Jen's Green Journal

Apparently all that a Utah Legislator needs to do to avoid ethics violations at that the capitol is to simply announce that legislation might be a conflict of interest -- and then they can *nudge-nudge* *wink-wink* and get back to sponsoring and passing bills that they will personally profit from.

When that legislation that our "representatives" can profit from is dangerous to the environment and future generations in Utah, it's definitely time they be reeled in by their constituents -- and in fact all the citizens of Utah. There's money to be made--no wonder nuke power is on the fast track at the legislature.

From an email I got from HEAL Utah:

The ethics bar at the Utah Legislature is set so low on conflicts of interest that a legislator is simply supposed to declare that he or she may have a conflict with a piece of legislation—that’s all.

Yet, that was too much to ask of Rep. Mike Noel (R-Kanab) and Rep. Aaron Tilton (R-Springville) today as they continued to deny any conflict of interest with the nuclear power legislation their committee has been looking into and literally laughed off any suggestion to the contrary.

The situation would be funny were it not so egregious.  Apparently, if you are the CEO of a company with plans in motion to build a nuclear reactor in Utah and, as a legislator, you are a driving force behind efforts to make it easier to bring nuclear power to Utah—as is the case for Rep. Tilton—that does not present a conflict of interest.  Nor is it a conflict of interest—as in Rep. Noel’s case—if you are the chair of the committee tasked with drafting nuclear power legislation and your employer stands to make millions should your colleague Rep. Tilton succeed in his plans to build a nuclear reactor.

If you are at all upset by this situation, please take a minute to email this story to your state senator and representative.  Let them know you are concerned when legislators are allowed to act as lobbyists for their own personal interests (or those of their employer).  Any legislation that comes out of such a process is tainted, and all legislators need to know that.

I've personally found that on the local level, we have a lot more power with our letters and phone calls than at the national level, so writing or calling your reps is definitely worth the effort. The email continues:

To look up your legislators, go to: http://le.state.ut.us/maps/amap.html

Here are the links to yesterday’s Deseret News story: http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695219044,00.html

and today’s story in the Salt Lake Tribune: http://www.sltrib.com//ci_7200144

While the discussion on nuclear power at today’s legislative hearing was a predictable cheer fest (a representative from EnergySolutions was even invited to testify), it was alarming when Rep. Tilton rose to talk about his company’s plans with his new business partner, Nils Diaz.  Mr. Diaz is the former chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission who gave final approval to Private Fuel Storage to dump the nation’s high-level nuclear waste in Skull Valley, and so it’s hard to believe he has Utah’s best interests in mind.

Today’s meeting also gave Rocky Mountain Power an opportunity to unveil what looks like their attempt to derail true renewable energy development in this state, while at the same time provide a market for Rep. Tilton’s nuclear power.

I'll be writing to Rocky Mountain Power as well and threaten to cancel my Blue Sky blocks if they continue to pursue Nuclear power in Utah.

Take and early lunch next Wednesday to help stop EnergyPollutions oops, EnergySolutionsforPolluters from trying to shortcut to expand their already unwanted nukewaste importing business, I mean storage.

From HEAL Utah:

It's been an interesting day following the blogswarm to keep nuke waste out of Utah and reading the posts from (mostly) Utah bloggers opposed to the dump on the Goshute Reservation. I've been reflecting on this issue all day and just felt the need to write a bit more about it and the impact that this issue has had on my life and that of my family.  

The proposed PFS dump on the Goshute Reservation is what brought my husband to Utah a few years ago. He had been working in Nevada as an activist for Shundahai Network which supports the Western Shoshone and the nuclear devastaion of their land. He moved the Shundahai office to Salt Lake to organize against the PFS dump and support the Goshutes that were opposed to it. I met him when I came to help volunteer at Shundahai in 2002.

