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Damon Moglen, 202-352-4223, dmoglen@foe.org
Stephen Kent, 914-589-5988, skent@kentcom.comÂ
Friends of the Earth and other environmental organizations today filed an emergency petition with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit asking that the court compel the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to prevent Entergy from restarting an aging Indian Point nuclear reactor which was found to have unprecedented parts failure in its critical core cooling system. Entergy, the owner and operator of Indian Point, has repeatedly stated that it intends to start the reactor within days.
The degradation and/or disappearance of more than one in three critical bolts in the Indian Point Unit 2 nuclear reactor cooling system was revealed during a refueling outage in March. Despite the unprecedented failure of critical bolts-damage greater than that seen in any reactor before in either the U.S. or around the globe-Entergy immediately announced plans to restart the reactor in June after simply replacing the bolts.
Previously, on May 24 Friends of the Earth filed an emergency petition with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission calling for intervention by the commissioners of the agency to prevent restart of the reactor until the Commission had fully diagnosed the root cause of the degradation and determined that the unit was safe to operate despite the failure of more than a third of the bolts. That petition also called for an immediate shutdown of the damaged reactor's twin, reactor Unit 3, to determine whether the reactor's bolts have also disintegrated.
Instead of the commissioners ruling on Friends of the Earth's Emergency Petition, a staff review board sent Friends of the Earth an email on June 3 announcing that the emergency petition had been referred to staff for review under the so-called 2.206 process which normally takes years to complete. The staff board denied Friends of the Earth's request for emergency action to prevent restart of Unit 2 with no rationale or evidence to support that determination. Without action by a federal court, Indian Point 2 will be restarted, long before the NRC's 2.206 process is completed.
In response, Friends of the Earth, joined by the Nuclear Information Resource Service and Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, have filed the emergency petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals for writ of mandamus (agency action unreasonably delayed) to prevent restart of the flawed reactor while the NRC considers Friends of the Earth's request for the NRC to determine whether the unit can be made safe to operate. Given concerns that Entergy is racing to restart unit 2 in the face of mounting opposition, the petition asks that the Court issue an order directing the NRC to compel Entergy to power down reactor unit 2 pending final adjudication of the petition, in case the reactor has been rushed into service already.
Neither Entergy nor the NRC has provided a root cause analysis of the unprecedented degradation of bolts at Indian Point 2. Entergy hypothesizes that the bolts became brittle because of exposure to radiation and a hostile high temperature environment, but it offered no analysis to support it. In fact, Entergy has simply replaced the bolts without providing an analysis of why so many bolts.were degraded at Indian Point (one-third) compared with other similar reactors (average less than 3 per cent), or whether the remaining 557 bolts can be expected to hold, despite being exposed to the same environment. The company's objective is to restart the reactor in June, in time for the profitable peak summer air conditioning season. It has said that it will conduct an analysis of why the bolts broke or disappeared, but appears not willing to delay restarting Unit 2 under such a review has been done.
"This is a matter of common sense denied: if a machine breaks, you have to figure out what is wrong and then fix it," said Damon Moglen of Friends of the Earth. "Instead, at Indian Point, Entergy has decided that the priority is to get the damaged reactor up and running by summer to protect their profits. And the NRC is acting like a lap dog and not the watch dog assuring that the reactors are safe to operate. It has been repeatedly suggested that the NRC is a 'captured' agency, captive of the very industry they are directed by Congress to regulate. This is a disgraceful and shocking example of that corporate capture."
"In my day, the NRC was a real, independent regulator," said Dave Freeman, who was the head of the New York Power Authority in the mid-1990s, which operated the Indian Point nuclear reactors at that time. "Now the agency seems primarily concerned with facilitating rather than regulating the nuclear industry."
Just as the Space Shuttle Challenger was brought down by a seemingly minor faulty O-ring, Indian Point is in danger from untimely degradation and damage to key bolts. Located a mere 26 miles from New York City, a radiation release at Indian Point could reach Times Square in as little as 90 minutes in the right weather conditions, making evacuation of New York City impossible. The Indian Point reactors' licenses expired in 2013 and 2015, respectively, and the plant is operating beyond its 40-year life span while the NRC considers whether to extend the license for an additional 20 years.
