators that requests for breaks were ignored by supervisors. The highly sensitive site is patrolled by human-dog teams that search for explosives, drugs and intruders. The facility was broken into last year by antiwar activists, prompting questions into the security at Energy Department installations.

Investigators were unable to corroborate reports that some dog competence testing had been rigged, but the report did find that “half of the canine teams we observed failed explosive detection tests, many canines failed to respond to at least one of the handler’s commands, and that canines did not receive all required training.”

April 28, 2013 Posted by | Religion and ethics, USA | Leave a comment

South Carolina Republicans vote against bill that would gut renewable energy standard!

renewable-energy-pictureNC Renewable Energy Standard Scores Surprise Win To the shock and horror of its backers, a bill attempting to gut North Carolina’s renewable energy standard fails in committee. GreentechSolar,  PETE DANKO: APRIL 26, 2013 Maybe state renewable portfolio standards aren’t quite so fragile after all. On Wednesday in North Carolina, an RPS thought to be among the most vulnerable withstood attack.

logo-Republican-USAA broad assault on these laws, which operate uniquely but in general terms require utilities to source a growing amount of renewable energy, is being waged by thoughtful free market devotees or ruthless corporate interests, one or the other. (You can decide which; just know that the American Legislative Exchange Council has been right in the middle of it all in most states, as it was in North Carolina, along with the Heartland Institute, Grover Norquist, the John Locke Foundation and others, all with fossil fuel backing, according to the Center for Media and Democracy’s PR Watch.)

Remarkably, the bill to gut the RPS failed even to get out of the committee chaired by its sponsor. With six Republicans voting against it, the tally in the Committee on Public Utilities and Energy was a resounding 18-13 against moving the bill forward.

The anti-RPS folks were aghast……..

Renewable energy advocates in the Tar Heel State had a slightly different take.“The vote’s outcome and the fact that it occurred in the Committee chaired by the bill’s own sponsor, Chairman Mike Hager, not only helps to secure a path forward for continued economic development in the renewable energy sector, it also showed the strength of the voices from across the state that spoke out against the misguided effort to have North Carolina turn away from a promising clean energy future,” the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association said in a statement…… http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/nc-renewable-energy-standard-scores-surprise-win

April 28, 2013 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

No more blank checks for USA’s nuclear weapons industry?

archbishop-greenfield-1The nuclear weapons establishment has, for decades, woven a cloak of secrecy around nuclear weapons technology. Nuclear insiders enjoyed a serious lack of accountability on how funds are spent and programs are run. “The nuclear priesthood” is a good shorthand for this dynamic,

Days of blank checks are over for nuclear weapons establishment http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-a-budget/296397-days-of-blank-checks-are-over-for-nuclear-weapons-establishment By Kevin Martin, Peace Action and Jay Coghlan, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, 26 April 13,  Many of America’s Cold War weapons are in the hands of one of its most obscure government agencies. It’s called the National Nuclear Security Administration, and it was the subject of a senate budget hearing this week. The agency’s obscurity to most taxpayers is exceeded only by its astonishing failure to acknowledge political and fiscal reality.  Two decades after the Cold War, the U.S. is reducing the number and the role of its nuclear weapons, and is committed to providing international leadership on nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament. Meanwhile, the federal budget is extremely tight; cuts are being proposed in all manner of government programs, including, unwisely, Social Security, Medicare and veterans’ benefits.

The National Nuclear Security Administration, apparently indifferent to federal belt-tightening, thinks it needs a big raise. Stuck in the Cold War, the hey-day of nuclear spending, the agency in charge of the nation’s nuclear weapons is calling for more spending in almost every category. The nuclear weapons budget request is $7.87 billion, in real terms a 16.7 percent increase above last year’s levels, virtually unheard of in all other federal agencies given our nation’s fiscal constraints. That large increase is especially ironic given the agency’s chronic cost overruns and mismanagement in both construction projects and nuclear weapons programs. The agency also plans to increase its nuclear weapons budget to $9.29 billion by 2018, an 18 percent increase.  Continue reading

April 28, 2013 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment