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Site 300 oversight too important to lose
December 8, 2017
Source: Tracy Press
EDITOR,
Are you familiar with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board?
The Center of Public Integrity discovered DNFSB’s own chairman, Sean Sullivan, proposed to eliminate the group in a private letter to the White House dated back in June of this year.
Congress chartered this board to prevent safety hazards for workers exposed to radioactive and toxic materials at nuclear testing facilities and to protect the communities and environment surrounding them.
I don’t understand why they would eliminate a group that watches over facilities like Site 300, located on Corral Hollow just down the street from the Carnegie vehicular recreation park. They were the only independent group giving advice and recommendations to ensure safety.
Now only those that have a direct financial or political stake in the success of the lab will be left. I can only hope that it doesn’t compromise our community’s safety.
Elizabeth Forrest,
Tracy
Letter: Livermore Lab testing increase shouldn’t be OK’d
December 6, 2017
Source: East Bay Times
Did you know a laboratory that develops nuclear weapons is located in your backyard?
Livermore National Lab has a main site that includes plutonium and tritium facilities. Tritium is the radioactive hydrogen in the H-bomb. There have been numerous accidents in Livermore, sending radioactive materials skyward.
The lab also operates a high explosives testing range, Site 300, between Tracy and Livermore. Site 300 conducts open-air explosions containing multiple toxins that get carried with the wind to surrounding communities. Site 300 was named to the Superfund List in 1990, meaning it’s one of the most poisoned sites in the country.
The lab has proposed to increase the amount of high explosives used in open-air tests at Site 300 from 100-pounds a daily to 1,000 pounds (10 times the amount). Furthermore, the lab plans to increase the annual limit from 1,000-pounds to 7,500-pounds (that’s 7.5 times the amount).
We cannot let this happen. For more information, visit www.trivalleycares.org.
Valeria Salamanca
Tracy
Letter: Public should oppose Livermore Lab testing
December 4, 2017
Source: East Bay Times
The hills are alive with the sound of enormous explosions at Site 300. That’s not music to my ears.
The Livermore National Laboratory is proposing to increase open-air blasts at its Site 300 high explosives testing range, located between Livermore and Tracy, 10-fold, from 100 pounds a day to 1,000 pounds a day according to the Environmental Assessment. Up to 121 toxic chemicals and hazardous metals could rain down on our communities, depending on the winds.
There have been no public hearings on this plan. The Environmental Assessment was released over the Thanksgiving holiday with only a 30-day comment period. We have until Dec. 7 to express concerns. I requested a 60-day extension to the public comment period and a public hearing. Also, opposition to any increase in toxic pollution.
You can too, at: [email protected]. More information from Tri-Valley CAREs at: www.trivalleycares.org.
Jo Ann Frisch
Pleasanton
Site 300 community meeting
Friday, November 17, 2017
Source: Tracy Press
Letter to the Editor,
Did you know the city of Tracy borders an 11-square-mile experimental test site used for nuclear weapons development? This place is known as Site 300, and it is operated by Livermore Lab.
Site 300 contucts high-explosive tests out in the open air that threatens human health and the environment because of the toxic materials involved. For instance, the explosions cause microparticles of chemical used in nuclear weapons to get carried away with the wind. Some of these airborne particles then get deposited within the community.
Now the lab proposing to increase the limit for high-explosive compounds in open-air tests from 100 pounds per day to 1,000 pounds, that's a tenfold increase daily.
It doesn't stop there. The Lab also wants to increase the annual limit from 1,000 pounds of high explosives detonated in the open air to 7,500 pounds, a more than sevenfold increase yearly!
I urge you to attend an informational community meeting on this alamring proposal. It will be held Monday at 6:30 p.m. at 902 N. Central Ave. Ste. 201.
I will be there. I hope you will join me. If you have any questions, please contact me at 601-8489.
Valeria Salamanca, Tracy
Valley Stars: Peace, justice award winners named
November 5, 2017
Source: East Bay Times
Accomplishments
The Mount Diablo Peace and Justice Center recently announced the recipients of their annual Local Heroes for Peace and Justice Awards.
This will be the ninth year that the center has recognized the organizations and individuals making a difference in our community.
This year the Local Heroes for Peace award is being given to the organization Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) and Marylia Kelley, its executive director. Their work over a period of more than 30 years has been to address global nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament and improving environmental cleanup at Livermore Lab. More information on the group is at http://www.trivalleycares.org.
The Local Heroes for Justice award is being given to Northgate Uncapped and the Mount Diablo Education Association. They are being jointly awarded for their work in keeping the Mount Diablo School District united, thereby promoting diversity.
The awardees will be recognized at a awards dinner starting at 6 p.m. Nov. 18. This year it is being held at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church (Fellowship Hall), 1035 Carol Lane, Lafayette. In addition to a full-course gourmet meal, there will be live music, a silent auction and a raffle (with proceeds being donated to Tri-Valley CAREs). The public is invited. Dinner tickets are $65 per person or $50 for center members.
For more information please contact the Mount Diablo Peace and Justice Center office at 925-933-7850 or http://ourpeacecenter.org, where dinner/raffle tickets and memberships can be bought online.
No Unconstitutional Strike Against North Korea
November, 2017
Source: The Independent
Letter to the Editor:
Last week Representative John Conyers Jr. introduced H.R. 4140, the “No Unconstitutional Strike Against North Korea” act. His bill has 60 co-sponsors, including several from the Bay Area. However, our local member of Congress, Eric Swalwell, has yet to sign on.
Senator Edward Markey recently introduced a companion bill, S. 2016, into the Senate. So far, California’s two Senators, Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, have not co-sponsored it.
If passed, the bills would severely curtail President Trump’s ability to initiate a military strike against North Korea. They do so by invoking the legislature’s power to appropriate funds.
Barring a direct strike against the US mainland, or the use of armed forces to rescue or remove United States personnel, President Trump would be unable to receive the funding necessary for a direct military intervention without a formal declaration of war from Congress, or authorization pursuant the requirements stated in the War Powers Resolution.
Personally, I think this bill is a good thing, and would like to encourage like-minded readers to contact their elected representatives expressing support for the bill. President Trump has, on many occasions, shown himself to be mentally unfit for the office he holds, and prone to rhetoric which has exacerbated an already dangerous situation.
To contact your representative, you can call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121
Brendan Phillips, Dublin
Consensus on Site 300 contamination
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Source: Tracy Press
A citizen watchdog group and the Environmental Protection Agency agree that continued funding is the only way to make sure a polluted test site near Tracy is fully cleaned up.
Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment, a private organization that monitors work at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, hosted a town hall Thursday evening with the EPA. The group is concerned about contamination of an 11-square-mile facility along Corral Hollow Road southwest of Tracy called Site 300. The site is managed by the Department of Energy and has been used for years for experiments to test America’s nuclear arsenal.
“Various experiments were conducted. … Those included detonations of materials — depleted uranium was used. Also perchlorate, which is used in explosives. Perchlorate’s a salt that gets into water and it travels distances. It’s a thyroid disruptor,” Andrew Bain, the EPA’s project manager for the cleanup of Site 300, explained. “A lot of those chemicals were stored. Some of those chemicals got into the ground and leached into the ground.”
Photo: Andrew Bain, the EPA’s project manager for the Site 300 Superfund cleanup, talks to more than two dozen people during a public meeting Thursday evening about the contamination at the test facility near Tracy.
Bain described other toxic solvents and gases — including tritium, which is radioactive hydrogen, and nitrate — that had also been found at the test facility. He was clear that those contaminants had not been detected near Tracy.
In 1990, Site 300 was added to a list of sites that are contaminated with hazardous materials governed by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, also called Superfund.
The EPA monitors contaminants and manages the cleanup of Site 300. Tri-Valley CAREs was formed as a watchdog group in Livermore more than 30 years ago. Today, members monitor the EPA’s work and organize community talks to spread information about the lab and Site 300.
According to the group’s technical adviser, environmental scientist Peter Strauss, people who work at Site 300 should not have to increase their risk of cancer as part of their career.
“We all have risks in our lives. We expose ourselves to risks. Some people are smokers,” Strauss said. “But in the case of contaminated sites, you did not choose to increase your risk.”
Strauss added that because the chemicals and depleted uranium are in the ground, wildfires may make the contaminants airborne.
He expressed concern that Tracy Hills — a master-planned development that broke ground in May 2016 near Corral Hollow Road and Interstate 580 — abuts the northern border of Site 300. Bain said the EPA is keeping a close eye on that.
“Obviously growth is moving towards Site 300. So one of the things we’re mindful of is, What’s the nature of the investigations as far as contaminations and the potential for it to get off-site. Because, obviously, our interest is to make sure that we address all contaminants that relate to the site,” he said.
Photo: Environmental scientist Peter Strauss, the technical adviser for Tri-Valley CAREs, explains the danger posed by contaminants in the soil at Site 300, a federal test site southwest of Tracy.
According to the Tracy Hills environmental impact report found that explosives testing at Site 300 posed a “less-than-significant” risk to future residents but that other elements of the facility’s operation, including transportation of hazardous materials to or from the site, might pose a risk.
Bain said the best available data show that a full cleanup could take between 50 and 80 years. He and Strauss were both worried about funding to continue the removal of toxic substances from the test facility.
“I’ve got to say there’s been a great deal of progress at Site 300,” Strauss said. “I think the staff at Site 300, the environmental staff, has done a good job, but it’s got to continue.”
Bain added that funding for Superfund cleanup has been reduced for the past eight years.
“The problem would be, if those treatment systems were not operating, the plumes (of toxic contaminants) could migrate,” Bain said. “That’s part of the importance … of making sure there is funding for the ongoing remediation of the site.”
Community-Wide Meeting
Thursday, September 28th, 2017
Source: Tracy Press
Tri-Valley CAREs invites all Tracy residents and neighbors to a panel presentation regarding Site 300, the nuclear weapons development testing site managed by Livermore Lab. The panel will include the EPA manager for the Site 300 cleanup, an environmental scientist and Tri-Valley CAREs representatives. Q&A will commence afterwards. Petitions in English and Spanish to protect Tracy residents from the Site 300 pollution will be available to sign.
Tri-Valley CAREs invita a todos los residentes y vecinos de Tracy a una presentación de panel sobre el sitio 300, el sitio en donde el laboratorio de Livermore administra pruebas para el desarrollo de armas nucleares. El panel incluirá al gerente de la EPA para la limpieza del Sitio 300, un científico ambiental, y representantes de Tri-Valley CAREs. Una sesión de preguntas y respuestas comenzarán después. Las peticiones en inglés y español para proteger a los residentes de Tracy de la contaminación del Sitio 300 estarán disponibles para firmar.
