Protest at Sagamore Bridge on Labor Day, demand immediate closing of Pilgrim Nuclear
Protest planned for Monday, Sept. 2 from 11am to 2pm--Cape Downwinders demonstrate there is "No Escape from the Cape"
LABOR DAY RALLY PLANNED FOR MONDAY, SEPT. 2, 2013 AT THE SAGAMORE BRIDGE
Urge immediate closing of the Plymouth Nuclear Power Station
A Cape Cod environmental group called the Cape Downwinders is planning a rally at the Christmas Tree parking lot on Route 6 at the Sagamore Bridge in Sandwich during the weekend's mass exodus on Monday to protest for the closing of the Plymouth Pilgrim Nuclear Power plant which is a few miles north of the site of their protest.
By choosing one of the Cape's biggest weekends they hope to demonstrate how impossible it would be for residents and visitors to flee from the nuclear cloud headed our way should this plant meltdown - thus the group's name "Cape Downwinders".
This activist group which is dedicated to shutting down the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station announced it will be holding a rally to protest what they term "an accident waiting to happen" at the plant.
This protest rally comes on the heels of yesterday's press conference by Governor Deval Patrick in which he questioned the need for the power generated by this 30-year old facility which has been shut down many times recently for problems.
On Wednesday, asked whether he would pressure Entergy to shutter Pilgrim, Patrick said, "It's not clear to me that we need Pilgrim in order to meet all of our electrical needs. So we're going to have to have the conversation about how we meet all those needs and whether this aging nuclear facility is a necessary part of that formula."
Coincidentally another nuclear power plant, the Yankee Nuclear in Vermont, which is of the same design and age as the one in Plymouth, is being shut down by Entergy, the owners of both power plants.
Protest planned for Monday, Sept. 2 from 11am to 2pm
The Downwinder's group says their protest will take place on Labor Day, September 2, 2013 from 11AM - 2PM at the Christmas Tree Shop parking which is the last exit on Route 6 before leaving the Cape on the Sagamore Bridge.
Parking will be available in the row of public parking spaces in the rear of the Christmas Tree Shop's main parking lot, closest to Route 6.
The group says that the catastrophic accident that occurred at Fukushima two and a half years ago continues to raise public awareness about the dangers Cape Codders face if a nuclear accident occurred at the Pilgrim facility.
Pilgrim Nuclear the same design at the one at Fukushima
The Pilgrim reactor is of the same design of the Nuclear Power Plant at Fukushima, Japan, that was destroyed by the Tsunami in March of 2011 and continues to leak tons of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean every day.
The group says that in the event of an incident at the Plymouth power station, there will be "no escape from the Cape".
Read the other recent stories about Pilgrim Nuclear here.
For more information visit Cape Downwinder's here.
For more information regarding the rally, contact Bill Maurer at wmmaurer@comcast.net
Patrick questions need for Pilgrim Nuclear plant
Patrick also said he has spoken to Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin and New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan about the planned closure of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, and said the three executives would work together to make sure Yankee employees “land on their feet” when the plant closes.
Patrick said 60 percent of the workers at Vermont Yankee are from Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and questioned the necessity of Pilgrim, another Entergy-owned nuclear plant located in Plymouth.
Anti-Pilgrim activist Mary Lampert has interpreted the Vermont plant’s closure as a foreshadowing of what Entergy could do with the Plymouth plant.
Asked whether he would pressure Entergy to shutter Pilgrim, Patrick said, “It’s not clear to me that we need Pilgrim in order to meet all of our electrical needs. So we’re going to have to have the conversation about how we meet all those needs and whether this aging nuclear facility is a necessary part of that formula.”
Patrick has made the production of wind, solar and other alternative energy a theme of his administration.
http://www.capecodtoday.com/article/2013/08/29/21426-patrick-questions-need-pilgrim-nuclear-plans-tech-tax-summit-honors-king
Activists to call for Pilgrim's closure
A day after Gov. Deval Patrick questioned the need for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station's energy and two days after Entergy announced plans to close its Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor, activists on Cape Cod are organizing a rally Monday where they'll call for Pilgrim to be shut down.
While Entergy officials say the plant is safely operated and subject to rigorous regulatory scrutiny, members of the activist group Cape Downwinders will gather in the parking lot of the Christmas Tree Shops near the Sagamore Bridge in Sagamore to label Pilgrim "an accident waiting to happen" and to call for its closure.
Activists say Pilgrim's design is similar to the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant in Japan that was rocked by an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, displacing an estimated 100,000 people amid radioactive releases.
Activists have repeatedly called into question the difficulty of evacuating areas around Pilgrim in the event of an accident.
In announcing plans to close its Vermont plant, Entergy officials said Pilgrim faces the same market environment that was troublesome for the Vermont facility but added that Pilgrim's "higher power output provides greater economies of scale."
On Wednesday, asked whether he would pressure Entergy to shutter Pilgrim, Patrick said it wasn't clear whether the commonwealth needed the aging nuclear facility in its energy portfolio, and that matter would be subject to future discussions.
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
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