McCain video uncovers hypocrisy on Yucca Nuclear Waste Site

by Desmogblog

Wed Jun 25, 2008 at 01:42:47 PM PDT

Busted.

As John McCain travels to Nevada today to raise money and tout his misguided energy proposals, a newly uncovered television interview exposes the Arizona Senator's hypocrisy when it comes to the issue of Yucca Mountain and nuclear waste.

McCain is a major proponent of storing thousands of tons of high-level nuclear waste at the unproven and unsafe Yucca Mountain site and just last week proposed a building 100 new nuclear reactors—a plan that by utilities' own estimates could cost more than $1 TRILLION. Yet, in an interview posted to the YouTube website in May 2007 and uncovered today, McCain says he would not be comfortable with the waste traveling through his own home state on its way to the proposed Nevada repository.

Interviewer: What about the transportation? Would you be comfortable with nuclear waste coming through Arizona on its way, you know going through Phoenix, on its way to uh Yucca Mountain?

McCain (Shaking Head): No, I would not. No, I would not.

"It's truly shocking that John McCain is willing to stick the people of Nevada with thousands of tons of dangerous high-level nuclear waste, while acknowledging that he wouldn't even want it traveling through his own state on its way to Yucca Mountain. John McCain needs to explain to the people of Nevada why he thinks their state is a perfect place to dump nuclear waste forever, when he isn't even comfortable with having it in his own backyard for a day," says Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director.

"The Yucca Mountain site is unsafe, unproven and no place to put the thousands of tons of nuclear waste already created by the nuclear industry. What's more, John McCain has proposed a misguided and irresponsible energy plan that would waste at least $1 trillion on 100 new nuclear reactors—effectively doubling the number of reactors and amount of waste we'd have to deal with.

"Nuclear power is simply a costly, dirty, and dangerous distraction from the real solutions to global warming—energy efficiency and clean, renewable energy. Instead of foisting nuclear waste on Nevada, John McCain should put his money where his mouth is on renewable energy and support the clean energy incentives that could make Nevada a leader in building the clean energy economy."

Here's the video:

Incomplete records cover risks from barrels in Lake Superior

John LaForge, Duluth News Tribune
Published Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Questions about whether military radioactive waste was dumped by the Army Corps of Engineers into Lake Superior near Duluth were left unanswered by the Minnesota Department of Health’s “consultation” and the News Tribune report of its findings (“Lake Superior barrels pose no health threat, state report says,” May 31).

Indeed, the consultation’s first concluding recommendation is that the dumping records be thoroughly researched — an admission that its officials have yet to do so.

That the department didn’t review even the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s St. Paul records is made clear by the consultation’s claim that, “Despite one unexplainable and unconfirmed report of radioactivity near the barrels, there is no reason to believe that [they] contained radioactive wastes.”

Nukewatch, a small nonprofit, has found many more, and they indicate that radioactive materials are in at least some of the barrels.

In defense of the health department’s failure to review the complete record, the MPCA’s St. Paul files are a mess. Some documents are missing hundreds of pages, others are misfiled under unrelated headings, and many more refer to reports, maps or appendices that have not been found. Ron Swenson, formerly in charge of the MPCA’s barrel investigation, told me he had taken some records from the agency’s St. Paul headquarters to its Brainerd offices.

Still available for study is a “Restoration Assessment” from the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois that mentions “Radiation Data and Lake Superior Rad Dumping: Note from Honeywell,” dated April 24, 1978.

A 1985 barrel report by former MPCA Region 1 Director John Pegors, done for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, includes a “Description of Substances Possibly Present, Known or Alleged,” including, “PCBs, lead, cadmium, chromium, copper, zinc, nickel, barium, uranium-234, uranium-235, uranium-238” (known as “depleted uranium”), and the “volatile organic compounds acetone, butanone, dichloroethylene, trichloroethylene, trichloromethane (chloroform), dichloromethane, carbon tetrachloride, vinyl chloride, and toluene.” The three uranium isotopes were abbreviated, “Ur234, Ur235 and Ur238.”

Under a section titled, “Waste States, Quantities and Characteristics,” Pegors noted that the “potential exists” for these “toxic, corrosive, radioactive, persistent, soluble, flammable, reactive” wastes “to be in the barrels.”