Meeting on toxic site cleanup set for Thursday
Monday, September 25, 2017
Source: Tracy Press
A federal representative will attend a community meeting Thursday about a radiological and explosives test site near Tracy.
Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment is hosting the forum to talk about Site 300 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday in Room 203 at City Hall, 333 Civic Center Plaza,.
Site 300 — on Corral Hollow Road about 10 miles south of Tracy — is administered by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for the Department of Energy and is used for explosives experiments and testing theories about nuclear decay with mock material.
In 1990, Site 300 was added to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund list because some of the experiments had contaminated water in the underground aquifer.
A panel with the group’s executive director, Marylia Kelley; the group’s technical adviser, Peter Strauss; Valeria Salamanca of Tracy; and Andrew Bain, the EPA’s project manager for the Site 300 Superfund cleanup, will discuss Site 300 and the cleanup of the hazardous materials and field questions from the audience.
Video Contest
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Source: The Independent
Letter to the Editor:
Few people are aware that routine operations at the Lawrence Livermore Lab's nuclear facilities over the years have resulted in several hundred documented cases of toxic and radioactive releases into the air, soil, groundwater, and surface water; increasing the risk of cancer to those exposed.
As someone who has lived his entire life in the Tri-Valley, I find this fact disturbing, and can only assume the Lab is allowed to continue developing nuclear weapons in such a populated area because the related problems are not more widely known and talked about. Awareness of this problem is especially lacking in the younger generation.
With that in mind, I'd like to bring attention to a youth video contest sponsored Tri-Valley CAREs. Youth between the ages 10 and 30 can submit a two-minute video explaining the effects that nuclear weapons development have on our communities.
First prize is $500. For more background information, visit www.trivalleycares.org/contest2017.html.
For questions, contact [email protected] or 925-443-7148.
Brendan Phillips, Dublin
Global Treaty
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Source: The Independent
Letter to the Editor:
This summer marked the successful negotiation of an historic global treaty – one which would ban nuclear weapons forever. That it has been underreported is an understatement. Yet on September 20, the treaty will be open for signature and go into effect 90 days after being ratified by 50 countries.
The history is this: fifty years ago, non-nuclear nations agreed not to acquire them, while the nuclear “haves” were supposed to pursue disarmament. Despite the dangers of nuclear confrontation as well as many accidental “close calls” in the intervening years, we now have nine nuclear nations and very little disarmament.
This treaty is the fruit of a new global effort to confront this terrible danger, which we may have avoided so far by sheer dumb luck. Although the nuclear “haves” boycotted the conference, 122 nations voted for the treaty. Some may think this effort is merely symbolic. However, explicitly making nuclear weapons illegal strengthens the norms against nuclear weapons possession and use. It is a good first step toward real global disarmament.
Luck never lasts forever.
Stephanie Ericson, Dublin
Toxic threat too close to Tracy — Valeria Salamanca
Friday, September 1, 2017
Source: Tracy Press
EDITOR,
As a recent grad who moved back to Tracy after finishing college, I am starting to see my community in a different light. I have a deep appreciation for my hometown, which makes me all the more concerned when it comes to protecting it.
I was astounded to discover that 6 miles away is a toxic threat to my home, OUR HOME.
I get two reactions when I ask people, “Have you heard of Site 300?”
Let's Clean it Up
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Source: The Independent Newspaper
Editorial Page • by Patricia Moore, MSW, Livermore
Our mayor recently proclaimed Livermore "a Great Place to Live, Work and Be". Yes, I agree, this is true. I have lived here since 2000. However, I am also concerned that our local legacy of nuclear waste contamination is consistently swept under the rug. Denial is a mechanism that allows us to avoid difficult and inconvenient truths. While it may temporarily make us feel more comfortable, denial can harm our community.
How many Tri-Valley residents recognize that the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Main Site has been designated by the Environmental Protection Agency as a “Superfund” cleanup location, meaning that it is among the nation’s worst hazardous waste sites?
How many know that underground plumes of poisoned water have traveled offsite, necessitating cleanup of aquifers under Livermore neighborhoods near the Lab?
I wonder, too, if my neighbors realize that LLNL’s “Site 300” in the hills southeast of town is also an EPA Superfund cleanup location, with many of the same radioactive and toxic poisons contaminating groundwater aquifers there?
My conversations with local friends and colleagues tell me that few people understand that the Lab’s hazards extend beyond the pollution of our soils and aquifers. For example, the National Nuclear Security Administration keeps a list of the most risky “abandoned” toxic and radioactively contaminated buildings in the nuclear weapons complex. And, only a handful of people seem to know that four of the top ten facilities posing the highest hazards nationally are here at LLNL.
I am concerned as well that some of the operational nuclear weapons facilities at Livermore Lab may release further contamination, including potential, ongoing releases of radioactive tritium and plutonium used in experiments at the National Ignition Facility. Too few residents are aware that more than 2,000 Livermore Lab employees, or their survivors, have applied for compensation because their workplace exposures were responsible for often-fatal illnesses. The staff attorney at a local nonprofit, Tri-Valley CAREs, has helped scores of sick workers through the difficult federal paperwork – and he has won compensation for them even in cases where they had previously been denied.
