Comment: These guys are fighting the Nuke's group, they want real "green energy" which does not include Nuke Plants, therefore, no uranium mining!
By BOB AUDETTE, Reformer Staff
Posted: 04/03/2009 02:58:24 AM EDT
Friday, April 3
BRATTLEBORO -- A new "pro-renewable energy" organization, which was founded just last week, paid for full-page ads that ran in newspapers across the state blasting Entergy's claims that Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is safe, clean and reliable.
Wednesday's ads were sponsored by the Clean Green Vermont Alliance, which was co-founded by David Blittersdorf, a former president of the American Wind Energy Association and co-owner with his wife Jan of NRG Systems.
Other co-founders of the Clean Green Vermont Alliance include Pamela Baker of Marketing Partners and Andy Perchlik, executive director of Renewable Energy Vermont.
The alliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public on the impact of fossil fuels and nuclear power on the environment and how renewables can replace those sources of electricity, said Blittersdorf, and is actively pursuing new members.
"We are just starting to grow it."
Recently, Blittersdorf also founded Earth Turbines to develop residential wind turbines for electricity production and is happy to admit he sponsored the ads.
"Entergy tends to hide behind the groups they fund," said Blittersdorf.
Not so with the Clean Energy Vermont Alliance, he said.
"We're Vermonters. I've been here my whole life and I believe in growing businesses that are meaningful to Vermont."
The Clean Green Vermont Alliance wants people to know about the
ecological, safety and health issues around coal and nuclear power and the advantages of renewables, said Blittersdorf.
"I would like to see wind energy in Vermont," he said, whether it be large, small or community-based.
"We want clean energy."
The stimulus bill should help the renewable energy industry and start-up businesses such as his.
That makes it good for the economy as well, he said.
"The small wind turbine industry has never taken off," he said. "It needs a better product."
That's why he founded Earth Turbine, a company in Williston with 15 employees and prospects for the addition of 15 to 30 new jobs this year.
Needing centralized coal-fired or nuclear power plants is "old school thinking," he said, which is the central point to the alliances.
"We haven't been real successful at pointing out the advantages of renewables," said Blittersdorf, who said the coal and nuclear industries have done a good job of convincing many people that renewables can't supply a continuous supply of baseload power.
"We're really sick and tired of the garbage. This is not a baseload argument."
With an integrated system of hydro, solar, wind and biomass, electricity can be on demand 24 hours a day, he said.
In its public relations blitz, which featured the ads and a 1972 Pontiac LeMans, a car that was parked at the Church Street Marketplace in Burlington on April Fool's Day.
Yankee went on line in 1972.
"There are many products we use today that date back to 1972 -- calculators were invented that year, for example," stated Blittersdorf, in a press release announcing the formation of the Clean Green Energy Alliance.
"Do we really want something designed and constructed in 1972 to run until 2032?" (Scary to think that NRC would extend the life of a old, dangerous Nuke Plant!)
Entergy, which owns and operates Yankee, has applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to extend the plant's operating license from 2012 to 2032.
"This '72 LeMans still runs, and it passed the State's inspection -- but it only gets 12 miles to the gallon, on a good day," he stated.
"When it comes to a nuclear power plant, I feel very passionately that 40 years is long enough and extending the life-span for another 20 years is a risk we Vermonters can't afford to take."
A spokesman for Vermont Yankee said he had no comment about the advertisement or any of the claims made.
NRG Systems, which was founded in 1982, has 56 employees who develop and make wind assessment systems turbine control equipment for the wind turbine industry.
Marketing Partners, located in Burlington, works with not-for-profits, government entities and companies dedicated to social, health and environmental values, according to its Web site.
Renewable Energy Vermont is dedicated to transitioning from fossil fuels and nuclear power to renewables as energy sources.
For more information, visit www.72GoodAsNew.com.
Bob Audette can be reached at raudette@reformer.com, or 802-254-2311, ext. 273.
Showing posts with label New Group. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Group. Show all posts
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
The Alliance targets uranium mining at grassroots level
By TIM DAVIS/Star-Tribune EditorWednesday, March 18, 2009 9:27 AM EDT
A new anti-uranium group called The Alliance hopes to stop uranium mining at the grassroots, local level.
The Alliance was formed by Gregg Vickrey and about a dozen others, and recently held an organizational meeting at Vickrey's home on North Main Street in Chatham.
Vickrey is chairman of the new group, Andrew Lester of Chatham is vice chairman, and Vickrey's wife, Barb, is secretary-treasurer.
Vickrey previously served as chairman of the Chatham-Pittsylvania County Chapter of Southside Concerned Citizens, which was formed 30 years ago when the prospect of uranium mining first surfaced in the county.
The Coles Hill deposit, about six miles northeast of Chatham, is one of the largest uranium deposits in the United States and is worth between $8 billion and $10 billion.
Vickrey said Southside Concerned Citizens is focused more on the state legislature, which has the power to lift Virginia's moratorium on uranium mining.
Vickrey is still a member of the group, but hopes The Alliance will do more, especially on the local level."They are a fine group," he said. "But they stop with education.
