NEIS ACTION ALERT
4/20/05 - `05-04

As the weather gets warmer, the action heats up on the energy front, too. Be a part of the movement for safe energy and a less-nuclear world. Make plans to participate in these events:

1.) Fight the energy bill from - Texas....

Our friends from Public Citizen and NIRS inform us that this year's rotten energy bill is now in bloom once again. The House is expected to act on the bill this week; the Senate later. Both Illinos Senators are extremely responsive to the safe-energy message; however, they both needs solid comments of support, and arguments demonstrating the economic benefits of safe-energy
alternatives. With this, they will easily support a Renewable Portfolio Standard. Please contact your Representative this week
on these points:

Tell your representative to oppose the regressive Bush energy policy!

SEND AN E-MAIL NOW via Public Citizen's Web site!
action.citizen.org/pc/mail/oneclick_compose/

The anti-consumer, anti-environment omnibus energy bill (H.R. 6, "The Energy Policy Act of 2005") that failed to become law in the past two sessions of Congress is once again being debated in the U.S. House of Representatives. Despite the myriad reasons that this perennial package of polluter pork was rejected previously, the current energy bill is composed of more of the same bad policies that support the fossil fuel and nuclear industries -- plus some new harmful provisions -- with even fewer policies that would promote renewable energy, energy efficiency, conservation, and improved automobile fuel economy.

This bill is called the Energy Policy Act of 2005. It would:

* Promote and fund new nuclear power reactors by authorizing the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Nuclear Power 2010 program

* Promote and fund new reactor designs through a program called Generation IV

* Put an additional $2 billion down the research and development pit of nuclear power generation and dangerous (and long-banned) waste reprocessing

* Authorize $1.1 billion for a nuclear-hydrogen cogeneration project to create hydrogen fuel using nuclear power, making a mockery of the clean energy concept

* Reauthorize the Price-Anderson Act, giving accident coverage to reactors licensed for the next 20 years, thereby encouraging new reactor construction.

A vote by the entire House could happen as soon as this Thursday, April 21. Contact your representative TODAY and urge him or her to oppose this terrible energy bill!

Go to this URL for Public Citizen's section-by-section analysis of the energy bill:
www.citizen.org/cmep/energy_enviro_nuclear/electricity/energybill/2005/articles.cfm

2.) NEIS, No-New-Nukes, NIRS, Public Citizen say "NO!" to Exelon's plans for a new Clinton nuke:

On April 19th, all four groups sent members en masse to the NRC's "Early Site Permit" hearing for Exelon's proposed new nuclear plants at the downstate Clinton nuclear plant site. Over 300 people reportedly attended the meeting, with over 100 giving oral statements. These groups accounted for over 40 people present. NEIS members gave statements there, and will send in more formal comments before the NRC deadline of May 22.

So can you. If you want to review the 600+-page ESP-EIS, you can download it in .pdf format from the NRC:

Written comments on the draft EIS will also be considered by NRC staff. Comments should be submitted either by mail (postmarked by
May 25, 2005) to the Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of Administration, Mailstop T-6D59, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, or by e-mail (sent no later than May 25, 2005) at ClintonEIS (at) nrc.gov.

The draft EIS and related documents are available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Md. They are also available on the NRC's Web site at:

www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-licensing/esp/clinton.html

In addition, the Vespasian Warner Public Library has agreed to make the draft EIS available for public inspection.

We have not yet begun to fight! Final decision on the EIS is expected in Fall, 2006. Let's stop Clinton-2 BEFORE it even becomes a hole in the ground.

