CBG Leads Effort to Get Obama EPA to
Block Pending Proposals to Relax Radiation Protections
A whole range of proposals left over from the Bush Administration to markedly relax standards for radiation protection remain pending before the new leadership at EPA. In August, CBG led an effort by numerous groups to get the new leadership at EPA to reverse these proposals; see our letter and supporting materials here.
In November, CBG's Dan Hirsch led a delegation to an extraordinary meeting with three Assistant Administrators at EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C., to press them to block carryover efforts to allow markedly increased radiation exposures of the public. Dan's PowerPoint presentation to EPA about these very dangerous proposals can be viewed here (powerpoint or a powerpoint presentation viewer is required to view).
Also, Congressman Ed Markey, Chair of the Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment, wrote EPA on October 27, raising many of the issues CBG had put forward. His letter can be viewed here. It remains to be seen whether the Obama Administration, on these issues as on so many others, will in fact represent the change for which so many had hoped.
Beamhenge Shield Animation
Martin Sheen narrates a 2 minute video for Bridge the Gap on nuclear reactor vulnerability to terrorism, and solutions.
December 19 2009 Dispute over radioactive dirt going to Calif site. CBG's Dan Hirsch: "a defacto unlicensed radioactive dump at a place not designed for it."
December 5 2009 CBG has issued its annual report, which can be viewed here (pdf).
In July 1959, a reactor in the Los Angeles area suffered a partial meltdown. The Atomic Energy Commission kept the accident secret for decades, until Bridge the Gap was able to bring it to public attention. Fifty years after the extraordinary accident, radioactive and chemical contamination at the site still hasn't been cleaned up. For more information, including access to rare footage and photos of the meltdown, click here.
Bush EPA Attempts Relaxation of Radiation Protections
As It Leaves Office
Obama Administration Withdraws Action
Before it is
Published in Federal Register
Feb. 13 -- Victory! Obama Administration pulls back last-minute radiation regulation relaxation by Bush Administration, days before publication in the Federal Register. The regulation would have relaxed drinking water standards for radiation by factors of hundreds to millions. Fight not over. EPA reviewing the standards; could still issue them. Write EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, congratulate her on pulling back these horrid standards and urge her to permanently block their issuance. MORE . . .
Read CBG/PEER news release and CBG study, which shows the astronomical increases in permissible exposures, radionuclide by radionuclide.
Bush EPA Plans For Dramatically Relaxing Radiation Protection
Before Leaving Office
Oct. 30 – Plans to greatly increase permissible public exposures from a wide range of events resulting in release of radioactivity were condemned today by scores of organizations and individuals in a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson.
A detailed report by Committee to Bridge the Gap reveals, radionuclide by radionuclide, the astronomical concentrations of radioactive contamination in drinking water proposed, which are orders of magnitude higher than EPA's longstanding drinking water limits.MORE . . .
CBG's Hirsch testifies before U.S. Senate Environment Committee About "Nuclear Amnesia"
September 18 -- At the invitation of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, CBG's Dan Hirsch testified in Washington on September 18. Using the history of nuclear accidents, radioactive spills, releases, and broken cleanup promises from the Santa Susana Field Lab as a case study, Hirsch warns that an effort to revive nuclear power risks a huge repeat of the disasters the last we tried this.
Read his testimony here. Watch the entire hearing by clicking here.
New Yucca Rule Would Allow Equivalent of 1700 Chest Xrays Over a Lifetime
Would Produce 1 Cancer Per 125 People Exposed
October 12 – EPA has now finalized the radiation protection standards for Yucca at 15 millirem/year for the first 10,000 years and 100 millirem/year thereafter. The 100 millirem figure is a breathtaking break with decades of EPA strenuous positions that permitting that high an exposure is "nonprotective of health."
July 11 – After disclosures by CBG that DOE had altered critical numbers in a key table related to the cleanup of the contaminated Santa Susana Field Laboratory, EPA insisted that it take the lead on an independent radiation survey, and after years of resisting, DOE has finally agreed. See CBG disclosure, EPA letter, DOE response, and NRDC-CBG letter.