I also want the community to understand that speaking out about pollution at Livermore Lab is crucial to getting it cleaned up. Indeed, strong, consistent public pressure and the support of Tri-Valley CAREs have improved the Superfund cleanup at both the LLNL Main Site and Site 300. And, continuing public input will be necessary over the next 4 to 5 decades to get the job completed. Yes, forty to fifty years! Additionally, cleanup funding across the entire U.S. nuclear weapons complex is pitifully sparse. And many sites are extremely toxic and dangerous. The government estimates that it will cost taxpayers $400 billion over 75 years to clean up huge volumes of contaminated soil and water, and to dispose of large quantities of leaky radioactive waste.
Therefore, it is difficult for me to believe that the U.S. is considering a $1 trillion 30-year nuclear weapons Modernization plan when we haven't cleaned up the human and environmental health hazards that already exist.
Where do we want our tax dollars to go? To more mess-making projects that benefit nuclear weapons contractors? Or, to cleanup programs that could create thousands of high paying jobs while permanently protecting the public and the environment from long-lasting radioactive contamination?
I would prefer to clean up and remove the “dark cloud” poison legacy hanging over Livermore and dozens of other communities that host nuclear weapons sites.
For an informative analysis of our current situation and sane recommendation for how to make it better, see the “Accountability Audit” published this year by the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability at www.ananuclear.org.
Nuclear Weapons Impact Is Video Contest Theme
August 17th, 2017
Source: The Independent
The Tri-Valley CAREs’ Youth Video Contest 2017 is now accepting entries. Any young person aged 10-30 has a chance to win up to $500 by creating a short video - up to 2 minutes in length - showing how nuclear weapons affect them and their world. The contest is designed for the youth population and intended to spark discussion about nuclear weapons and the effect that their development has on the air, soil, water and public health. The videographer may choose from any of those topics or devise a related one...
California groups protest “radioactive” Livermore nuke lab
August 17th, 2017
Source: People's World
LIVERMORE, Calif. – As Donald Trump’s “fire and fury” statements directed at North Korea ratcheted up worldwide concerns over possible nuclear war, some 250 demonstrators gathered outside the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Aug. 9, to commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II and to demand permanent, total abolition of nuclear weapons....
Nuclear Weapon Protesters Call for ‘Total Abolition of Weapons’
Aug 11th, 2017
Source: Breitbart
With tensions between the U.S. and North Korea rapidly increasing, nuclear war protesters who gathered to remember the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are calling for the “total abolition of weapons.”...
48 Protesters Arrested At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
August 9th, 2017
Source: Livermore Patch
LIVERMORE, CA — Almost 50 protesters were arrested during a protest outside the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory gate this morning, police officials said. The annual "Action at the Lab" protest, hosted by Tri-Valley CAREs, is held on Aug. 9, a day commonly referred to as “Nagasaki Day." The event started at 8 a.m., and the group observed a moment of silence at 8:15 a.m. as a reminder of the Hiroshima bombing on Aug. 6, 1945....
KPFA- UpFront
August 9, 2017
Source: UpFront
On today’s show, hosts Cat Brooks and Brian Edwards-Tiekert discuss how ongoing healthcare turmoil in Congress and under the Trump administration are impacting California’s insurance rates. Joining us is California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, who leads the California Department of Insurance and regulates the California insurance market – the nation’s largest. Before that, we hear from the annual anti-nuclear protest at Livermore Lab on the 72nd anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and on the eve of escalating tensions between the U.S. and North Korea.
Press play to listen to the story.
Click here to listen to the full episode.
North Korea’s threats add urgency to annual protest in Livermore
August 9, 2017
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Every year, they come with hand-drawn signs and printed posters, with their children and their pets. They protest the past. They pray for peace, and remember the twin atom bombs that the U.S. dropped on Japan at the end of World War II.
Click here to read to the full article.
Livermore Protesters Worry About Nuclear War on A-Bomb Anniversary
August 9, 2017
Source: NBC Bay Area
Fears about a nuclear war are foremost on people’s minds amid escalating tension between the United States and North Korea.
Press play to watch to the story.
Click here to read to the full article.
The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – August 9, 2017
August 9, 2017
Source: KPFA The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays
Donald Trump’s threat to North Korea of “fire and fury” apparently was ad-libbed, according to unnamed officials close to the President. The heightened nuclear tensions with North Korea give added urgency to the annual protest at the Lawrence Livermore Lab, commemorating the 72nd anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Press play to listen to the story.
Click here to listen to the full episode.
Demo against nuclear weapons
August 9, 2017
Source: The Nation
Protesters holds signs during a demonstration against nuclear weapons outside of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California....
Court denies bid to force US into nuclear disarmament talks
July 31st, 2017
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
A 1970 treaty requiring the United States and other nuclear powers to negotiate a ban on nuclear weapons can’t be enforced in court, a federal appeals court in San Francisco said Monday in refusing to reinstate a lawsuit by the Marshall Islands....
Stand against nuclear bombs
July 28, 2017 • Tracy Press / Golden State Newspapers • Letters to the Editor
My husband and I raised three children in Tracy. We have wonderful friends and one not-so-nice neighbor, a nuclear weapons high explosives testing range called Site 300.
My family’s proximity to nuclear bomb development has prompted me to think a lot about these weapons. Site 300, which is part of Livermore Lab, is on the EPA’s list of most highly polluted locations in the nation due to accidents and spills.
I also think about the devastation that would accompany the deliberate use of modern H-bombs, and of the two atomic bombs dropped 72 years ago on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
And so, on Aug. 9 (Nagasaki Day), I will go over the hill to the Lab’s main site and participate in the March for Nuclear Abolition & Global Survival.