We take it a step further by encouraging people to actively participate in local government.
"Vickrey believes The Alliance can be effective in convincing local officials to strengthen and enforce zoning and hazardous waste laws.
The group's ultimate aim is to convince localities to ban uranium mining.
"We're really a local rights-based organization," he said. "We're not an environmental group. We educate people on what the problem is and then we offer solutions.
"Vickrey, a former manager of Piedmont Mall in Danville, recently retired because of heart problems. He has lived in Chatham about 13 years and is dead against uranium mining.
"We're anti-nuclear. We don't want to see uranium mining and milling anywhere.
It kills people," he said."We feel like there are other technologies that are less expensive and are a lot cleaner and won't kill people.
"Shireen Parsons, a Virginia organizer for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, is an adviser and Alliance board member.
Based in Pennsylvania, the Community Environmental Defense Fund has been successful in getting more than 125 communities to pass ordinances against a variety of "corporate assaults," including the spreading of sewage sludge.
"Our primary tool is local law making," said Parsons. "We tell people what their rights are and assist communities in seizing and wielding their inherent government authority.
"Last year, Halifax became the first town in Virginia to adopt a chemical trespass ordinance aimed at uranium mining.
Chatham considered a similar ordinance, but abandoned the idea following an attorney general's opinion that the law is unconstitutional.
Both Vickrey and Parsons are convinced that uranium opponents are not going to win at the state level.
"What we hope to do is to help people understand that they have the power to stop it," Vickrey said.
"We need ordinances, not resolutions."
An Alliance membership form and calendar of events are available on the group's Web site at thealliance123.blogspot.com.
Founding members can join for a one-time fee of $25 through Memorial Day.
After May 25, the fee will be $25 a year.The group is applying for tax-exempt status, and Vickrey said dues will be used to "strictly promote the cause.
"The Alliance offers free, educational seminars on the dangers and perils of uranium mining.For more information, contact Vickrey at alliance123@ymail.com
.tim.davis@chathamstartribune.com434-432-2791
A new anti-uranium group called The Alliance hopes to stop uranium mining at the grassroots, local level.
The Alliance was formed by Gregg Vickrey and about a dozen others, and recently held an organizational meeting at Vickrey's home on North Main Street in Chatham.
Vickrey is chairman of the new group, Andrew Lester of Chatham is vice chairman, and Vickrey's wife, Barb, is secretary-treasurer.
Vickrey previously served as chairman of the Chatham-Pittsylvania County Chapter of Southside Concerned Citizens, which was formed 30 years ago when the prospect of uranium mining first surfaced in the county.
The Coles Hill deposit, about six miles northeast of Chatham, is one of the largest uranium deposits in the United States and is worth between $8 billion and $10 billion.
Vickrey said Southside Concerned Citizens is focused more on the state legislature, which has the power to lift Virginia's moratorium on uranium mining.
Vickrey is still a member of the group, but hopes The Alliance will do more, especially on the local level."They are a fine group," he said. "But they stop with education.
We take it a step further by encouraging people to actively participate in local government.
"Vickrey believes The Alliance can be effective in convincing local officials to strengthen and enforce zoning and hazardous waste laws.
The group's ultimate aim is to convince localities to ban uranium mining.
"We're really a local rights-based organization," he said. "We're not an environmental group. We educate people on what the problem is and then we offer solutions.
"Vickrey, a former manager of Piedmont Mall in Danville, recently retired because of heart problems. He has lived in Chatham about 13 years and is dead against uranium mining.
"We're anti-nuclear. We don't want to see uranium mining and milling anywhere.
It kills people," he said."We feel like there are other technologies that are less expensive and are a lot cleaner and won't kill people.
"Shireen Parsons, a Virginia organizer for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, is an adviser and Alliance board member.
Based in Pennsylvania, the Community Environmental Defense Fund has been successful in getting more than 125 communities to pass ordinances against a variety of "corporate assaults," including the spreading of sewage sludge.
"Our primary tool is local law making," said Parsons. "We tell people what their rights are and assist communities in seizing and wielding their inherent government authority.
"Last year, Halifax became the first town in Virginia to adopt a chemical trespass ordinance aimed at uranium mining.
Chatham considered a similar ordinance, but abandoned the idea following an attorney general's opinion that the law is unconstitutional.
Both Vickrey and Parsons are convinced that uranium opponents are not going to win at the state level.
"What we hope to do is to help people understand that they have the power to stop it," Vickrey said.
"We need ordinances, not resolutions."
An Alliance membership form and calendar of events are available on the group's Web site at thealliance123.blogspot.com.
Founding members can join for a one-time fee of $25 through Memorial Day.
After May 25, the fee will be $25 a year.The group is applying for tax-exempt status, and Vickrey said dues will be used to "strictly promote the cause.
"The Alliance offers free, educational seminars on the dangers and perils of uranium mining.For more information, contact Vickrey at alliance123@ymail.com
.tim.davis@chathamstartribune.com434-432-2791
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