Millstone draws another safety violation from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Hearing on expanded nuclear waste storage scheduled for just before Christmas

By Will Collette

Last summer, I reported on plans by the Millstone nuclear power plant, located just 20 miles due west of Charlestown, to dramatically increase the amount of high-level radioactive waste that will be stored indefinitely on site, and on problems Millstone had with its cooling water.

The plant, owned by Virginia-based Dominion Energy, hopes to get regulatory approval for its plan to store 3.6 million pounds of radioactive waste in dry cask. Since there is no permanent nuclear waste repository in the US, most nuclear power plants store their waste on site, either in cooling ponds or in casks, or both.

The cooling ponds are not considered safe long-term storage since they could be breached by natural events, accident or sabotage. The disastrous Fukushima power plant accident was caused when the cooling water system for its waste was compromised by last year’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan, leading to a massive fire that caused exposure and contamination far beyond 20 miles from the site.

On November 19, the NRC cited Millstone for safety violations that occurred during an emergency preparedness exercise it conducted with state and local agencies in the surrounding communities.

Homeless Like Me (Episode 5)

Lost Stars of Harrington Hall

Harrington Hall at 3am Saturday morning

By Bob Plain on November 22, 2012
RI Future.org
Episode 1; episode 2; episode 3; episode 4

Sleeping at Harrington Hall, the overnight shelter in Cranston, is something of a mix between being in prison and being at a frat house for old men.

The very spacious, former gymnasium/auditorium at the Pastore Center state services campus, was even once a part of the prison system. The building somehow related to the psych ward, I was told, or the “old insane asylum,” as one homeless man called it. He was happy to talk history, but not to give his name.

Fox News stumbles

MSNBC takes up the slack as the country turns towards its progressive future

Courtesy of News Corpse:

Fox News is continuing to show weakness in its primetime schedule in the wake of President Obama’s reelection. In the eight days since election day MSNBC’s average audience for the key 25-54 year old demographic drew about 8% more viewers than Fox. MSNBC led Fox in primetime on five of the eight days between November 7 and November 16.

Saving birds' lives

House Windows are a Threat to Birds

From: Thomas Sumner, MONGABAY.COM, More from this Affiliate in ENN.com

The sickening thud of a bird crashing into a window is an all-too-familiar sound for many Canadian homeowners. Birds often mistake windows for openings, flying into the glass at full speed. A startling new analysis suggests about 22 million Canadian birds die each year from such crashes, researchers reported Sept. 4 in Wildlife Research.

Undergraduate biology students at the University of Alberta, supervised by biologist Erin Bayne, surveyed 1,750 local residents in person and through social media. The recruited citizens provided the number of fatal bird strikes at their homes during the previous year. 

Saving Birds' lives, part 2

How to Help Birds Weather Winter

From ENN.com

Winter is prime time for attracting birds. Beckoning birds to your backyard in winter can be easier than in any other season if you provide what they need to weather and survive the coldest months.

Scarcity of natural available food, cold temperatures and severe storms push bird mortality high all winter long. You can help birds meet their nutritional needs during wintertime, and will surely be rewarded with a diverse, frequent flock of feathered friends.

There’s lots of birdfeed to choose from, much of it is produced as a sideline business and can contain low quality fill that birds just won’t eat. Some birdfeed has even been identified as containing toxins known to be harmful to wildlife. Responsible research on your bird feed choices will provide birds with the food they require and protect them from toxic chemicals.

It was those free gifts

That explains it

By Jen Sorenson

Click here for the entire cartoon.

Don't bring disrespect to the family

or you'll have a talk with The Godfather

If you're a member of the Republican family and you show the family any disrespect, the Godfather will want to have a word with you:

A few days after Hurricane Sandy shattered the shores of New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie picked up the phone to take on a different kind of recovery work: taming the Republican Party fury over his effusive embrace of President Obama.

Homeless Like Me (Episode 4)

Drugs on the Streets of Providence

Greg Boisselle talks about trying to quit alcohol and crack
in front of Crossroads in Providence. (Photo by Bob Plain)

By Bob Plain on November 22, 2012
RI Future.org
Episode 1; episode 2; episode 3

One of the most common reasons people are homeless is because of substance abuse. This isn’t to say we should shun them because of their addiction. Alcoholism and drug dependency are diseases, and diseases aren’t typically easy to overcome all by yourself – especially when every single aspect of life is a struggle, as is the case for the homeless. And besides, from a purely selfish point of view, as a community we have a very vested interest in not having addicts roaming our public spaces and streets.