Friends of the Earth fights for a more healthy and just world. Together we speak truth to power and expose those who endanger the health of people and the planet for corporate profit. We organize to build long-term political power and campaign to change the rules of our economic and political systems that create injustice and destroy nature.
(202) 783-7400"Every citizen should know exactly how their personal information is being used by PACs, especially if an entity is claiming it will help people register to vote."
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is investigating a super political action committee created by billionaire Elon Musk that's been accused of "misleading voters" because of how it collects personal data of swing state residents online.
"Every citizen should know exactly how their personal information is being used by PACs, especially if an entity is claiming it will help people register to vote in Michigan or any other state," a spokesperson for the Democratic official toldCNBC on Sunday.
"While the America PAC is a federal political action committee, the department is reviewing their activities to determine if there have been any violations of state law," the spokesperson added. "We will refer potential violations to the Michigan attorney general's office as appropriate."
Sharing the CNBC article on X—a social media platform formerly called Twitter, which Musk bought in 2022—Benson said that she and Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel "take intentional efforts to mislead voters very seriously in our state."
Benson also thanked Michigan Senate Majority Whip Mallory McMorrow (D-8) "for bringing the website to our attention a few days ago."
CNBC political finance reporter Brian Schwartz on Friday had reported on the digital advertising and data collection activities of America PAC, which is working to elect former Republican President Donald Trump. The journalist detailed how people who enter ZIP codes for competitive areas are not sent to local voter registration pages, "they instead are directed to a highly detailed personal information form, prompted to enter their address, cell phone number, and age."
Schwartz's reporting sparked accusations that the super PAC's scheme "seems like election fraud" and calls for the U.S. Department of Justice to launch an investigation. As with the initial reporting, Schwartz noted Sunday that a spokesperson for the group declined to comment and Musk did not return emails seeking comment.
After the reporter revealed Michigan's probe on Sunday, he pointed out on X that America PAC "took down their homepage links to register to vote and request a ballot."
Ben Gardner, All Voting Is Local's Michigan senior campaign manager, welcomed his state's investigation into the super PAC.
"Good," Gardner said Sunday. "Michiganders should feel confident knowing that Michigan's secretary of state will stand up to those who attempt to mislead voters."
"Israel's dramatic escalation is completely compatible with its past efforts to drag the U.S. into another war," one expert said of the Israeli assassination of a Hamas leader in Iran.
Amid mounting fears of a regional war in the Middle East, a pair of Democratic congressmen joined the growing chorus warning against the U.S. engaging in an armed conflict with Iran.
In response to U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) introducing a resolution to authorize the use of U.S. armed forces against Iran, Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said on social media Saturday that "the U.S. must not be dragged into a war with Iran."
"The Iraq War was the biggest American blunder of the 21st century," Khanna added. "Every candidate running this cycle must be clear on where they stand on this."
U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said early Sunday: "I agree with Ro Khanna. No war with Iran! Let's all get on record with this."
Hassan El-Tayyab, legislative director for Middle East policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, urged Khanna to introduce a related war powers resolution, arguing that "we really could use a clear vehicle like this to increase the pressure for no U.S. military intervention in a disastrous war with Iran."
"We're a miscalculation or a miscue away from an event that could draw the U.S. and Iran into a direct military conflict."
Since Hamas, the Palestinian political and militant group that has controlled the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades, led the October 7 attack on Israel, Israeli forces—backed by diplomatic and weapons support from U.S. President Joe Biden and Congress—have killed at least 39,583 people in the coastal enclave and injured another 91,398, according to local officials.
The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—which faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice over Gaza—has elevated fears of a regional war this week with an airstrike targeting Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut, Lebanon and the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh at his residence in the Iranian capital of Tehran.
By killing Haniyeh, "Netanyahu has systematically sabotaged cease-fire talks because ending the war will likely end his political career," Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said Wednesday.
"Here we go again. Scrambling to prevent total war by pressing Iran not to retaliate," Parsi said Sunday, pointing to the final paragraph of a New York Times opinion piece he wrote in April about a conflict that began with an attack on Iran's diplomatic compound in Syria. "Had Biden forced a Gaza cease-fire, we wouldn't perpetually be on the precipice of war."
