Webinar: Halt Holtec – the Nuclear Mafia

As the moribund nuclear industry is frantically marketing itself as a clean alternative to fossil fuels and making an aggressive grab for the subsidies being allocated to renewable energy, it is urgent that we remind Congress and the public that the problem of nuclear waste disposal has never been solved. Even as old nuclear power stations are decommissioned, their highly radioactive spent fuel remains, and must be monitored and contained in perpetuity. This webinar examines the current status of nuclear waste disposal in the United States, with a focus on Massachusetts in the Northeast and New Mexico in the Southwest. Nuclear power is not clean, green, renewable, or safe. Stop Forever Waste!

Speakers
Linda Pentz Gunther – Beyond Nuclear
Linda is the founder of Beyond Nuclear, which she established in 2007, and she currently works as an international specialist there. In addition, she writes for Truthout, Counterpunch, Capitol Hill Citizen and others to highlight the necessity to move away from fossil and fissile energy use. In 2018, Linda created a web platform, Beyond Nuclear International, reframes typical anti-nuclear messaging through a more human lens by conveying the humanitarian impacts of nuclear power and weapons.

Massachusetts: Diane Turco – Capedownwinders
Diane Turco is Executive Director of Cape Downwinders, a Cape Cod volunteer community grassroots organization with the mission to investigate, educate, and agitate for protection of the people and environment from ongoing threats to communities from Holtec-Pilgrim’s decommissioning plans and nuclear waste dump at the site in Plymouth. After meeting Dr. Helen Caldicott in 1981, Diane began working then to end nuclear weapons and nuclear power and continues today. She is a retired teacher of children with intensive special needs and a grandmother of three sweet boys.

Melissa Harding-Ferretti – Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe
Melissa is the chairwoman of the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe in Cedarville, Massachusetts. She is also a town selectman for the city of Bourne, which lies close to the Holtec Pilgrim Nuclear Plant.

New Mexico: Douglas Meiklejohn – Water Quality & Land Restoration
Douglas Meiklejohn is a Water Quality & Land Restoration advocate Advocate at Conservation Voters New Mexico. He is active in the legal opposition to Holtec International’s proposed construction of a high level radioactive waste disposal facility in Southeastern New Mexico near the town of Eunice, New Mexico.

Rose Gardner – Alliance for Environmental Strategies
Rose is a New Mexican environmentalist living in Eunice and Lea County New Mexico site of the construction of the Holtec Nuclear Waste depository. She is the co-founder of Alliance for Environmental Strategies. She lives five miles from the Holtec Plant. She received the “unsung hero” award from Beyond Nuclear in 2019 for her work in fighting the Holtec plant.