3.) Save the dates! Important NEIS and other events coming up:

NEIS is revving up for a year of intense safe-energy activity. We invite you to become more involved in the effort to make the world a low less nuclear. Make plans to come to these events:

* Wednesday, April, 27: "A Deadly Serious Campaign to Eliminate The Nuclear Threat" Presented by Tadatoshi Akiba, Mayor of Hiroshima

When: Wednesday, April, 27, 2005
Where: Campus of DePaul University
5:30-6:30pm Meeting with activists of the local peace groups/organizations
Room: Student Center Reception Hall (Room 102)
2250 N. Sheffield, Chicago, IL 60614

7:00-7:20pm Documentary Film --- Hiroshima Nagasaki August 1945
7:20-8:20pm Mayor's Talk
8:20-9:00pm Q & A session
All the above are at Schmidt Academic Center (SAC) Room 154 - Auditorium, 2320 North Kenmore Avenue, Chicago, IL 60714

Mayor Akiba is President of Mayor for Peace that boasts over 750 city members in 110 countries and regions, including the cities of Baltimore, Delray, abd Rochester in the United States. His talk entitled, "A Deadly Serious Campaign to Eliminate The Nuclear Threat" will be followed by a 16-minute documentary Hiroshima Nagasaki: August 1945 which is the first footage shot following the
bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The talk is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Yuki Miyamoto, Ph.D., Visiting Assistant Professor, at ymiyamot (at) depaul.edu or the Department of
Religious Studies at 773-325-7385, or 4547.
or Fumitaka Miyahara, Friends of the Green Planet at fotgp (at) worldnet.att.net,

* May 7, Saturday: NEIS Annual Meeting and Open House/Buffet:

NEIS Annual Membership Meeting: 4-5 p.m. (For NEIS members in good standing; contact our office if you are unsure of your member status)
Open House/Buffet: 5:30 - 9 p.m. (Open to the members, general public and guests)

(Buffet optional; suggested donation $15; RSVP no later than Friday May 5th for the Buffet!!)
RSVP: (847)869-7650; neis (at) neis.org

Guests Speakers:
* Dr. Sandra Lindberg, co-founder of the No New Nukes organization, speaking on "No New Nukes" in Illinois! - the fight against Clinton-2
* Dave Kraft, Director, NEIS, "Fighting Back!" - NEIS' continued role in a safe-energy future for Illinois

Additional audio/visual presentations will include showings of "Atomic Lies," an award winning Swiss-TV expose about the nuclear industry; and other films and DVDs.

* May 12, Thursday: the next "Know Nukes!" session: "GIGO: Why Current Radiation Standards Don't Protect the Public"

Proposed speaker/video: DVD footage of Dr. Chris Busby of the European Committee on Radiation Risk; and materials from Solange Fernex, former member of the European Parliament and current president of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, France

Location: NEIS office, Evanston
Moderator: Dave Kraft, NEIS director

Description: "GIGO" - the computer term meaning, "garbage in, garbage out," seems appropriate to describe the current radiation standards used by the various national and international agencies to determine "how much radiation exposure is too much" for the public and the environment. Faulty assumptions, outdated understandings, and the power of the vested interests have conspired to
set the current standards too low to adequately protect the public - at a time when some parts of the nuclear industry would like to set the standards for "allowable doses" even higher. A precursor event for the "Citizen Epidemiology Conference" scheduled in May in the Chicago area.

* Friday - Sunday, May 20-22, "The Next Step: Citizen Epidemiology Conference". The follow-up conference to the highly successful "World DU/Uranium Weapons Conference" of 2003 in Hamburg, and "Nuclear Power and Children's Health" in Chicago. This conference is designed to provide people with skills needed to track public health effects in their own communities.

Evanston Campus, Northwestern University (near Davis St. CTA-Purple Line"L" and Metra train stops)

(Friday: Annenberg Hall; Saturday & Sunday, Harris 107)
(see NEIS website at www.neis.org for updates, schedule, registration forms; or contact the NEIS office at (847)869-7650)

Tuition: $30 for weekend; $15/single day, made payable to "NEIS"
(optional cash lunch provided Saturday)

Invited Presenters:
Dr. Chris Busby, Wales ● Dr. Jawad Al-Ali, Iraq ● Dr. Ernest Sternglass, USA ●
Joe Mangano, USA

Video showing of the award-winning, "The Doctor and the Dying Children of Basra" (requested donation $2)


--We look forward to seeing you at these events!! Contact the NEIS office for more information.