-------- NUCLEAR (by country)

-------- britain

U.K. Panel Questions U.S. Missile Shield Plans
Commons Committee's 'Warning Shot' Puts British Aid in Doubt

Thursday, August 3, 2000
By Tom Buerkle International Herald Tribune
http://www.iht.com/IHT/TODAY/THU/FPAGE/brit.2.html

LONDON - A British parliamentary committee Wednesday expressed serious concerns about U.S. plans to build a National Missile Defense and said Washington ''cannot necessarily assume unqualified cooperation'' from its closest ally.

The concerns, contained in a report by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, represented the first formal sign of British misgivings about the missile defense system, known as NMD, which would require the use of radar facilities at an air base in Fylingdales in northeast England.

Donald Anderson, the Labour Party member of Parliament who chaired the committee, said the report was ''a warning shot'' to Washington.

The report suggested a significant degree of opposition to the missile defense system within the ruling Labour Party and underscored the dilemma that the proposed U.S. system poses for the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Senior Foreign Office officials have made known their concerns that a U.S. missile defense could undermine arms control efforts and antagonize Russia and China. Peter Hain, a junior Foreign Office minister, expressed skepticism about the proposed system at an informal House of Commons presentation earlier this year by groups opposed to it.

The government appears loath to do anything that might upset its special relationship with Washington, however. The Ministry of Defense, in particular, is eager to maintain Britain's close military cooperation with the United States and has ordered a feasibility study of possible British contribution to the system.

As a result, the government until now has been content to play down the issue more than governments in France and Germany, which have openly criticized the plans, and it stuck to the noncommittal stance on Wednesday.

''Unless and until we receive a specific request from the United States, there is little purpose in taking a decision that is premature,'' Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said. But, Mr. Hoon added, the members of the Foreign Affairs Committee ''make a very powerful case'' in their report.

President Bill Clinton is expected to make a decision this fall on whether to proceed with the deployment of a limited missile defense, although the failure of a key test of technologies for the system last month has raised speculation that a decision could be delayed until early in the administration of the next president.

Condoleezza Rice, the foreign affairs adviser to the Republican presidential candidate, George W. Bush, promised in a speech to the party's convention in Philadelphia on Tuesday that a Bush administration would seek to develop a missile defense system ''at the earliest possible date.''

In its report, the British committee said it was concerned about the potential negative impact on arms control efforts of a decision to deploy a missile defense, especially if that is accompanied by a U.S. withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. It also said it was skeptical of the threat posed by so-called rogue states like North Korea, and doubted the value of a missile defense since it could not deter attacks with chemical or biological weapons.

The committee commended Mr. Blair for his attempt to stress arms control aspects with Washington as well as Moscow.

Speaking to the House of Commons last week about his discussions on a missile defense system at the Group of Eight summit in Okinawa, Mr. Blair said the government was ''trying to ensure that the fear that the United States has, perfectly legitimately and justifiably, is taken account of in a way that does not put at risk the substantial progress that has been made on nuclear disarmament over the past few years.''

But the committee urged Mr. Blair to be more forthright with Washington about British skepticism on a missile defense.

''We recommend that the government articulate the very strong concerns that have been expressed'' about such a system in Britain, the report said.

''We are not convinced that the U.S. plans to deploy NMD represent an appropriate response to the proliferation problems faced by the international community.

''We recommend that the government encourage the U.S.A. to seek other ways of reducing the threats it perceives.''

The committee report could prove counterproductive to the government's private diplomacy, which is aimed at ensuring that any U.S. measure does not alienate Russia or suspend arms control efforts, and that any missile defense that is deployed is limited in size, said Jonathan Eyal, director of the Royal United Services Institute.

''The view from London is that NMD is inevitable,'' he said. ''The only question is when and how big.''

But Terence Taylor of the International Institute for Strategic Studies said the committee's report could help the government press its concerns with Washington, especially in light of testimony by Defense Secretary William Cohen last week that the successful deployment of a national missile defense would ''need to have the support of our allies.''

-------- japan

Japan's TEPCO restarts quake-hit nuclear reactor

TOKYO, Aug 7, 2000 (Reuters)
From: Ndunlks@aol.com

Japan's biggest utility, Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc, said on Monday it had restarted a 1,100-megawatt nuclear reactor after finding a rise in waste gas was due to a cracked pipe caused by an earthquake.