I guess you could say that my involvement really goes back to 3rd grade at Bellview Elementary when we were learning about Native American culture. I was chosen as a co-chief of the classroom "tribe" for the time period that we were learning about Indians. One day, as a role-playing experiment, one of the third grade teachers came to school dressed in suit and tie. Each of the tribes' (classes') leaders were brought to see him one at a time. When it was my turn I was led into a small room with a table and two chairs, the teacher in one of them as I sat in the other. The teacher was posing as a government agent who proposed that I move my "people" onto a reservation -- he was really trying to sell me on the idea by offering lots of incentives that I can't quite remember 27 years later. I do remember that my reaction was a very strong repulsion to the idea. I wasn't even all that sure what a reservation was, but I somehow knew it was wrong. I refused the offer and wouldn't be persuaded. Somehow that lesson stuck with me, and through the years I often felt that I wanted to make up for what my race had done to the Native Americans.

I found myself at the Western Shoshone Defense Project gathering in 1997 where I heard Margene Bullcreek, a Goshute woman who has been at the forefront of the resistance to PFS,  speak about it. I read Winona LaDuke's book "All Our Relations" in 2000 and learned a lot about environmental racism and how polluters were using native land as a loophole to get out of following environmental laws.

I eventually found out about Shundahai's action alert list and signed up to get involved, and through that involvement I met the man I would later marry and have a child with. Through my involvment with Shundahai, I found out about and attended the Action for Nuclear Abolition which was held at an encampment  near the gates of the Nevada Test Site  which is located on Western Shoshone land.

I spent only a little time on the Goshute reservation for a Shundahai event held on Margene's land there  in October 2004. It was very dry and dusty, and the wind never seemed to let up while we were there. I thought about the possiblity of leaking nuke waste casks and the dust swirling through it blowing it throughout the reservation and beyond, contaminating every thing for miles, making people and animals sick.

I hope we can stop the transportation and storage of nuke waste in Utah, but we also need to find other economic solutions for indigenous people who are targeted for their land. Much of the uranium used in our nuclear industry has been mined from Native American land, with over 1,000 abandoned uranium mines on the Navajo reservation which are poisoning the land and people there, according to "All My Relations" -- those people need to be fairly compensated and the toxic wastes cleaned up, as do many other indigenous victims of environmental racism. The United States has done wrong to the Native Americans since this country was founded, and it continues to this day. 

Just a few of the organizations that working for environmental justice for Native Americans:

Honor the Earth
Western Shoshone Defense Project
Shundahai Network
Greenaction (environmental racism)
Ohngo Gaudadeh Devia Awareness (Margene Bullcreek's organization)
Citizen Alert
Environmental Justice Foundation

Carnival of the Green #24 is visiting the Evangelical Ecologist's blog.

The most disturbing post touts nuclear energy as the new "green" energy. I guess with these folks its "outta sight, outta mind" -- they don't live in a state that may end of having to store all this deadly waste for thousands and thousands of years -- it doesn't just disappear into thin air, folks. The post does come from the "Private Sector Development Blog" which probably explains a lot.

I guess its also been a few years since Chernobyl and Nine Mile Island, and we all know that after a few years the memory fades just enough so that history can repeat itself. The tendancy for the human race to not learn from our mistakes doesn't bode well for our species' survival. 

I don't post a lot of calls to action, but this one is really important. We have until May 8th to write to the BLM our concerns about the proposed right-of-way to create PFS's nuke dump on the Goshute Reservation. This is one of the few things that the right and the left in Utah agree on. To make this easier, you can go here to take action.

U.S. Found in Violation of Native Americans' Rights, Anti-Racism Treaty story from Common Dreams.

On Friday, the Geneva-based panel said Washington's claim to the land ''did not comply with contemporary human rights norms, principles, and standards that govern determination of indigenous property rights.''

The panel cited special concern over reported federal and legislative efforts to privatize ancestral lands, to turn them over to mining and energy companies, and to open a nuclear waste dump on tribal territory without consulting and over the objections of the Western Shoshone people.

It further assailed U.S. authorities for reportedly using arrests, hunting and fishing restrictions, grazing fees, and other measures to intimidate tribe members.