Slap some lipstick on the elephant

Rhode Island Republicans Want To Lose Elections

By Samuel G. Howard in RIFuture.org

After the shellacking on November 6th, political voices across the ideological spectrum called on the Republican Party of Rhode Island to adapt or die. Words like “moderate,” “women,” and “Latinos” were thrown around, often with reckless disregard for their meanings. Appeal to these voters, so the story goes, and the Republicans will regain competitiveness.

Now, maybe the Republicans can swallow their revulsion towards immigrants, slap some lipstick on that elephant, and somehow pretend they’re alright with government helping people out and not mandating what can and cannot be done in the bedroom; but I really doubt it. That’s just too much change.

Homeless Like Me (Episode 3)

Sleeping on the State House Lawn

Me, shortly after waking up
on the lawn of the State House.

By Bob Plain on November 23, 2012
RI Future.org

Episode 1 is here; episode 2 is here.

Words can’t describe how thankful I am for the spate of warm weather this Thanksgiving weekend. I’m sure the thousands of other people who spent the night sleeping on streets of Providence would concur.

Because I know the area, it’s well protected, grassy and soft and – most importantly – close to other humans in case of emergency, I slept on the lawn of the State House.

Black Friday Bargains

Hurry, hurry, hurry

By Brian McFadden

For the whole cartoon, click here.

Homeless Like Me (Episode 2)

Thanksgiving, Billy Cormier, and the Ebenezer Baptist Church

Billy Cormier, who lives in a local shelter, 

looks out across Burnside Park. (Photo by Bob Plain)

By Bob Plain on November 22, 2012
RI Future.org
Continuing from Homeless Like Me.

Billy Cormier became the first fellow I connected with as I began my 48 hours of living on the streets of Providence when, by way of introducing myself, I walked up to the park bench he was sitting on in Burnside Park and asked him where the free meal was.

I had talked to a couple of people before him – one man about my age, shivering cold with open sores on his face had asked me for spare change but didn’t want to converse after I told him no; and another guy politely told me to take the 31 bus to the meal but made it pretty clear he didn’t want to join me.

‘Cape Spin’ Film Points to Small-Scale Renewables

An excerpt from an ecoRI.org article by KYLE HENCE/ecoRI News contributor. Read the entire article here.

“Cape Spin: An American Power Struggle” is a compelling, tragicomic and unbiased film expose of how the chaotic confluence of local, state and federal politics and the power of money can clash, cloud a vital issue, and prevent resolution and progress toward energy sustainability and a cleaner environment.

The film documents an protracted battle over a proposal to install 130 400-foot-high wind turbines in Nantucket Sound — an issue that drove a wedge amongst the wealthy, the Wampanoag tribe, environmentalists and countless quaint communities across Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.

Want an Efficient Historic Tax Credit?

 Want an Efficient Historic Tax Credit? Raise Taxes

By Tom Sgouros in RIFuture.org

As the maneuvering in advance of the next legislative session gets into gear, we keep hearing that the state’s historic structures tax credit is to be revived.

To recap: for several years, Rhode Island had a tax credit available for developers who restored historic buildings.  It was essentially a subsidy for 30% of the cost of the project.  In a variety of ways it was a decent program, with low overhead to administer, and the subsidies went to a variety of worthwhile projects, mostly in the cities that need it.  

Now, Will Obama Break His Climate Silence?

We must hold him accountable for living up to his visionary rhetoric and call him out on the shortsightedness of his energy policy.

By Janet Redman November 8, 2012

Like most U.S. climate activists, I breathed a sigh of relief as the election returns rolled in.

You didn't have to be paranoid to fear that Mitt Romney just wasn't taking seriously the potential devastation in store for us if we don't change course. The Republican hopeful even tried to score political points by poking fun at President Barack Obama for taking climate change seriously.

And in his acceptance speech, Obama laid out a vision of a nation "that isn't threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet."

Still, it would be naïve to assume that Obama's victory is a win for the environment or the communities most impacted by climate change.