The reactor in Fukushima, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) northeast of Tokyo, was closed on July 21 after an earthquake under the seabed about 100 km northeast of Tokyo, and was restarted from Sunday.

Air crept into the system through a crack, resulting in an increase in waste gas -- fumes from the nuclear generator.

``A crack of about two centimetres was discovered. We found the quake caused the crack, prompting the rise in waste gas,'' a TEPCO spokesman said.

No radiation leaked into the environment from the incident.

Three other TEPCO nuclear reactors -- two at its Fukushima plants and one at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa in Niigata, some 300 km northeast of the capital -- were shut in July due to malfunctions and the firm has not given any restart estimates.

Japan has 51 commercial nuclear reactors providing about 30 percent of the country's electricity, but public anger after several accidents over the past five years -- including its worst disaster last September in which two uranium plant workers died -- has forced delays in the government's nuclear programme.

TEPCO's shares ended the morning up 25 yen or 0.98 percent at 2,575 yen.

----

Akahata reveals Russian plan on nuclear waste depot on Chishima (Kuril) Islands

Mon, 7 Aug 2000
Japan Press Service jpspress@twics.com
JPS 08-028

TOKYO AUG 7 JPS -- Russia's nuclear energy development institute and some other groups are planning to construct a nuclear waste storage site on Shinshiru Island (or Simushir in Russia) in the Chishima (Kuril) Islands and the waste will come not only from Russia but also Asia-Pacific countries. Akahata on August 5 revealed this plan based on documents it obtained.

The Kurchatov Institute, a Russian nuclear research institute, Nefte Gas Trading Co., Ltd., an oil and gas dealer, Asia Tat Trading Co., Ltd. and a parliamentarian group of Russia's Lower House, together made the plan.

The Chishima Islands are historically part of Japan and territorial negotiations between Japan and Russia on this have not been settled yet. Earthquakes frequently hit the volcanic island, surrounded by a good fishing ground.

Therefore, the planning to construct such a nuclear waste disposal site on the island must face severe questions.

Russia's Sakhalin State Parliament has declared opposition to the nuclear waste stockpiling plan, and requested the Russian government and the parliament to make public detailed plans.

The May 19, 1998 "Memorandum" signed by the four parties says that they would construct the new nuclear waste disposal site and receive spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste from Russia and some Asia-Pacific countries.

A draft presidential decree concerning the nuclear waste site says that the government will designate the island as a special economic zone. The decree will make a loophole for the bringing-in of such waste from Asia-Pacific countries to Russia which Russia's Environmental Act bans.

A Russian environmental group "Socio Ecological Union" warns of a danger that such waste matters will come from Taiwan and Japan. (end item)

--

JPS 08-024
Anti-nuclear world conf. in Hiroshima opened

TOKYO AUG 7 JPS -- The 2000 World Conference against A and H Bombs in Hiroshima opened on August 4, solidifying about 7,000 people's will to abolish nuclear weapons.

Hideko Matsuya, who was recently registered as an A-bomb disease sufferer by the Supreme Court rule after her 12-year lawsuit struggle, appeared on stage and showed the audience her certification.

Hiroshi Kozuka, a fisherman who was exposed to radiation of the 1954 U.S. hydrogen bomb test in Bikini Atoll, reported that he eventually won insurance benefits after being robbed of them by local authorities last year.

The crowed gave these double victories a big applause.

Satoru Konishi, deputy-secretary general of the Japan Confederation of A and H Bombs Sufferers Organizations and Tadao Inoue, chairman of the nuclear-free Koganei City Assembly, Tokyo, spoke in solidarity.

Ikuro Anzai, chair of the drafting committee, explained the contents and significance of the International Meeting's declaration entitled "Let Us Act Now with All Our Might to Achieve a World without Nuclear Weapons."

Hibakusha from Japan and Renata Izmailova from Kazakhstan moved the audience to tears when they told them their tragedies.

Messages from 7 prefectural governors, 89 municipality mayors, and 111 town mayors were taken to the Conference. (end item)

--

JPS 08-025
Peace marches enter Hiroshima, rally in peace memorial park

TOKYO AUG 7 JPS -- All peace marchers in six different routes entered Hiroshima City on August 4, calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons and disclosure of the Japan-U.S. secret agreement on allowing nuclear weapons to be brought into Japan.