Parsi had argued earlier this year that "Mr. Biden has pursued policies that have pushed the Middle East to the precipice of war. His tactical successes in avoiding the worst outcomes of his policies should not be belittled. But they can never make up for his government's broader failure to pursue a strategy that brings real security to America and real peace to the Middle East."
Parsi also highlighted a social media thread from Suzanne DiMaggio, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who said Sunday that "similar de-escalation/crisis management efforts that helped to defuse the Israel-Iran confrontation in April... are in motion again—only this time, the situation is far more complex and dangerous."
"Stumbling from one escalatory cycle to another and relying heavily on luck to avert a full-blown regional war is unsustainable and irresponsible," she warned. "We're a miscalculation or a miscue away from an event that could draw the U.S. and Iran into a direct military conflict."
"Hoping that cooler heads will prevail time and time again is not a strategy. The diplomatic off-ramps to break the cycle are clear and begin with securing a cease-fire agreement and hostage release in Gaza," she continued. "As we saw during the humanitarian pause in late 2023, every Iranian proxy and aligned group stood down during this period. In addition to ending the bloodshed and massive suffering, a cease-fire would calm the situation in the region, providing time and space for negotiations, large-scale aid, and the rebuilding of Gaza."
Haniyeh's assassination—the details of which are being disputed—has Israel preparing for potential retaliation from Iran and its proxies. Netanyahu on Sunday told a Cabinet meeting that Israel is already in a "multifront war" with both.
According toThe Associated Press, which reported on the prime minister's remarks:
Netanyahu said Israel was ready for any scenario. Jordan's foreign minister was making a rare trip to Iran as part of diplomatic efforts—"We want the escalation to end," Ayman Safadi said—while the Pentagon has moved significant assets to the region.
"We are doing everything possible to make sure that this situation does not boil over," White House deputy national security adviser Jon Finer told ABC.
The Pentagon confirmed Friday that it was deploying additional military resources to the Middle East, despite reported tension between Biden and Netanyahu, who was in Washington, D.C. last month to address Congress and meet with key U.S. leaders.
Citing an unnamed Biden administration official, Haaretzreported Saturday that the most recent conversations between Biden and Netanyahu, including one at the White House, "were difficult and tense."
As the Israeli newspaper detailed:
"Biden realized that Netanyahu was lying to him about the hostages," the official told Haaretz. "He's not saying it publicly yet, but in the meeting between them, he specifically told him, 'Stop bullshitting me.'"
The official said that the U.S. is preparing to help Israel in the face of Iran and Hezbollah's response to the assassinations that Israel carried out last week in Beirut and Tehran—despite the tension between the two leaders—but made it clear that there would be no American backing for moves that would further expand the scope of the conflict.
"Netanyahu is trying to prolong the war instead of focusing on how to get to a hostage deal," the official said. "It's making it harder for us to continue supporting Israel over time."
Responding to the reporting on social media, Parsi said: "In a shocking turn of events, an Israeli prime minister who has lied to every American president since Bill Clinton, turns around and ** drum roll ** lies to Biden! It took Biden 10 months to 'realize' he was being lied to. TEN MONTHS!!!"
"When politicians use 'great replacement' conspiracies and xenophobia to stoke fear and divide us, real people pay the price in blood," said Democratic Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro.
Saturday marked five years since a self-described white nationalist killed 23 people and injured 22 others with an AK-47-style semiautomatic rifle at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, and the anniversary sparked fresh calls for efforts to combat gun violence and racism.
"Five years after a man armed with hate and a gun drove into our community and stole the lives of 23 of our friends and neighbors, we still feel the pain of their absence," said Myndi Luevanos, a volunteer with the Texas chapter of Moms Demand Action in El Paso, in a statement. "Since the shooting, our leaders have refused to meet the moment, failing to enact common-sense gun safety measures that could save lives and address the disproportionate rate of gun violence faced by the Latinx community in Texas."
"Half a decade later, we cannot let the failures of the past become the norm," Luevanos continued. "Now more than ever, we must honor the victims and their families with action and protect Latinx Texans for generations to come from gun violence."
The group Brady said on social media that "easy access to guns, especially assault rifles, makes hate lethal. We must #HonorWithAction and #DisarmHate."
