WNPJ's Carbon Free, Nuclear Free Campaign

Submitted by staff on Thu, 10/22/2009 - 12:38pm

Wisconsin can build an energy future that provides us with affordable electricity, creates jobs and improves our environment.  So why gamble on a costly energy source that generates radioactive waste -- especially since building nuclear reactors would require undermining a state law that protects our pocketbooks and our safety?

We want Wisconsin to be carbon free and nuclear free!

Our state legislators are now shaping Wisconsin's energy future. We have just weeks to ensure that they support truly green alternatives. Make your voice heard - join WNPJ's Carbon Free Nuclear Free campaign today!

Please click here to sign up for free weekly email updates on the Carbon Free, Nuclear Free campaign. It's the easiest way to keep track of this fast-moving issue!

Read below for what you can do, or contact WNPJ's Carbon Free Nuclear Free organizer, Diane Farsetta, at farsettad@gmail.com or 608-250-9240.

Send a carbon free, nuclear free message to your elected officials

Make two calls today!

The next few weeks are absolutely crucial to our campaign. Please take five minutes to call your state Senator and Representative today, with the message below.

You can look up your legislators and their direct office numbers online, here. Or, if you already know your legislators' names, you can call the Capitol switchboard at 1-800-362-9472 and ask to be connected with their offices.

Our message to legislators is simple: nuclear reactors don't make "clean" energy, they make radioactive nuclear waste. The "Clean Energy" Jobs Act (Senate Bill 450 / Assembly Bill 649) should not contain pro-nuclear provisions that put Wisconsin communities at risk!

Please call your state legislators today and ask them two questions:

  • Will you support removing the nuclear provisions from the Clean Energy Jobs Act, leaving the state's current safeguards on new nuclear reactors intact?
  • If not, will you support adding language to the bill, to ensure that Wisconsin communities are protected from the dangers of radioactive nuclear waste?

In consultation with energy and policy experts, we developed the following language:

"Spent fuel, when moved from storage pools, will be stored in facilities that are sufficiently secure that foreseeable terrorist attacks would not cause severe economic disruption and casualties outside the perimeter of the nuclear power plant."

While we believe the nuclear provisions should be removed from the bill, the next best solution is to add new safety conditions to protect Wisconsin communities. If your legislator won't support removing the nuclear provisions, please share this language with them and urge them to add it to the Clean Energy Jobs Act.

Wisconsin law has placed important safeguards on nuclear reactors for decades. The Clean Energy Jobs Act would weaken these safeguards, completely removing the most important one: that no new reactors can be built in Wisconsin until there is a federal repository for the high-level radioactive waste. Removing that would leave communities across the state vulnerable to radioactive waste stockpiles.

How to contact your representatives today

Click here to sign an online petition telling Governor Doyle and state legislators to fight climate change without opening the state up to more nuclear reactors.

You can also find contact information for your state legislators here, and call or write them directly with the same message. It only takes a few minutes, and constituent phone calls and letters really do make a difference.

The repeal bill's still around

Another measure currently before legislators, Assembly Bill 516, would entirely remove the safeguards Wisconsin law places on new nuclear reactors. For more information about the bill, see our action alert.

Learn more at a local event

Jennifer Nordstrom is a Wisconsin native who organizes and coordinates the Carbon Free, Nuclear Free campaign of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER). IEER's study, "Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy" describes how the United States can have a zero carbon emissions economy without the use of nuclear power by 2050.

Jennifer is giving talks around the state; see the WNPJ calendar for details.

Don't see an event near you? We'll help you organize one

Contact WNPJ's Carbon Free Nuclear Free organizer, Diane Farsetta, at farsettad@gmail.com or 608-250-9240, to request a speaker.

Read more about the issue

To keep updated on WNPJ's Carbon Free, Nuclear Free campaign, subscribe to our email newsletter by clicking here.