About 500 anti-nuclear activists, including those who walked in marches, gathered at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.

Ikuya Nishikawa, a member of the Organizing Committee of the 2000 World Conference against A and H Bombs and a vice-chair of the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren), appreciated the marchers' efforts. He reported that the all the marches' length together was measured more than 10,000 kilometers and over 100,000 people in total participated in the march.

The message from Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba was read out, in which he encourages all peace marchers and evaluates a clear promise towards the abolition of nuclear weapons made by nuclear weapons possessing countries at the NPT Review Conference.

A 70-year old marcher, who walked all the way through to Hiroshima, said that everyone gave cheers on the way to Hiroshima when they heard the lawsuit victory of Hideko Matsuya. He said he wanted such cheers to be continued for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Dipasish Dey, one of the five Indian delegates walked a part of the march, said "Money for nuclear weapons development should be used for advancement of human-beings and peace such as solving poverty and protecting environment. The final document of the NPT Review Conference must be immediately come into effect."

--

JPS 08-029
Local government delegates in World Conf. against A and H Bombs discuss ways to achieve nuclear-free community

TOKYO AUG 7 JPS -- About 160 people took part in a discussion of ways of putting their nuclear-free municipality declaration into practice in a special meeting on the role of local governments in the common effort to achieve a world without nuclear weapons. the meeting was organized as part of the 2000 World Conference against A and H Bombs-Hiroshima on August 5.

The program is special to this year's world conference.

Ikuo Hatakeyama, a section chief of a city office in Kochi Prefecture, reported on his taking photos of the low-altitude flight training by U.S. military aircraft, and said that he wanted the training stopped with the cooperation of residents movement. A delegate from Kanagawa Prefecture stressed the importance of getting people at the grass roots to take part in the anti-nuclear movement.

At present, almost 2,500 local governments have declared themselves nuclear-free, of which almost 1,500 are resolved to eliminate nuclear weapons.

International dialogue on ways towards a nuclear-free 21st century

The special meeting was also devoted to an international dialogue attended by overseas delegates including government officials of countries seeking ways to achieve a nuclear-free 21st century. They also exchanged with citizens and peace movements in Japan.

Two panelists, Graham Kelly of New Zealand, a New Agenda Coalition government, and Panyarak Poolthup, a Counsellor of the Embassy of Thailand in Japan, called for nuclear weapon-free zones in South-East Asia and in the southern hemisphere. Cecilia Ruthstrom-Ruin, first secretary of the Embassy of Sweden, a New Agenda Coalition government, stressed the need for the coalition to use its influence to urge nuclear weapons countries to abide by what they promised in the NPT Review Conference for the total elimination of nuclear weapons.

Ken Wyatt of the International Nuclear-Free Local Authorities said "Hiroshima and Nagasaki" isn't someone's business but everyone's business. Vernon Nichols of the NGO Committee on Disarmament said NGOs have an important role to play in developing the movement.

--

JPS 08-030
The 2000 World Conference against A & H Bombs - Hiroshima closed

TOKYO AUG 7 JPS -- About 7,500 people pledged an effort to develop grassroots movements toward a new era free of threat of nuclear weapons at the close of the 2000 World Conference against A and H Bombs - Hiroshima on August 6.

On August 5, participants took part in workshops, group discussions, field trips, and forums.

At the forum on grassroots anti-nuclear peace activities, a participant said, "The world is changing, and I am convinced that what has moved the international community is our grassroots movement".

In the workshop on "Ban on the bringing-in of nuclear weapons; opposition to military alliances/bases," 240 people including four overseas delegates discussed problems of U.S. bases and the Japan-U.S. secret agreement allowing U.S. nuclear weapons into Japan.

Corazon Fabros, secretary general of the Nuclear-Free Philippines Coalition, emphasized that even after the U.S. bases were removed from the Philippines the people's struggle goes on as the country is involved with U.S. interference again under the new U.S.-Philippines defense agreement.

Some 500 people took part in the field trip to the U.S. Iwakuni Base in Yamaguchi Pref. to monitor and protest the construction work to expand the base. A participant from Hokkaido said, "I was surprised to know that the U.S. base occupies nearly a quarter of the city's residential area".

In the closing plenary at the Hiroshima Prefectural Gymnasium, Graham Kelly, chair of New Zealand Parliamentary Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade Committee, made a special report on how New Zealand as a member of the New Agenda Coalition played an important role in the NPT Review Conference.