I will stand with the hibakusha (A-bomb survivors) and say “Never Again” to the use of nuclear weapons.
The 8 a.m. rally will feature musicians and speakers including Daniel Ellsberg, the former military planner who released the Pentagon Papers and helped bring the Vietnam War to an end.
Gail Rieger
Tracy
Click here to read the full article.
March will commemorate victims of atomic bombs
July 22, 2017 • San Jose Mercury News • Letters to the Editor
On Aug. 9, at 8 a.m., I invite people to join me at the corner of Vasco and Patterson Pass Roads in Livermore to commemorate the victims of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 72 years ago.
We will hear music and speakers, including Daniel Ellsberg. Then we will march to the gates of Livermore Lab, where new warheads are being developed today.
I will walk so that a nuclear holocaust will never happen again. My participation will embrace peace and nuclear abolition.
I do not act alone. Earlier this month, 122 countries at the United Nations voted to adopt a “Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.” This is the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively outlaw nuclear weapons, leading toward their total elimination.
The “ban treaty” considers nuclear weapons’ humanitarian consequences and renders their development and testing, as well as possession, illegal.
I’ll be at Livermore Lab and the “March for Nuclear Abolition & Global Survival” and hope you will, too. For details see trivalleycares.org.
Jo Ann Frisch
Pleasanton
Click here to read the full article.
Testing Fate: The Implications of Resumed Nuclear Weapons Testing
Friday, July 17, 2017
Source: Changed Affairs
From 1945 to 1992, the United States conducted 1,032 nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere, under the ocean and below ground. These tests took their toll on the environment and communities downwind from test sites, with certain radioactive materials, such as Strontium-90, still measurable in our bodies.
In the quarter century since the last explosive nuclear test, cold war realities like “duck and cover” have faded from the public consciousness. To today’s young professionals, they seem quaint icons of a bygone era. However, while there is no technical requirement for a U.S. nuclear test, this 20th century pursuit is getting new consideration in the current administration. We would be well advised to examine the geopolitical context and the risks that would accompany any U.S. return to testing.
According to the treaty’s “entry into force” provision, it will become fully operational 90 days after achieving its threshold requirement for 50 states to sign and complete its ratification.
This past May, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) embarked on another review cycle to assess its status and implementation. During these negotiations in Vienna, the vast majority of states expressed strong support for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
Click here to read the full article.
Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty Adopted
July 8, 2017
Source: KPFA Evening News
TVC's Executive Director Marylia Kelly was interviewed by KPFA Evening News on Saturday, July 8. The topic is the adoption by the UN of the nuclear weapons ban treaty.
Press play to listen to the interview.
Click here to read the blog on the treaty vote.
Let's not test the explosion of a 21st century nuclear arms race
Saturday, July 1, 2017
Source: The Hill
Deep inside the Pentagon, the Trump administration’s nuclear posture review is taking shape. This little known, yet highly consequential process, sets the direction of U.S. nuclear weapons policy. Will this review reflect our “let it be an arms race” Twitter president or something more responsibly restrained?
This month, more than 40 members of Congress sent a letter to President Trump urging him to continue in his predecessors’ footsteps. The letter explained that “starting with President Reagan’s leadership, American presidents have steadily reduced the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy, as well as the size of the arsenal.”
Meanwhile, a small but influential group of analysts are suggesting extremist nuclear weapons policy ideas. An example of this is a Pentagon advisory board proposing strategies for the “limited” use of nuclear weapons. Another example is this same group suggesting the development of so-called “mini-nukes.” Further, a cadre of hardliners is pressing this unseasoned, mercurial new administration to resume explosive nuclear testing.
It was nuclear testing that fueled the 20th century arms race. As countries relied upon nuclear weapons test explosions to prove their new designs, a competitive frenzy of nuclear weapons development flourished. In this era, the United States conducted 1,030 nuclear tests, more than the rest of the world combined. We developed what is today the most sophisticated nuclear arsenal on the planet.
The last U.S. explosive nuclear weapons test was a quarter of a century ago. The testing moratorium established with bipartisan legislation during the George H.W. Bush administration remains in place today. With the foundation of testing moratoria in both the United States and Soviet Union, the Clinton administration played a leading role in negotiating and garnering support for the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Although the treaty has not yet fully entered into force, it has established a global consensus against testing, with North Korea the sole nuclear tester to break this taboo in the 21st century. The treaty organization also has developed a premier global monitoring and verification system now operating and demonstrating impressive capabilities to detect and deter nuclear testing.
Over these past several decades without explosive nuclear testing, the U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories have developed and implemented a robust — and expensive — science-based program that has certified that the U.S. nuclear stockpile is safe and reliable. In fact, laboratory leaders have stated that they have a more fundamental understanding of nuclear weapons than “when we were blowing them up.”
So what could drive the United States to reverse course, abandon 21st century science, and abdicate global diplomatic leadership to resume nuclear testing? Just one thing: an effort to develop wholly new U.S. nuclear weapons. These novel weapons systems would introduce uncertainty into the U.S. arsenal that could lead to an explosive test to provide full confidence.
There is a fundamental national security flaw in the extremists’ proposal. The United States now possesses the strategic advantage: we have most sophisticated nuclear arsenal on the planet, paired with a global norm against nuclear testing. If we conduct an explosive nuclear test, other countries will surely follow suit, using their tests to rapidly develop new nuclear capabilities for their arsenals, and thereby exposing the United States to new threats. What logic would open the pandora’s box of a global nuclear testing breakout for the sake of adding of a new nuclear capability on top of our current overkill superiority?
