John Hall and Indian Point

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

This is an email I just received from John Hall's campaign site.

Dear Friends,

Last night I attended a standing-room-only hearing about the Indian Point Nuclear Plant. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, representatives of Entergy, and NY state DEC staff all took turns explaining about the radioactive leaks from the pools storing spent fuel on site.

We got a lot of patronizing jargon about "legacy leaks" and "permissible doses," but the upshot is this: Strontium 90 and tritium, both carcinogenic radionuclides, are leaking into the groundwater and into the Hudson River.

Representative Sue Kelly, our 12-year incumbent, met with the same parties earlier and is quoted in the paper as being "hopeful... now that we're getting better answers."

That's one reason why I'm running for Congress, to replace Sue Kelly with someone who will stand up for the environment, public health, and the truth. The Indian Point nuclear reactor is located in the most densely populated area of any nuclear plant in the country; 8% of U.S citizens live within the fifty mile radius. Yet Sue Kelly waffles, content with more studies and hearings. We know the evacuation plan is a joke, and now we know the plant is leaking. The supposed regulators are allowing Entergy to hire their own consultants to tell them what to do. Meanwhile, it's business and profits as usual.

I know you've gotten recent fund appeals from my campaign; I know solicitations can be annoying. But the people running this country are more than annoying, they're dangerous to our health. My campaign is going strong, thanks to your generosity, and we need one last push to emerge as the clear challenger. Please make a contribution of any size before midnight on Friday the 31st.


http://www.johnhallforcongress.com/contribute.html

I'm ready to fight for you, and I thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

John Hall

Living within a 10 minute drive from Indian Point this is indeed very important to me. As it is, right after 9/11 the schools asked permission from me if they could dispense sodium iodate to my children, and now I discovered that the evacuation plan for the schools in my district are insane. In case of an emergency, they intend to bus the kids down county to Valhalla, which would be bringing them to an area with a higher population and ultimately more chaos. I have already given my younger son(my eldest has since graduated)orders to stay put no matter what and I'd get him.

[lapislzi]

1. Go, John!

He's the only candidate in the 19th still focused on this issue, and with a real plan to deal with it. I urge you to visit the Take 19 website <http://take19.blogspot.com/> to check out the other Democratic challengers to Kelly. Hall probably has the highest electability factor, and concrete positions on things. Although any one of the candidates would be better than what we have now.

My husband teaches in Ossining. They handed out the potassium iodide tablets to the whole staff a couple of years ago (probably after 9/11, but I don't remember). He knows that if there's an emergency, he's probably a dead man...my daughter and I have our own evac plan, but he's not included in it. He will stay with his students as long as he's needed, then rendezvous with us whenever he's able. Their evac plan takes them to White Plains High School. It's insane. They'll never be able to get across county, even on 2ndary roads. It's insane that we have to live like this.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

2. That's why I told my son not to go down county. I have my own route

planned out of here if necessary too, and I'm only 10 minutes away from his school by back roads. I'm 5 minutes from the Putnam County border and most of our schools here are within 15 minutes. Why didn't they plan to evacuate the kids up here to Putnam County, which is a lot less populated?

It is total outrageous, criminal even, that FEMA approved the evacuation plan. Even Pataki was against it.

[lapislzi]

9. Infrastructure, for one thing

What roads can you use? The Taconic will be useless. The only "major" road we have is I-84, and that's an E-W corridor. Your Route 9s and Route 22s are a nightmare under the best conditions. I-684 turns into a 2-lane road at the county line. I live in Putnam. We like our pokey roads, but they will not serve us well in any emergency.

We also have only ONE hospital, and a skeletal first responder system. No, in an emergency, Putnam's a place you want to pass through, not go to. You'd be safer in Orange or Dutchess.

[mdmc]

3. My sis just bought a house in Cold Spring. Is this in NYSCD 19?

I think that it is

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

4. I think it is too. I believe that 19 extends up into at least Fishkill.

Cold Spring is about 20 minutes north from here and lovely.

[mdmc]

5. i know that beacon is in the 19th now

it used to be in Hinchey's district, but got jerrymandered out...

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

6. Here is a map of the 19th. All of Putnum is in the 19th.

[mdmc]

7. thanks ommmm

lots of Orange County too!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

8. My pleasure mdmc! I haven't been up that way in a bit, but is Orange

County's demographics changing? I figure with real estate values being what they are, new home building must be fast and furious up there.

[lapislzi]

10. Yes.

There's a map of the district on all the candidates' websites.