He said that even a small country can do many things if its people join hands and its government wants to get their wishes realized.

The 7,500 participants in the closing plenary adopted an "Appeal from Hiroshima" which calls on nuclear-weapons states, all governments, and the U.N. to declare that abolition of nuclear weapons is the most important task to be realized at the beginning of the 21st century and to start international consultation as soon as possible.

The appeal also says that the international duty of the Japanese people is to change Japan's foreign policy to one of seeking the abolition of nuclear weapons.

--

JPS 08-031
"No Nukes!" Women's Forum 2000

TOKYO AUG 7 JPS -- About 1,800 women participated in the "No Nukes!" Women's Forum 2000 held in Hiroshima City on August 5 as an associated event of the 2000 World Conference against A and H Bombs.

In opening the Forum, Ayako Sekiya, representative of the religious NGO, said "Each of you should talk peace and nuclear weapons problems as your own matter and act against them."

June Stark Casey, a Hanford downwinder, said she has suffered from the thyroid disorder and several cancers since she was exposed to radiation in the 1949 nuclear test the U.S government secretly carried out.

When she called on the audience to establish a nuclear-free peaceful world, the hall resounded with applause. (end item)

--

JPS 08-032 Youngsters want nuclear-free earth

TOKYO AUG 7 JPS -- Firmly resolved to establish a nuclear-free world, about 2,300 young people gathered at the "PEACE JAM 2000 in Hiroshima" at the Hiroshima Prefectural Gymnasium on August 5.

The hall resounded with a big clap when young people from throughout Japan appeared on the stage to talk to the crowd about their anti-nuclear and peace activities.

The youngsters invited Satoru Konishi, deputy-secretary general of the Japan Confederation of A and H Bombs Sufferers Organizations, Hiroshi Suda, secretary general of the Japan Peace Committee, and Hiroe Shimabukuro, an Okinawan peace activist, to the panel discussion with a theme "What can you do to make the 21st century free from nuclear weapons?"

Konishi narrated his own experience as an A-bomb sufferer. Suda encouraged the chaps to raise louder voices against nuclear weapons. Shimabukuro spoke about her belief that U.S. military bases can be removed from Okinawa by a strenuous peace movement.

Messages were sent to the PEACE JAM from Hiroshima City mayor and Nagasaki City mayor.

High school students listen to stories of same age victims

Japanese high school students took note of and listened attentively to what other countries' nuclear test victims spoke at the International High-School Students Forum the same day.

14-year old Tatiana Mironova from Russia, 18-year old Renata Izmailova and 22-year old Alyona Kuidina from Kazakhstan, and 22-year old Anuradha Kurvey from India told the students about damage caused by nuclear tests in their place.

Izmailova said because she was born handicapped she cannot go to school like other ordinary students do. She wants no more nuclear weapons will inflict pain on children's life, she said. (end item)

--

JPS 08-033
50,000 attend ceremony on 55th anniversary of atomic bombing of Hiroshima

TOKYO AUG 7 JPS -- Hiroshima City held annual Peace Memorial Ceremony on August 6, the 55th anniversary of the bombing, with 50,000 people, including hibakusha (A-bomb survivors and victims of nuclear tests) attending from around the world.

Two books listing of 5,021 names of hibakusha who died in the past year were placed in the cenotaph in the Peace Monument. The total number of people who died from the A-bomb in Hiroshima was estimated at 217,137.

In Japan, there are 297,613 officially recognized hibakusha, A-bomb survivors at the end of March 2000, and 6,842 died in the past.

The ceremony was attended by Abdallah Baali, the chairman of the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference (the Algerian Ambassador to the United Nation). Alexandre Panov, the Russian Ambassador to Japan was the first representative of a nuclear weapon state to attend the ceremony. Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori made a speech, promising to do his utmost to achieve a world without nuclear weapons "some time in the near future." (end item)

----

Atom Bomb Survivors Fight Old Age, Loneliness

IPS Gender And Human Rights Bulletin
7 August, 2000
By Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Aug 6 (IPS) - Fifty-five years after the world's first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan's dwindling number of survivors are battling old age, loneliness, and an increasing feeling of rejection by society.

Toyoko Yoshino, a 76-year-old survivor from Hiroshima, is recovering from partial paralysis after suffering a blood clot in her brain 14 years ago.