Many of today’s policymakers have limited memory of the 20th century nuclear arms race — the constant fear and tension, the “duck and cover” drills, the concerns about nuclear fallout. Maybe it seems just a little unbelievable that this history could repeat itself. But in fact, it might be worse. Today, it’s not just Russia and the United States that would embark on dangerous game of one-upmanship, as China, India, Pakistan, and likely others would jump in to develop new and more sophisticated nuclear weapons. Nothing would more effectively throw gasoline on a global nuclear arms race than restarting nuclear testing.
If it is the United States that leads the way to a global nuclear testing breakout, what possible restraint could we influence or enforce upon other nations using diplomatic tools? Any nuclear test would be a highly provocative event inciting a reaction that could quickly spiral out of control. In a 21st century security environment with multiple global “hot spots,” resumption of nuclear explosive testing now might initiate a cycle with the launch of a nuclear warhead as its tragic end.
U.S. resumption of nuclear testing is a dangerous idea that should be clearly rejected in the president’s nuclear posture review. Congress must continue to press for a review and policy that ramps down nuclear dangers rather than incites them and should specifically decry any plans for U.S. resumption of explosive nuclear blasts.
Kathy Crandall Robinson is a senior fellow at Women In International Security, an organization dedicated to advancing the leadership and professional development of women in the field of international peace and security. With decades of experience in nuclear weapons research and analysis, Crandall Robinson specializes in U.S. nuclear policy, Pentagon spending, and the congressional budget process.
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Nuclear Weapons
June 22, 2017
Source: The Independent Newspaper
Trump’s budget for 2018 contains an extra billion dollars over the current year for nuclear weapons activities, even as it cuts climate science and weatherization assistance for poor families.
This increase includes developing a new warhead for an ill-advised “Long-Range Stand Off” weapon - able to launch a sneak nuclear attack from thousands of miles away.
Senator Dianne Feinstein noted, “LRSO is a new weapon that by the Pentagon’s own admission would have a role ‘beyond deterrence’. Congress shouldn’t fund dangerous new nuclear weapons designed to fight unwinnable nuclear wars.”
Feinstein and 9 Senate colleagues introduced S.574, The Nuclear Cruise Missile Reconsideration Act, to limit LRSO warhead funding in the coming year to its present level of $220 million. Trump’s budget would boost funds to $399 million.
I call on Senator Kamala Harris to co-sponsor S.574.
I further call on the Trump administration and Congress to cancel LRSO and save taxpayers $30 billion. Overall the warhead will cost $10 billion, with another $20 billion for the cruise missile to deliver it.
Jo Ann Frisch,
Livermore, CA
Why The Military Is Still Allowed To Use Open Burning And Detonation To Destroy Hazardous Waste Explosives In The U.S.
June 16, 2017
Source: By Dan Ross, NEWSWEEK Magazine
The Article previously featured on FairWaring.org, on Open Burning-Open Detonation of explosive wastes at Livermore Lab Site 300 and other locations across the country was picked up by NEWSWEEK Magazine. Tri-Valley CAREs is quoted. Check it out.
Click here to read the article...
Alarming Implications
June 8, 2017
Source: The Independent Newspaper
Trump has taken the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement. What a reckless step backwards! But not surprising from someone who heedlessly rejects the worldwide scientific consensus that human-caused global warming is real threat to humanity.
Trump cites dubious economic figures to justify his decision. His enumeration of future economic costs from Paris Accord restrictions is based on a coal-industry commissioned study. The economic costs of not tackling climate change weren’t mentioned, nor were the economic benefits of developing renewable energy technology.
Trump's espousal of, and apparent reliance on, biased, incomplete and inaccurate information on such a globally critical issue is alarming, and not just about climate change, where we still have some time to reverse course.
But think about nuclear weapons.
Do we really trust Trump’s gut instincts on that? Or the information he chooses to pay attention to? Presently there is no check on the President’s ability to launch a nuclear strike at any time, against any country for any reason.
No single person should have that awesome power. Please urge Congress to pass “The Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017,” introduced by Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Ted Lieu.
Stephanie Ericson,
Dublin, CA
Open Burning at U.S. Military Sites Inflames Activists in Nearby Towns
May 4, 2017
Source: By Dan Ross, FairWarning
Article on Open Burning-Open Detonation of explosive wastes at Livermore Lab Site 300 and other locations across the country. Tri-Valley CAREs is quoted. Check it out.
Click here to read the article...
Tri-Valley CAREs staff are interviewed on the evening news about Good Friday protest at Livermore Lab
April 14, 2017
Source: KPFA Evening News
Tri-Valley CAREs' staff attorney, Scott Yundt, and executive director, Marylia Kelley, are interviewed during the annual Good Friday protest at Livermore Lab regarding the Lab’s role in continued nuclear weapons development and the importance of the action. More than 100 people participated and 28 peace advocates chose to risk arrest in the gates.
Click the link and fast forward to the Good Friday protest, which runs a full 6 minutes beginning at 50 minutes and 12 seconds into the broadcast.
Sick LLNL Workers
April 13, 2017
Source: The Independent - Letter to the Editor by Scott Yundt
Current and former Lawrence Livermore National Lab and Sandia National Lab employees who are suffering from illnesses are potentially eligible to receive up to $400K in compensation, as well as extensive medical benefits. Survivors (spouses, children, grandchildren, step children) of deceased employees who suffered from illnesses (cancers, and others) are also eligible for some compensation, even if the employee died decades ago.