Five years later, in its 1990 Site Safety and Sampling Plan, the MPCA’s Solid and Hazardous Waste Division team leader Bob Cross included “radioactive” in his list of the 1,457 barrels’ “Waste Characteristics.”

Mike Stich of Hazard Control Inc. of Minneapolis (now All Safe) was hired by the Army Corps to help conduct the October 1990 barrel search. In his Aug. 6, 1991 letter to John Pegors, Stich wrote, “From the very beginning I was suspicious. … When the sub captain’s Geiger counter went off and he surfaced, he was very excited and was sure that he had indeed detected something radioactive. The Corps downplayed (and even physically shielded him from the news people) the Geiger counter event. … I’m of the opinion that Harold [Maynard], the sub pilot, did in fact detect something. He was very excited and [was] almost scared when he surfaced that day.”

In an interview broadcast April 12, 1995, and still available on DVD, Duluth’s KBJR-TV Channel 6 questioned Capt. Harold Maynard, the submarine operator hired by Stich, who investigated some of the dump sites with his K-350 submersible. In the report that aired, Maynard alleged a “cover up” of the presence of radiation in the barrels he examined, an accusation that he maintains to this day.

Maynard spoke with me on May 9. He said that from inside his submarine, an Army Corps Geiger counter registered increased radiation near one dump site. He recalled that the tether securing his sub to Stich’s surface ship also made the Corps’ Geiger counter click. Maynard told me that the Corps “has been denying that ever since,” and he said the Corps would not allow him to return with his sub to the same place to verify the radiation reading.

Rather than finding “no health threat,” as the News Tribune reported, the health department consultation found that “the risks of detrimental exposures to people from the barrels are unquantifiable but low.” This startling self-contradiction is both irresponsible and reckless in view of evidence that is being overlooked or ignored. Given the list of official references to radiation contained in or emitted from some of the barrels, and the fact U.S. Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota and U.S. Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin have said some barrels are “perilously close” to Duluth’s drinking water intake, one has to wonder what it would take to raise an alarm at the department of health.

John LaForge of Luck, Wis., and a Duluth native, is on the staff of the nonprofit Nukewatch.

McCain Denounces Top Aide's Comments

McCain Denounces Top Aide's Comments

By Michael D. Shear
A top aide to Sen. John McCain said a terrorist attack in the United States would benefit the Republican nominee politically, a comment that was quickly denounced by the candidate while
campaigning in California.

Charlie Black, one of McCain's most senior political advisers, said in an interview with Fortune Magazine that a fresh attack "would be a big advantage to him." He also said that the December assassination of Benazir Bhutto, which he called an "unfortunate event," helped him win the Republican primary by focusing attention on national security.

"His knowledge and ability to talk about it reemphasized that this is the guy who's ready to be Commander-in-Chief. And it helped us," Black told the magazine.

Asked about the comments by reporters, McCain said "I cannot imagine why he would say it. It's not true. I've worked tirelessly since 9/11 to prevent another attack on the United States of America."

His campaign also condemned the remarks, calling them "inappropriate."

"Charlie deeply regrets his comments. They were inappropriate and he recognizes that the candidate we work for has devoted his entire adult life to putting protecting his country and placing its security before every other consideration," said Campaign Spokeswoman Jill
Hazelbaker.

Black told reporters in California exactly the same thing, according to the Associated Press: "I deeply regret the comments. They were inappropriate. I recognize that John McCain has devoted his entire adult life to protecting his country and placing its security before every other consideration."

Stop uranium mining until study is done on impact: coalition

Stop uranium mining until study is done on impact: coalition

Group cites effects on environment, health, land claims

Thulasi Srikanthan, The Ottawa Citizen

Published: Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Uranium exploration should be suspended in Ontario until its impact on health, the environment and aboriginal land rights is properly addressed, said a report released yesterday by the Community Coalition Against Mining Uranium.

The report emerged from a series of public meetings in Ottawa, Sharbot Lake, Kingston and Peterborough in April. It also called for a royal commission to review Ontario's Mining Act, deeming it out of date.

The meetings were part of a citizens' inquiry conducted by the coalition of concerned citizens from the greater Ottawa Valley and the Kingston areas.

"I hope at the end of the day if the province takes it seriously, they will put in a comprehensive inquiry," said former Ottawa mayor Marion Dewar, who is not part of the coalition, but served as a independent panel member at the hearings.