The shooter, Patrick Wood Crusius, is serving 90 consecutive life sentences after being convicted of federal hate crimes and in September agreed to "pay restitution in the amount of $5,557,005.55" to victims' families. Both Republican District Attorney Bill Hicks and his Democratic opponent for this November's election, James Montoya, hope to have him tried in front of a jury on state charges by next year. In the Texas case, he could face the death penalty.
Crusius, who traveled nearly 600 miles across the state to the border city where he shot dozens of people, wrote in a racist manifesto posted online before the attack that he aimed to address the "Hispanic invasion of Texas." He is one of multiple mass shooters who have cited the "great replacement" theory that white people will be replaced by people of color.
"Hate speech isn't just words—it has real, devastating consequences," UnidosUS stressed on social media. "The anniversary of El Paso reminds us of this. Words have power—they can heal or harm. We decide to use our voice to create a world where no one lives in fear."
The 2019 massacre was "the deadliest attack on the Latinx community in America," noted Mireya Rodriguez, a volunteer with Students Demand Action in Texas. "Racism emboldens violence and set against Texas' weak gun laws, you get a recipe for the very tragedy that shattered El Paso."
"Our leaders have a responsibility to reject racist and anti-immigration rhetoric, yet it's no secret that some Texas politicians have chosen to embrace, rather than condemn that hatred," the activist added. "We won't stand for that. We will honor the lives stolen through our advocacy to end gun violence and combat white supremacy in all forms."
As Common Dreamsreported Friday, a new analysis from eight groups "exposes the normalization of xenophobic 'great replacement' and 'invasion' conspiracies within the 118th Congress, documenting their historical roots and widespread promotion by members of Congress." It features examples from two Texas Republicans: Congressmen Lance Gooden and Jodey Arrington.
Democratic Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro said on social media Saturday that "we can honor the lives lost and the families affected by denouncing the awful rhetoric that incited this act of hate."
"When politicians use 'great replacement' conspiracies and xenophobia to stoke fear and divide us, real people pay the price in blood," Castro added. "As we remember the victims in El Paso, we have to call out those who use vile rhetoric to lead. There's no place for hate in this country."
Sharing the names of the El Paso victims of social media, March for Our Lives—launched after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida—said, "Let's be clear: This was a racist, anti-immigrant act of terror."
"The shooter's 'great replacement theory' language is deadly, fueled by our leaders who demonize immigrants and people of color," the group asserted. "Their words have real, fatal consequences."
March for Our Lives last month gave its first-ever political endorsement to Vice President Kamala Harris, who on Friday secured enough delegates for Democratic nomination to face former President Donald Trump. The Republican—who in July survived an assassination attempt by a shooter at a Pennsylvania campaign event—was in Georgia on Saturday, spewing anti-migrant rhetoric to a rally crowd.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden released a lengthy statement and Harris said that "five years ago today, 23 people were killed and 22 others were injured during a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas that was carried out with a weapon of war. It was an act of hate that targeted Latinos."
"Doug and I join the community in remembering those who lost their lives in this senseless act fueled by white supremacy, and we are thinking of those who were injured," she continued, referring to her husband. "As we honor the lives that were taken and support the survivors, we recommit ourselves to achieving a future where every person can live free from gun violence, fear, and hate."
Harris is spending the weekend vetting potential vice presidential candidates, including Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Govs. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, JB Pritzker of Illinois, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, and Tim Walz of Minnesota.
Kelly's wife is Gabby Giffords, a former Democratic congresswoman who resigned after she survived a 2011 assassination attempt outside a grocery store in Arizona. She now leads a gun violence prevention group called GIFFORDS.
The El Paso tragedy "happened because someone who was fueled by hate was able to easily access a gun," she said in a statement. "Americans deserve better. The Latino community deserves better. People should be able to walk into a Walmart without the fear of being shot."
Giffords also pointed out that five years ago, "hours after a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, Dayton, Ohio experienced a parallel tragedy outside a bar, when a Saturday night out turned into horror and loss."
"This weekend, I'm thinking of those lost that night and the survivors whose lives were irrevocably changed," she said. "GIFFORDS stands with the Dayton community and we will never give up in our fight to stop gun violence."