Broad Alliance Expresses Concern With House Legislation and Demands Improvements

WASHINGTON — A broad coalition of more than 300 faith, human-rights, social justice, and environmental groups sent a letter to U.S. senators today calling for energy and climate legislation that is much stronger than the Waxman-Markey bill that passed the House of Representatives June 26. That bill contained massive giveaways to polluting special interests and would fail to ensure a rapid transition to clean energy.

The groups plan to hand deliver the letter to senators’ state offices next week as part of a larger, grassroots mobilization demonstrating far-reaching support for bold leadership in the fight to solve the climate crisis.

Who: Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment)
What: NIF Truth Telling Exhibit with 7 ft. x 4 ft. NIF poster and "evidence table" with government and other documents on NIF’s weapons applications, plutonium use, technical problems and other key facts not being told at the official NIF ceremony.
When: 9 AM – 2 PM, Friday, May 29, 2009
Where: Lawrence Livermore National Lab, corner of Vasco Rd. & Patterson Pass Rd.
Why: The National Ignition Facility mega-laser is $4 billion over its original budget, construction is 9 years behind schedule, its "firm" date for thermonuclear ignition is once again fading into a more distant horizon, its actual mission to advance nuclear weapons design is being downplayed, and the controversial decision to use weapons-grade plutonium in NIF is being ignored — as are the myriad still-unresolved technical problems that make NIF "ignition" dubious at best. Moreover, according its fiscal year 2010 budget request, the claim of NIF "completion" may be in the eye of the beholder.

Tri-Valley CAREs recently received documents that the group had long been seeking under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regarding Livermore Lab’s biological agent programs.

The records we received show that Livermore Lab violated federal regulations by conducting “restricted experiments” without the proper approval. These illegal experiments were discovered during an inspection by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in August 2005. However, the information was not made public until now.

“The Department of Energy and Livermore Lab withheld these documents until Tri-Valley CAREs filed federal litigation under FOIA to obtain them,” explained Marylia Kelley, the group’s Executive Director. “This is a stunning example of the government covering up unclassified information because it is embarrassing. As a result, the public is denied knowledge to which it is entitled, and community health and safety are degraded.”

A seven-member team from the Livermore, CA-based Tri-Valley CAREs will visit Washington, DC from April 26 through 29 to meet with members of Congress and Obama Administration officials to press for more funding for radioactive waste cleanup at nuclear weapons facilities. The increased spending would be offset by cuts in weapons programs and reactor subsidies.

The Tri-Valley CAREs delegation will be working with colleagues from more than a dozen other states who are participating in the 21st annual Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) “DC Days.”  The activists will meet with Senators and Representatives from California, leaders of congressional committees that oversee nuclear issues, and key staff at the Department of Energy and other federal agencies.

The report, summary, and map are all embargoed until after their public release on Wednesday, April 8, at 11 AM EST.

Washington, DC – - The Nuclear Weapons Complex Consolidation Policy Network, a collaboration of six national and regional groups, today released a major study advocating a total stockpile of 500 nuclear warheads and a weapons complex downsized from eight sites to three. The network consists of the national organizations the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Project On Government Oversight (POGO); Nuclear Watch New Mexico, near the Los Alamos and Sandia National Labs; Tri-Valley CAREs, near the Lawrence Livermore National Lab; the Greater Kansas City Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility, near the Kansas City Plant (KCP); and JustPeace of Texas, near the Pantex Plant.