She says she has been feeling tired and helpless these past few years.

"I have reached my limit," said the greying woman, who lives alone. "I am tired and dejected these days."

Yoshino, who survived the atom bomb attack on Aug. 6, 1945 by American warplanes carrying out instructions to end the Pacific War, belongs to Hiroshima o Kataru Kai (Forum for Conversations about Hiroshima).

It is a voluntary group comprised of 14 survivors who, for the last 16 years since they formed the organisation, have been sharing their experiences with visitors to Hiroshima.

They lecture people about the horrors of nuclear warfare, relating their experiences on that day and their lives since then.

More than 140,000 people were killed in Hiroshima, and a second bomb that hit Nagasaki three days later killed about 74,000 people. Today, the government says there are 297,613 survivors of the atomic bombings, the first time the number has dropped below 300,000.

Last week, the Nagasaki Red Cross Atomic Bomb hospital released statistics showing it admitted a record 1,242 victims in Japan's fiscal 1999, which ended in April.

A total of 29.3 percent were admitted for cancer and 12.6 percent for brain and heart disorders. Of the total number of atom bomb survivors admitted, 5,606 were new patients.

"We stress the message that life must be respected," Yoshino said of the point that survivors make to those who listen to their stories. To this day, she continues to suffer from sleep problems because of the guilt she feels for the lies she had told dying children on the day of the atom bomb attack.

"The children were suffering from horrible burns and were crying out for their mothers, and I told them that their mothers would come soon. But I knew that would not happen as the they were dying like flies," she said.

Despite the busy schedule of Hiroshima o Kataru Kaithe-the group has talked with more than 400,000 visitors-Yoshino says the organisation plans to disband in March due to financial difficulties and its members' ill health.

Yoshino reports that four members have passed away since the group started, and that the average age of members has reached 74 years. She says it has been difficult to find the money to pay for transportation expenses to meet with visitors, which is why Hiroshima o Kataru Kaithe cannot carry on with its work.

But Seiko Ikeda, a 71-year-old housewife and executive vice president of the Hiroshima Council of (A-bomb) Victims Organisation, says the biggest letdown is the fact that Japan does not seem to have learned enough from the lessons of the atom bomb attacks.

"The biggest blow of all for us is that the Japanese government continues to support nuclear issues such as the expansion of the domestic nuclear industry, and continues to support the United States despite its nuclear arms proliferation," explained Ikeda.

She says she became listless for several days in September, after news spread of an accident at a nuclear power plant in Japan. One worker died due to severe radiation, and several others were also exposed.

Ikeda was 12 when the atom bomb fell on Hiroshima, a day locals called 'Pika-Don', or Flash Bang.

On that day, she had been mobilised by the Japanese military to clean an old building 1.5 km from the epicentre of the atom bomb explosion-close enough for Ikeda to be burnt so badly that she was almost unrecognisable.

She had 15 surgical procedures done on her face, where her burnt skin hung "looked like dripping wax from a lighted candle", Ikeda recalls.

"The mental and physical pain was excruciating. As a result I am wholly against nuclear weapons and war, which only inflicts suffering on people," said Ikeda, who has traveled to the United States, India and Pakistan to lobby against nuclear weapons.

Her sentiment is shared by many survivors. In a June poll of 239 people aged between 54 and 91 years old, more than half of the survivors of the 1945 atomic bomb attacks said they did not expect nuclear weapons to be abolished in the 21st century.

"The United Nations should work to prevent the development of new and stronger weapons that can replace nuclear weapons in the next generation, but in reality it is unlikely to happen since the UN has failed to abolish current nuclear weapons," a 71-year-old Nagasaki resident responded in the survey.

A 79-year-old man said that anti-nuclear activists are regarded as black sheep in Japan. An overwhelming 58 percent of respondents replied that it would be difficult to pass on their experiences to the younger generation.

Despite the dejection often felt by Japan's ageing survivors, peace activists say they play an important role in the fight against nuclear weapons.

"Their first-hand testimony is a powerful tool for us activists especially when Japan is poised to enter a more active global role in the 21st century," pointed out 25-year-old Rie Nakamura, who says she still weeps when she listens to the survivors' stories.