The Nevada Test Site and Yucca Mountain are both located on Western Shoshone lands.

Knowing the US government, and Bu$H & Co. in particular, this probably won't do much to stop the this country's determination to continue to steal land from the native people. Here are some organizations that I'm familiar with that are working for justice for the Western Shoshone people:

Western Shoshone Defense Project

Shundahai Network

I had the opportunity this evening to briefly testify as a citizen at the House Business and Finance committee's meeting this afternoon against HB70. I had to bring my 11 year old with me to the meeting with a bribe for good behavior.

I'm not the world's best public speaker -- I get very nervous and tend to talk fast, so I'm not sure how well my point came across. I also had to leave quickly after speaking as I had a 6 pm deadline to pick up my toddler from day care and I finished my testimony at 5:45 (the committee meeting didn't start until 4:00 p.m. and SB70 was fourth on the agenda).

I didn't have the chance to stay and see how the committee voted or hear any additional testimony. I'm sure there will be news about it tomorrow, but I feel pretty sure that the committee will have voted it out with a favorable recommendation.

From some of the discussion from the committee, it seemed that they felt that this was an issue of balance of power, and that they could be trusted to do their homework and not vote in large enough numbers to over ride a gubantorial veto if there were truly any problems with various dumping issues that might come up.

I wish I could feel as confident about the legislature. As a citizen, I don't have access to the resources that radioactive waste dumping industries would have. They can afford to pay lobbyists to continually work on their behalf year round. I confess that I'm not so confident that Jane and Joe Citizen will have as much sway as their well-funded competition.

I attended the natural resources committee hearing this morning on S.B. 70, which would allow the legislature to override a gubantorial veto on nuke waste dumping issues. I brought my 2 year old daughter who behaved quite well throughout the hearing, much to my delight and surprise.

Predictably, the bill passed out of committee. Senator McCoy and Senator Fife were the only nays. But what was even more interesting was getting a feel for where the Senators were coming from.

My observations on the Senators:

Senator Peterson, who represents Tooele County (one of the most toxic counties in the U.S.) became visably upset at members of the public at the hearing who had made some audible sounds of disappointment at some of the interaction between the senators. He grew very passionate about the bill and even offered to sponsor the bill in place of Senator Stephenson if there were questions of conflict of interest.

Senator Hatch questioned the idea that the legislature regulate the waste at all -- he seemed to feel that we could leave that to regulatory departments, like the Division of Environmental Quality. It was pointed out in later testimony from Jason Groenwald of HEAL that something this toxic needs to be regulated through a body that is answerable to the public.

Senator Stephenson doesn't see a problem with letting the legislature have a 2/3 override provision, stating that it was rare for 2/3 of the body to agree on anything (there was some derisive laughter from the public present on this, since from our point of view, the legislature often has 2/3 agreement on many things. Most of our reps and senators are Republican, for example -- there's not a lot of balance in our state government). I can only hope that they'll listen to the majority of Utahns on this issue, though, since most of us -- Republican, Democrat, and Green are against having nuke waste dumped here.

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As a member of the public interested in attending this meeting, I was very disappointed that the capitol isn't very public-friendly right now. Mostly this is due to reconstruction efforts, but there are no signs directing you where to go and you have to go some distances uphill and out of your way to get to where you need to -- not even knowing if you'll be able to get there that way.

I did discover that there is a public parking lot just south of the employee parking lot on the east side of the complex, but this was only after finding parking on the north west thinking I'd be closer to the west building which is where the hearing was being held. I walked and strollered my toddler some distance east and then south to get around the maze-like obstructions of construction zones and stairways. Closer to the public parking area (and the only way to walk in), the sidewalks disappear and the road narrows, and then you have to walk into the public parking lot through a narrow road that doesn't allow much room between you and the cars.

I hope this lack of public friendly routes to the necessary buildings is just a coincidence, but the cynic in me wonders if this is meant to discourage those of us that aren't insiders from butting in with the business of running our state.