For years, the community surrounding the contaminated Santa Susana Field Laboratory had been promised that US EPA would conduct a comprehensive, independent radiation survey to locate the contamination that needed to be cleaned up. More . . .
Groups Blast Boeing Panel
Boeing Pushes to Relax Enforcement of Water Pollution Limits
July 20 – Efforts by a panel assembled by Boeing to push for elimination of a range of enforceable numeric limits on pollution leaving its Santa Susana site were criticized by CBG and five other environmental organizations in a joint letter issued July 20.
Agreement Reached Between the Schwarzenegger Administration, CBG and Other Groups that Santa Susana Nuke Site will be Cleaned Up to Strictest Superfund Standards
January 17– At a press conference on January 15, Cal-EPA Secretary Linda Adams, CBG's Dan Hirsch and others announced what Secretary Adams called a "historic agreement" between the Administration and environmental and community groups that the heavily contaminated Santa Susana Field Laboratory will be cleaned up to the strictest EPA Superfund standards. More . . .
California Nuke initiative Bites the Dust
"Huge Victory"
November 19 – A proposed ballot measure to revoke California's nuclear safeguards law -- which prohibits new reactors until and unless there is a permanent solution to the high level radioactive waste disposal problem -- was withdrawn from circulation by its sponsor on November 19. Bridge the Gap and other groups had worked hard to fight efforts to place the initiative on the ballot, forcing a recognition that its chances of passage were dismal. "This reversal may represent the beginning of the end for nuclear advocates pushing for a revival of this terribly dangerous technology," said CBG's Dan Hirsch.
In Memoriam
Three Giants in the Fight to Reduce Nuclear Risks –
Ted Taylor, John Gofman, Paul Leventhal
NY Attorney General Sues NRC Over Rejection of Bridge the Gap's Rulemaking Petition to Upgrade Reactor Security
December, 2007 — New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has filed suit in federal court against the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's failure to require protection of nuclear power plants against 9/11-type air attacks. CBG had proposed a rulemaking to upgrade such protections, a petition supported by seven state AGs, including New York's, but the NRC had rejected any requirements to protect reactors from air attack. New York has now sued the NRC; click here to read New York's brief.
The State of New York's brief can be viewed here (.pdf)
The State of California's amicus brief can be viewed here (.pdf)
Public Citizen and Mothers for Peace's brief can be viewed here (.pdf)
CBG's Dan Hirsch Debates Nuclear Power
With Chuck DeVore
Hirsch made an appearance on "Inside OC" (see video below) to
debunk some of the arguments behind the current push for nuclear power in California. He also appeared on "Life & Times" to discuss the nuclear initiative as well. That video is available here.
SSFL Bill Becomes Law
September 5, 2007 -- Seven Republicans joined Democrats in the California State Assembly in a 50-22 vote in favor of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory cleanup bill. One of the only nuclear meltdowns in the world occurred at SSFL. With passage in the State Assembly and the State Senate, Governor Schwarzenegger shortly thereafter signed the bill into law.
Community Waterboarded by Water Board November 3, 2007
After a hearing on November 1, the LA Regional Water Quality Control Board decided to relax Boeing's pollution permit. An Early Christmas for A Huge Polluter: At Boeing's request, and over the objections of the community, the Board permanently waived enforcement of violations at about half of Boeing's outfalls at its Santa Susana Field Laboratory and temporarily waived enforcement for the rest. Read CBG's comment letter here. (.pdf)
Boeing Pays $471,000 for 79 Pollution Violations
Boeing has waived its right to a hearing before the LA Regional Water Quality Control Board on a proposed $471,000 fine for scores of violations of pollution discharge limits and has submitted payment. This has the effect of canceling the October 4 hearing at which members of the public would have been able to argue the fine should have been larger.