The law is called the Energy Employee Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act and there is a meeting at the Livermore Public Library, (1188 S. Livermore Ave. Community Room A) on Thursday April 20th at noon to discuss how to apply for these benefits, or if you have already applied, how to get your claim approved. All are welcome to join us to learn more about this program. You can call local advocate Scott Yundt to learn more, 925-443-7148.
"It's a Cover-Up, Not a Clean-Up": Nuclear Waste Smolders in Sites Across the US
March 30, 2017
Source: by Daniel Ross, Truthout
Renowned wartime journalist Wilfred Burchett described the damage from the atomic bomb that flattened Hiroshima as "far greater than photographs can show." When it comes to the enduring legacy of the Manhattan Project on home soil, the damage to the environment and human health is proving similarly hard to grasp…
…For Marylia Kelley, executive director of Tri-Valley CAREs, any increased spending on the nuclear modernization program at active facilities like the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California has even more troubling implications. She pointed to Trump's heated nuclear rhetoric and the additional NNSA funds in the proposed budget…
US NUCLEAR WEAPON MODERNIZATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE BAN TREATY
March 29, 2017
Source: by Ralph Hutchinson, Nuclear Ban Daily Vol 1, #3
When the Trump Administration released its “skinny budget” in early March, nuclear weapons programs received the largest percentage increase of any federal agency, an 11.3% increase, indicating an acceleration of the ongoing program to modernize the US nuclear stockpile and production infrastructure.
Those numbers set the tone for the presentation by members of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) on the second day of the ban treaty conference. Rick Wayman of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation moderated a panel that included ANA members Marylia Kelley from Livermore, CA; Jay Coghlan from Albuquerque, NM; Ralph Hutchison from Oak Ridge, TN; they were joined by Matthew McKinzie of the Natural Resources Defense Council and Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists.
Kelley began by explaining that the US is currently modifying warheads under the “Life Extension Program,” rapidly creating a stockpile “rife with novel military capabilities.” Plans to modify the [W80-4] warhead to ride atop a cruise missile will result in a weapon former Secretary of Defense William Perry calls “uniquely destabilizing.”
Non-Proliferation
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Source: The Independent Newspaper
Litigation aimed at achieving U.S. compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty will be heard March 15th in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
The Republic of the Marshall Islands is seeking enforcement of the Treaty’s Article 6, which requires negotiations “in good faith” to achieve the elimination of nuclear weapons. The Treaty will soon celebrate its 47th anniversary. The litigation can clarify steps toward realization of its disarmament goals.
Of particular significance is that new nuclear weapon design activities at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory illustrate a failure of the U.S. to meet these obligations.
Further, the Marshall Islands was used as the testing ground for 67 nuclear tests conducted by the U.S. from 1946 to 1958, resulting in lasting health and environmental problems. Yet this lawsuit does not seek compensation, rather it demands action for disarmament with the ultimate goal of ending the nuclear threat for all humanity.
Tony de Brum, a special envoy appointed by the President of the Marshall Islands, emphasizes that the Marshallese “have suffered the catastrophic and irreparable damage of these weapons, and we vow to fight so that no one else on earth will ever again experience these atrocities.”
Jo Ann Frisch
Pleasanton
End Run
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Source: The Independent Newspaper
The Doomsday Clock will undoubtedly have inched closer to midnight since Tricia Moore’s letter of February 16th. Trump’s first weeks in office have provided appalling demonstrations of this administration’s recklessness and incompetence. Consider the following. While hosting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Mar-a-Lago, he held national security strategy sessions and received confidential security briefings while an army officer carried the “nuclear football” around in plain sight and earshot of paying club members. Trump has expressed his dangerous views on the use of nuclear weapons, including a complete lack of understanding of the nuclear triad, casual threats regarding using nuclear weapons on the battlefield or to combat terrorists and a desire to be “unpredictable” in his use of nuclear weapons. We cannot trust this president to make rational or informed decisions about the safety of our country and the world.
Right now, Trump has unrestricted power to launch thousands of nuclear weapons at will. Fortunately, in January, Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Ted Lieu introduced the Restricting the First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act (S. 200 & H.R. 669), legislation that would require a congressional declaration of war in order to use nuclear weapons, except in response to an incoming nuclear attack, effectively blocking Trump from starting a nuclear war on a whim or because someone hurts his feelings on Twitter.
We must pressure Congress to take the “nuclear football” away from Trump. Call or write to Rep. Swalwell, and Senators Feinstein and Harris (Congress.org). Ask them to keep us safe, to cosponsor and fully support the Restricting First Use measures. To learn more and get involved, contact Win Without War (winwithoutwar.org), Tri-Valley CAREs (trivalleycares.org), and Tri-Valley STAND ([email protected]). If we don’t resolve this issue, the others may not matter.
Mary Perner
Livermore
KPFA Interviews TVC's staff attorney Scott Yundt
Broadcast date: March 15, 2017
Source: KPFA Evening News
Tri-Valley CAREs' staff attorney, Scott Yundt is interviewed by KPFA at the Ninth Circuit Court regarding the Marshall Islands' litigation to compel US compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty and its disarmament obligation.
Click the link and fast forward to the interview, which begins at 37 minutes 49 seconds into the broadcast.
https://kpfa.org/player/?audio=255912...
