Every Day is Earth Day on Earth
Earth Day is known to many as a day to honor the Earth and the concept of Peace. It is celebrated in unison across the globe by more than a billion people in almost 200 countries. It is cool to think about a billion people and their energy being focused on the health and safety of all earth and its inhabitants. Earth Day is beautiful and the Earth itself even more wondrous. Daily we strive to focus on earth’s well-being.
In recent years, Citizens Resistance at Fermi Two (CRAFT) has celebrated Earth Day down in Monroe, Michigan at the yearly Earth Fest. Doing regular stuff, like showing off our cool bike that generates electricity and chatting and hearing stories of people's concerns, both for and against the Fermi Two facility. This same facility with the fatally flawed Mark One reactor design that melted down at the Fukushima site in Japan. A preventable incident that could well happen here in Southeast Michigan and completely wreck The Great Lakes as we know them.
While our Earth Days have been spent in Monroe at the Earth Fest, every other day is spent monitoring Fermi Two, tracking releases of public information and media coverage to compile our monthly newsletter and activist toolkits. The newsletter and activist toolkit are powerful tools for spreading the word about the mishandling of this and other dangerous facilities and helps hold regulators and licensees accountable. You can sign up for our newsletter here and read the 2021 back issues here.
During this time of engagement, many government reps have come and gone. Some engaged and acted for our safety and wellbeing and stood against the Fermi 2 reactor while some stood with it, and with Detroit Edison (DTE) money in their pockets. Gary Peters is a fine example of supporting nuclear energy and opposing radioactive waste storage on the Canadian side of The Great Lakes while refusing to acknowledge even more vulnerable radioactive waste at locations here in Michigan. He has potentially received hundreds of thousands of dollars from DTE in his years in office and we believe our safety is less concerning for him than the money he receives from corporate interest. We are focused on the safety of the earth and future generations; seeking an energy future, that uses current, unbiased science to determine a national energy policy that reflects the fact that our safety is worth more than DTE funds. This Earth Day and Earth Day Week we are engaging in actions to raise awareness and voice the public perception of nuclear energy and radioactive waste here in Michigan. Help us CRAFT a future full of renewable and alternative energy, free from radioactive waste! We demand and deserve:
Fermi 2 safely shut down and no new nukes!
Secure waters and rights to keep our health safe!
To make a positive legacy for our economy, environment, and communities!
1. Shut down Fermi Two and no new nukes
We demand the full shutdown and safe decommissioning of the Fermi Two facility and no new nukes!
Michigan’s energy grid does not need it.
Fermi Two is selling nuclear-generated energy at a surplus.
The predicted energy needs of Michigan by DTE were highballed, the Fermi facility is not even needed.
Money would be saved to begin a build-out of renewable energy.
In an open letter by the Alliance to Halt Fermi Three, the math is done and laid out on the for-profit con game. You can read about this here and here.
No shade, but while we sit and think about the energy grid and what is happening with it, other actions are in motion in our daily lives that take money from our pockets.
The corporate monopoly utility DTE and the federal government have policies that place limited financial responsibility on the owners of these reactors.
They charge us rate/taxpayers for storage and transportation of radioactive waste and decommissioning through policies based on the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and Secretary of Energy.
This allows DTE to maintain this jalopy of a plant and keep their cash cow (Fermi Two) nice and plump.
Over the years. the utilities like DTE that own these nuclear facilities have charged us billions of dollars to recover the cost of their mistakes.
Mistakes kind of like the use of nuclear energy and producing deadly radioactive waste!
Act and say no!
Another utility in the state of Michigan, Consumers Energy, though it has its own version of shade, has seen a different path for the future of Michigan. It looks a lot cooler for the planet as far as radioactive releases and climate-impacting heat emissions because there are none. In their Clean Energy Plan, they decommission the Palisades reactor and replace it with thousands of megawatts of renewable energy that is mostly solar. That is good for them, and us, but there is no need to rush the decommissioning process, it is very tech-heavy, and safety-related because the core of the reactor and all radioactive material are handled, exposed, and removed. It must be handled in the safest manner as the Michigan AG moves to intervene in Palisades nuclear plant transfer. It is an opportunity for Michigan to shape federal nuclear decommissioning and waste storage protocols so that best science and practices are followed and will help us ensure a safe and complete future decommissioning of Fermi Two as well.
2. Secure our waters and keep our health safe
We demand and deserve for our waters and health to be kept safe because the Fermi Two threatens the Great Lakes and our Health!
It uses 45 million gallons of water per day to cool the facility.
It discharges this wastewater at a 10:1 ratio, releasing 4.5 million gallons of radioactive treated chemical wastewater into Lake Erie daily.
This wastewater discharges at up to 97 degrees F compared to Lake Erie’s low 70’s average temperatures.
This overheated wastewater, aka Thermal Pollution, is a major stressor on the Great Lakes and has been connected to the deadly algae blooms in Lake Erie's western basin.
Dr. Gordon Edwards shares his findings on radioactive waste and chemicals that build up and last eons in water and air over years. After seeing that, it was no surprise when I saw the New RPHP REPORT on rising cancer deaths near Detroit-area nuclear plant. A study called the tooth fairy project to collect children's teeth for testing radioactive isotopes is underway that will test those findings.
3. Make positive legacies for our economy, environment, and communities
We demand and deserve a positive legacy for our economy that speaks towards better jobs and safer health.
This must be a path that includes the wellbeing of our earth and local communities while providing affordable energy that is Carbon-Free, Nuclear-Free.
We need nuclear-free zones that prevent the building of new nuclear energy infrastructure.
We need education for a wide public, including youth, about the hazards of nuclear energy…
…as well as facts concerning green renewable energy production and the details of energy policy along the way.
The lessons learned from the Fermi Two legacy tell us that Michigan can benefit from another solution, as a matter of a fact be a part of the solution itself. The renewable solution here in Michigan has been covered and thought of by previous folks and is now backed up with Stanford’s 100% Clean and Renewable Wind, Water, and Sunlight All-Sector Energy Roadmaps for 139 Countries of the World.
Some of the Facts and Data about the Raw Material of the Atomic Age
Every day is earth day when you live on earth, and we want to keep it safe for generations to come. Join us in the demands we deserve and take part in our letter-writing campaign, print off some flyers, and put them out in your local favorite spots. Hang them up in town, share via social media and yell it in the streets, the world is changing, and we are the change. Start with checking out our actions and info, sign and send the letters here, then print or download our flyer and palm card:
And get the word out!
Peace and Wado (thanks)
Jesse Deer in Water - Community Organizer - CRAFT