CBG tears into inadequate investigation of toxic contamination at Santa Susana Field Lab. Click here for CBG 25 August 2007 Comments on "RFI Group 6 Report."
Our comments are available for download HERE (.pdf)
Court Victory on SSFL nuke site
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has just issued its long-awaited decision in the lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy by the Committee to Bridge the Gap, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the City of Los Angeles. The suit was filed over the inadequate cleanup of the contaminated Santa Susana Field Laboratory, site of one of the only reactor meltdowns in the world. Judge Samuel Conti declared that the DOE has violated and continues to violate the National Environmental Policy Act and permanently enjoined DOE from transferring ownership or possession, or otherwise relinquishing control over any portion of the nuclear area at SSFL until an Environmental Impact Statement has been completed.
This is a great news for the environment.
Independent Panel Releases New Studies on Potential Cancers from 1959 Meltdown & Potential Migration from
Other
SSFL Accidents/Spills.
On October 5, 2006 the Santa Susana Field Laboratory Advisory Panel released a series of studies about potential offsite exposures and health effects from the 1959 reactor meltdown at SSFL and other accidents, spills, and releases that occurred there. The Santa Susana Field Laboratory Advisory Panel is an independent group of epidemiologists, nuclear experts, and other specialists established by local legislators to provide independent assessment of risks from the Rocketdyne nuclear and rocket testing facility.
EPA Staff propose rejection of National Academy of Sciences findings on Radiation Risks
Politicized, Anti-Science Effort to Set Lax Radiation Protection Standards
The EPA requested (and funded) the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to study the state of scientific knowledge on the risks to human health of "low doses" of radiation. NAS found that there is no safe level of radiation; all doses increase the risk of cancer; and "low-level" radiation is about a third more dangerous in inducing cancer than EPA currently presumes in setting radiation standards to protect the public. You would think EPA would now tighten its regulations accordingly. You would be wrong. EPA staff has now proposed ignoring the Academy's recommendations and setting lower radiation risk figures than the NAS had found. In 27 of 28 comparisons between the NAS findings and the EPA recommendations, the EPA proposals were more lax (i.e. would result in more risk to the public). Bridge the Gap, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, and Public Citizen have disclosed this scandal.
Bridge the Gap and the Sierra Club recently discovered a proposed contract by which radioactive wastes from decommissioning the Rancho Seco nuclear plant would be sent out of state for disposal in landfills not licensed or designed for radioactive waste. This would effectively bypass a victory by CBG in state court several years ago that overturned a regulation that would have permitted such unlicensed dumping in California, and an administrative moratorium on such practices in the state that we got adopted. CBG and the Sierra Club filed a complaint with the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District (SMUD) Board [click here to see our letter], which resulted in a reversal by SMUD and a commitment not to send radioactive waste to unlicensed disposal sites [click here to see SMUD's response]. This victory is important not only for our region, but more broadly, since other radwaste generators would likely have used “SMUD does it” as an excuse for exploiting the same loophole.
See CBG/Sierra Club Complaint to SMUD Board (click here)
The Committee to Bridge the Gap is a nuclear policy organization focusing on issues regarding nuclear safety, nuclear security, nuclear safeguards, nuclear terrorism, nuclear proliferation, nuclear accidents, and the disposal of nuclear waste. Specifically, Bridge the Gap offers analyses of national issues related to nuclear terrorism at reactors, potential dirty bomb threats, and other radiological threats from terrorist organizations. We also address problems associated with cleanup of radioactive contamination. Bridge the Gap's view is that given current costs and safety concerns, nuclear is not a real solution to our current energy needs or the answer to global warming. We also focus on issues affecting the state of California, including opposing a potential ballot initiative that would overturn California's law establishing a moratorium on new nuclear plants until there is a solution to the high level radioactive waste problem. Bridge the Gap is active in addressing the push by the nuclear industry for a revival of nuclear power in this country, which ignores the host of nuclear proliferation, nuclear terrorism, atomic accident, radioactive waste, and cost problems.