Ontario's Mining Act, passed in 1868 and changed little since, has raised the concern of a number of municipalities that want the province to make changes; including Ottawa, which has asked for an immediate comprehensive public review.

Critics are concerned that prospectors can stake a mining claim on private property without notifying landowners, as long as the latter don't possess the mineral rights. Claims cannot be made in some areas, like gardens, orchards, "pleasure grounds" or land containing homes or churches. While a majority of Ontario landowners do own mineral and surface rights, others have given theirs up, possibly for financial reasons. Landowners pay taxes on mineral rights.

Aside from reviewing the act, council also decided to petition the province to impose an immediate moratorium on uranium prospecting, exploration and mining in Eastern Ontario and the Ottawa River watershed. These activities, according to the city's website, would be suspended until all environmental and health issues were resolved and "there are settlement plans for all related native land claims."

However, the chance of the province agreeing to a moratorium seems remote. "That is not something we are considering," said Anne-Marie Flanagan, a spokeswoman for the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. Ms. Flanagan said there is a high global demand for uranium.

"It's used not just for energy, but it's also used for detection and treatment of cancer," she said.

"We don't have any operating uranium mines here, but we need to keep the option open." As for the act, Ms. Flanagan said the government is committed to a review.

"At this point, we are studying legislation in other jurisdictions to see what they have done," she said. Ms. Flanagan said the government intends to hold public consultations, but no timeframe has been set.

The report also urged independent studies into the health of residents in areas where uranium is processed. This includes Port Hope, Blind River and Chalk River. The coalition also called for a halt to new nuclear power plants and suggested money be directed to reducing energy use and increasing sustainable sources of energy.

For a full list of recommendations, visit www.ccamu.ca

'When John McCain was my captive'

By Andrew Harding BBC News in Haiphong, Vietnam Tran Trong Duyet claims no torture was carried out at Hoa Lo Tran Trong Duyet - a sprightly retiree and amateur ballroom dancer - must rank as one of John McCain's more unlikely supporters. Four decades ago, during the Vietnam war, Mr Duyet was in charge of the notorious Hoa Lo prison - the place where Mr McCain says he was brutally beaten and tortured during five-and-a-half years as an American prisoner of war. "McCain is my friend," said 75-year-old Mr Duyet as he feeds the caged birds he now keeps in his garden in this coastal city. "If I was American, I would vote for him." Informal chats Navy pilot John McCain was shot down during a bombing raid over the North Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, in 1967. He ejected from his aircraft and parachuted into a city lake - only to be dragged out by an angry crowd, barely conscious, and with two broken arms and a broken leg. From there he was taken to Hoa Lo prison, known to its American military inmates as the "Hanoi Hilton". McCain was captured after his plane was shot down in 1967 McCain has since described enduring months of solitary confinement and systematic torture which drove him to try to kill himself. "I don't know how he'd react if he met me again," said Mr Duyet, flicking through old black and white photographs of himself and his American prisoners at Hoa Lo. "But I can confirm to you that we never tortured him. We never tortured any prisoners." Mr Duyet reminisces instead about how he often summoned the future US presidential candidate to his private office for informal chats. "We used to argue about the war - about whether it was right or wrong," he says. "He is a very frank man - very conservative, and very loyal to his country and the American ideal. "He had a very interesting accent and sometimes he taught me words in English and corrected my accent. I have followed his career since he left prison." Rapprochement So is Mr Duyet implying that that Senator McCain lied about his treatment at the Hanoi Hilton? "He did not tell the truth," he says. "But I can somehow sympathise with him. He lies to American voters in order to get their support for his presidential election." The "Hanoi Hilton" is now a museum - containing McCain's flight suit But Mr Duyet's propaganda-perfect version of events is impossible to verify - and should be treated with caution in a country where the Communist authorities still keep a tight control over the media. Relations between Vietnam and the United States have improved dramatically in recent years, following the normalisation of ties between the former enemies in 1995. Mr McCain played a crucial role in bringing about that initial rapprochement - a fact which helps explain Mr Duyet's enthusiastic support for the McCain presidential campaign. "I wish him success in the presidential election," he says. "Of course the Americans started the war in Vietnam and killed so many people - but now we want to leave the past behind. "So now I consider John McCain my friend because he did much to mend relations between our two countries. And if he becomes president he will do more to improve those ties."