Nuclear  

Excerpts from Injunction Motion | March 21, 2000 court filing

The following are two excerpts from the Supplemental Motion for Preliminary Injunction filed on behalf of the plaintiffs by co-counsels Terry Lodge and Kary Love

"The U.S. Department of Energy shipped the United States MOX plutonium shipment to Chalk River, Ontario. According to press accounts, the shipment of American fuel rods traveled by truck from Los Alamos,  New Mexico to Sault St. Marie, Ontario, where Canadian officials loaded it onto a helicopter and flew it to Chalk River.  Despite promises made to the contrary, DOE notified no public officials in Michigan of the impending shipment, not even the Michigan State Police or local emergency responders. Nor has DOE even officially acknowledged the use of helicopters in the delivery, down to the present."

"The DOE clearly had control over the method and manner of delivery of the U.S. MOX shipment to Chalk River, even though Canadians undertook the transport across that country. The air transport was apparently conducted entirely within Canadian airspace. Such a flyover would have been illegal in the U.S. because the package did not come close to meeting the stringent American
standards.   The DOE represented at the December 14-15, 1999 hearing in this matter that delivery from Los Alamos to Chalk River would be made by truck. For its complicity in the arrangement (it is inconceivable that DOE would not know in advance of the flight plans), DOE should be found to have violated NEPA regulations.  Helicopter delivery was a major departure from DOE's representations in the Parallex environmental documents. Chopper transport was, perhaps, a reaction to the threat of First Nations demonstrations on tribal lands in Ontario, and to the wide publicity focused on the Parallex project. But this change in transportation arrangements actually increased the potential environmental damage from a mishap involving the MOX. It is more evidence of DOE's bad faith noncompliance with NEPA.  Presently, no Russian MOX shipment has yet been delivered to Chalk River, either in Alockstep or, indeed, any other cadence with the U.S. shipment. A shipment is expected sometime in Spring 2000, via water up the St. Lawrence Seaway to Cornwall, Ontario, and then overland by truck to Chalk River."


This is the legal paper filed on Tuesday, March 21, 2000 which adds BREDL, PSR, and NIRS to the lawsuit as plaintiffs


Attachment AAA

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
Western District of Michigan
Southern Division


Alice Hirt, Anabel Dwyer, Kathryn Cumbow, Robert Anderson, Terry Miller, Doris Schaller Vernon, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, Mohawk Council of Akwesasne, The Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians, Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County, Northwatch, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility,

        and

Nuclear Information and Resource Service
1424 16th Street NW, #404, Washington, D.C. 20036

        and

Physicians for Social Responsibility
1101 14th Street Northwest,  Suite 700
Washington, D.C. 20005

        and

Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League
P.O. Box 88
Glendale Springs, NC 28629,

       Plaintiffs,

-vs-

Bill Richardson, et al.,

Defendants.

Case No. 1:99-CV-933

Judge Richard A. Enslen

SECOND AMENDED COMPLAINT

      Kary Love, Esq. (P42623)
      977 Butternut Drive
      PMB 128
      Holland, MI 49424
      (616) 396-6100
      Fax: (616) 399-0868


Terry J. Lodge
      316 N. Michigan St., Ste. 520
      Toledo, Ohio 43624-1627
      (419) 255­7552
      Fax: (419) 255-8582

      Co-Counsel for Plaintiffs

 Now come Plaintiffs Alice Hirt, Anabel Dwyer, Kathryn Cumbow, Robert Anderson, Terry Miller, Doris Schaller Vernon, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, Mohawk Council of Akwesasne, The Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians, Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County, Northwatch, and the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, by and through counsel, and set forth the following as and for their "Second Amended Complaint" in this matter:

Additional Parties-Plaintiff

 8a. Plaintiff Nuclear Information and Resource Service ("NIRS") is a Washington, D.C.-based membership, nonprofit organization which serves as an information and networking center for citizens and environmental organizations concerned about nuclear power, radioactive waste, radiation, and sustainable energy issues. A quarter-century old, NIRS has nearly 6000 members, including more than 1000 grassroots environmental groups and affiliates, nationwide. Since 1998, NIRS has assigned staff and other organizational resources to communications and advocacy, working in the Congress, in federal administrative agencies, and with members of the public against the fabrication and usage of MOX fuel as a means of plutonium disposition. NIRS' message in this "Nix MOX" campaign has been that the organization is unalterably opposed to the use of MOX fuel and the production of tritium in commercial reactors; that use of MOX would contribute to the worldwide "plutonium economy," and would undercut non-proliferation efforts worldwide; that MOX would produce more plutonium in the form of so-called "low-level" radioactive waste; would exacerbate utility decommissioning efforts and increase costs; would expose more people to danger from plutonium through frequent shipments across railways and highways; and would increase electricity costs.

 8b. Plaintiff Physicians for Social Responsibility ("PSR") is a Washington-based nonprofit organization, the U.S. affiliate of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize for educating about the dangers of nuclear weapons. Over 30 years old, PSR has over 1000 American physician members. As the active conscience of American medicine, PSR uses its members' expertise and professional leadership, influence within the medical community and strong links to policy makers to address this century's greatest threats to human welfare and survival, nuclear weapons and global environmental pollution.

 8c. Plaintiff Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, Inc. ("BREDL") is a nonprofit organization headquartered in North Carolina with 30 chapters in five southern states, including members and incorporated affiliates in North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee and members in South Carolina and Georgia. BREDL initiated the "Southern Anti-Plutonium Campaign" in 1997 to oppose plutonium reprocessing and Mox fuel usage in six (6) Duke Power Company and Virginia Electric Power Co. commercial nuclear power reactors located in the U.S. Southeast. BREDL encourages governmental and citizen responsibility in the conservation and protection of natural resources, and organizes grassroots citizen involvement to empower communities in environmental issues. BREDL functions as a "watchdog" of the environment, monitoring issues and holding government officials accountable for their actions, networking with citizen groups and agencies, and using communications with citizens to achieve those ends.

Supplemental Averments

 91. Plaintiffs, including NIRS, PSR and BREDL, incorporate by reference and re-allege fully herein the contents of the "Verified Complaint" filed in this matter on December 6, 1999, and of the "First Amended Verified Complaint" filed in this matter on March 2, 2000 and further move to amend the substantive allegations of the same by interlineation such that wherever the word "Plaintiffs" appears therein, it is read to include NIRS, PSR and BREDL.

 WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs respectfully request this Court grant them all relief sought in the "Verified Complaint" and "First Amended Verified Complaint" filed in this matter.

__________________
Terry J. Lodge

__________________
Kary Love
Co-Counsel for Plaintiffs

CERTIFICATION

 I hereby certify that a copy of the foregoing "Second Amended Complaint" was sent by me via regular U.S. Mail, postage prepaid, this 20th day of March, 2000 to Robert I. Dodge, Esq. and Charles Gross, Esq., U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's Office, P.O. Box 208, Grand Rapids, MI 49501-0208.

________________________
Terry J. Lodge


More info: March 22, 2000 Press Release