Non-proliferation treaty must be enforced
Tuesday, March 8, 2017
Source: The Mercury News
Litigation aimed at achieving U.S. compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty will be heard March 15 in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
The Republic of the Marshall Islands is seeking enforcement of the treaty’s Article 6, which requires negotiations “in good faith” to achieve the elimination of nuclear weapons. The treaty will soon celebrate its 47th anniversary. The litigation can clarify steps toward realization of its disarmament goals.
Of particular significance is that new nuclear weapon design activities at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory illustrate a failure of the United States to meet these obligations.
The Marshall Islands was used as the testing ground for 67 U.S. nuclear tests, yet the litigation demands disarmament rather than compensation. Special envoy for the President of the Marshall Islands, Tony de Brum emphasizes that his people “have suffered the catastrophic and irreparable damage of these weapons, and we vow to fight so that no one else on earth will ever again experience these atrocities.”
Jo Ann Frisch
Pleasanton
KZFR Radio's Chris Nelson interviews TVC director, Marylia Kelley
Broadcast date: February 23, 2017
Source: KZFR Radio
Chris Nelson interviews Tri-Valley CAREs' executive director, Marylia Kelley, on nuclear weapons policy in the emergent Trump administration and how public activism can make a difference. Discussion includes the "Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017" introduced by Senator Ed Markey and Rep. Ted Lieu, the nuclear weapons "ban treaty" negotiations that will begin at the United Nations on March 27, 2017 and more.
Click the link and fast forward to the interview, which begins at 7 minutes 30 seconds into the broadcast.
http://kzfr.org/broadcasts/8153...
KPFA Evening News, Weekend Edition's David Rosenberg interviews TVC director, Marylia Kelley
Broadcast date: February 11, 2017
Source: KPFA Evening News, Weekend Edition
David Rosenberg interviews Tri-Valley CAREs' Marylia Kelley about safety issues at the beleaguered nuclear Waste Treatment Plant under construction at the Dept. of Energy's Hanford Reservation in Washington State.
Click in and fast forward to the interview, which begins at 19 minutes 50 seconds into the broadcast.
https://archives.kpfa.org/data/20170211-Sat1800.mp3...
Nuclear Arsenal
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Source: The Independent Newspaper
I participated in the U.S. and international movements to ban nuclear weapons in the 1980's. Progress was made at that time in the US/Russian commitment to decommission and destroy accumulated nuclear weapons, with the ultimate goal of a world without such weapons.
That commitment to disarm has deteriorated, and the world is now only two and one-half minutes from midnight according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. They have moved the hands of their iconic Doomsday Clock thirty seconds closer to the nuclear hour that marks the end of humanity.
The Bulletin cited several reasons for the darkening of the global security landscape including deteriorating relations between the US and Russia (together possessing more than 90% of world's nuclear weapons), North Korea's continuing weapons development, the march of arsenal modernization programs in nuclear weapons states, and new doubt over the future of the Iran Nuclear Deal, (though it proved successful in meeting goals in year one.)
These are all matters President Trump has signaled that he would make worse due to "ill-considered comments about expanding and even deploying the US Nuclear arsenal, a troubling propensity to discount or outright reject expert advice about international security, including the conclusions of intelligence experts ," according to the Bulletin. I would add to this list his condoning of fake news and alternative facts.
I think that no problem is more urgent today than the militarization of politics and the new arms race. Stopping and reversing this ruinous nuclear race must be a priority. See trivalleycares.org or wagingpeace.org to take action.
Patricia Moore, MSW
Livermore
Trump’s tweets raise specter of resumed nuclear tests in Nevada
January 21, 2017
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal
It’s been nearly 25 years — 8,887 days, to be precise — since the United States last detonated a nuclear bomb beneath the Nevada desert. A tweet last month by President Donald Trump has many Americans wondering whether that long hiatus is about to end.
Policy experts, scientists and foes of nuclear weapons are divided on the implications of Trump’s Twitter vow last month that the United States will “greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability” on his watch. Some predict it could signal a rekindled arms race.
But they agree what it would mean if an expansion includes adding new types of weapons to the U.S. nuclear arsenal: the resumption of some form of testing at the Nevada National Security Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
As with many of the new president’s 140-character policy statements, the details of the new administration’s stance on nuclear weapons are not yet clear...
Marylia Kelley, of the San Francisco Bay Area anti-nukes group Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment, is not at all certain that Trump won’t order a resumption of testing, saying the new president’s tweet “worries me.”
“It appears to foreshadow an unfortunate acceleration of a potentially catastrophic new nuclear arms race,” she said.
Noting that the U.S. already has embarked on a 30-year, $1 trillion effort to design, develop and produce new and modified nuclear warheads and delivery systems, she said was frightened to read about a follow-up comment Trump reportedly made to explain his tweet, saying that the U.S. will “outmatch” other countries in the event of an arms race.
“This is dangerous in the extreme — a future in which our children and grandchildren cower under desks in new ‘duck-and-cover’ drills is not a future we should seek,” she said.
Kelley was among the thousands who converged on the Nevada Test Site in the waning years of full-scale nuclear testing to protest and hold vigils at Peace Camp, near the road leading to the Nevada National Security Site’s Mercury entrance. More than 15,740 protesters were arrested there in civil disobedience trespass actions from 1986 through 1994.
If U.S. nuclear weapons testing resumes at any level, Kelley promises a resumption of protests.
“We’ll get the band back together,” she said.
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