I am better prepared to get around up there now, so look out! I may be spending some child-free Tuesday mornings up there during the rest of the legislative session.

So word is just barely out that there will be a hearing on the controversial S.B. 70 by the Senate Natural Resources committee early tomorrow morning.

This is the bill that would allow the legislature to overturn a veto from the governor on the issue of Envirocare's proposed expansion of their nuclear waste dump.

It's controversial because Senator Stephenson, who is sponsoring the bill, is a paid lobbyist for the Utah Tax Payers Association of which Envirocare is a member. I wrote about this possible conflict of interest here.

This seems to be moving very fast, and this hearing seems to be scheduled in such a way as to limit public participation -- most likely due to the fact that the majority of Utahns do not want nuclear waste dumped here.

For those who are able to participate, show support, or just want to get their feet wet in the political process,  the hearing is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. Monday, January 23 in room W015 of the West Wing which is the bottom floor of new west wing addition to capitol. There are plenty of helpful people working up at the capitol that can help you locate the meeting. Parking may be a little tight so leave a little early.

I'm planning on being there with my 2 year old and I'll stay as long as her behavior holds out.

If you can't make the meeting or can and want to help more, you can contact the committee members

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The League of Women Voter's legislative update has it worded differently:

Today at 9:00 the Senate Natural Resources Committee debates SB 70, a bill that changes the approval process for expanding low level nuclear waste storage at Envirocare. The law currently says the governor AND the Legislature must approve changing a radioactive waste facility. The question is exactly how they do that. SB 70 says that the Legislature's approval should be in the form of a law. This means the governor, who has said he's opposed to Envirocare's expansion, could veto that law but the Legislature could override the veto by a two-thirds vote and have the final say. (ed. note: still looks like a power grab to me)

Senator Stephenson, the bill's sponsor, is an officer and lobbyist for the Utah Taxpayer's Association, whose members include Envirocare. This has raised the question of conflict of interest.

Some people view Utah's deserts as wasteland. It took me until I was 20 years old to appreciate how amazing the desert here can be. I don't want Utah to be used as the nation's dumping ground for its nuke (or any other) waste

The misleading-ly named Envirocare makes it's money by disposing of "low-level" (a very relative term) radioactive waste from around the country in our desert countryside. Many polls have shown that the majority of Utahns don't want this stuff dumped here, and there have been many instances (almost every year) where citizen-based organizations have had to fight to keep Envirocare from accepting hotter waste, or expanding the size of it's dump.

I wrote a few days ago about a proposed bill up at the legislature this session that would give the legislature power to override the governor's veto on the issue of Envirocare's expansion. What I found out today is that the bill's (SB70) sponsor, Senator Stephenson, is president of the Utah Taxpayers Association, a group that Envirocare has contributed to financially. An ethics investigation is being called for to see if there is a conflict of interest.

More info:

Press release from HEAL Utah
KSL

A few years back there was a citizen's initiative on the ballot to block B & C level radioactive waste from being dumped in the state. It didn't have the funds to compete with Envirocare's (the ironically named company that stores the waste for profit) media campaign and the confusion on the issue caused the initiative to fail.

Legislators took offense that the public went above their heads to create law and the very next legislative session they made the already cumbersome citizen initiative process even more difficult.

Recently, Governor Huntsman had expressed that he won't okay Envirocare's proposed expansion, and there are some in the legislature that aren't too happy about that either.

From the Salt Lake Tribune's article today, "Lawmakers ponder bill on waste":

  "The announcement made some lawmakers bristle. They don't like the fact that the governor's decision can override a majority of the Legislature, which also must approve any expansion.
    At the same time, some lawmakers say they don't want to look like they are granting the controversial company special favors if they approve a bill allowing them to bypass the governor."

I'm a big believer in checks and balances. In the first instance, Utah's citizen's attempted to check the legislative branch's tendency to side with corporate power over the health of our environment and communities. Now the governor is attempting to check that, at least in this instance. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, in this and future sessions.