-------- new zealand

NZ Prime Minister Calls for Nuclear Weapons Convention

Kate Dewes - kate@chch.planet.org.nz
Mon, 07 Aug 2000

Edited excerpts follow from an interview by New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark with NHK TV, broadcast from Hiroshima on 6 August 2000.

--

NHK TV: "Do you think nuclear abolition in the 21st century is possible?"

Helen Clark: "The abolition of nuclear weapons this century is possible but we have got quite a long way to go. I think we need to focus on a Nuclear Weapons Convention being negotiated, like we have a Chemical Weapons Convention and Biological Weapons Convention, and we can all through our governments push for that. There are many conferences, many possibilities of working at it, but we do need the countries outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty Conference to help. Countries like India, Pakistan, Israel - they must come to the party as well."

NHK TV: "As the Prime Minister of New Zealand, how would you tackle the issue of nuclear weapons elimination?"

Helen Clark: "New Zealand will be very strongly involved with the New Agenda Coalition which is working at the United Nations. It has worked very strongly with the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, to make sure that a strong lead is given for nuclear disarmament. The conference got the nuclear weapon states signing up to new commitments which they hadn't made before. At every conference we will be looking for new and stronger commitments."

NHK TV: "Could you tell us the importance of, and how much you depend on, non-government organisation groups?"

Helen Clark: "We co-operate very closely. In the 21st century governments need effective partnerships with community based organisations, with civil society. The role of government has changed and it must be a role of facilitating, enabling, leading, bringing people together, building consensus; and the role of civil society is very important in that."

NHK TV: "What do you think the individual world citizen should be thinking and doing?"

Helen Clark: "The individual world citizen has to play a part. The individual world citizen could be writing to their Prime Minister, their member of Parliament, making it clear that they want their government to be taking a progressive role internationally. The international citizen can join the annual commemoration of what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The individual citizen has power and they should use it."

Kate Dewes IPB Vice-President Disarmament and Security Centre P O Box 8390 Christchurch Aotearoa/New Zealand Ph/Fax +64 3 348 1353 kate@chch.planet.org.nz www.disarmsecure.org

-------- sweden

Swedish energy authority says ok to scrap 2nd nuke

08-07-00
Reuters
From: Ndunlks@aol.com

STOCKHOLM, Aug 7 - Sweden can afford to scrap a second nuclear reactor next year without jeopardising electricity supply through the now-deregulated energy market, the country's energy authority says.

A second reactor at Barseback in southern Sweden can be closed on schedule in July 2001, the authority said in a statement to the government released on Monday.

The Swedish government is expected to announce the next step in its programme to phase out nuclear power when it presents the autumn fine-tuning budget on September 20.

``We see no problem in closing down the reactor. Besides, a shutdown of Barseback 2 is central if the Swedish ecological targets are to be met,'' the energy authority said.

Deregulation of the Nordic power market means a country no longer needs to be entirely self-sufficient as Sweden can import electricity from Denmark or Norway at times of high demand.

Swedes voted in a referendum in 1980 to phase out nuclear power, fearing it might cause an environmental disaster, and switch instead to cleaner forms of energy including hydropower, biomass and wind power.

Nuclear energy from the 11 remaining reactors including Barseback 2 at present meets 47 percent of Sweden's electricity requirements, according to the energy authority. Hydroelectric schemes produce another 47 percent and conventional power stations account for the rest. Electricity produced by wind turbines represents only 0.3 percent of the total.

Environmentalists have warned that deregulation of the Nordic power market means, for instance, that Danish coal-burning power stations can sell cheap power, but the hidden social cost is higher carbon dioxide emissions.

-------- u.n.

Bill is an 'assault' on the Constitution

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
August 7, 2000
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/ed-letters-200087161018.htm

Bruce Fein's concerns regarding potential abuses of a permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) and his strong support for the American Servicemember's Protection Act demonstrate his ignorance of the court, his disregard for the U.S. Constitution and his indifference to the current world demand to hold even political leaders accountable for criminal behavior ("Torching the Constitution," Commentary, Aug. 1).

First, the ICC would not "criminalize warfare." While that may be an excellent idea from the perspective of anyone who understands the full human, economic and environmental consequences of war, the ICC is only structured to deal with the most heinous acts of political leaders, those who hold themselves above decent moral codes designed for war or peace. Specifically targeting innocent civilians in any war, for any reason, should be a punishable crime, regardless of one's title or nationality. The definitions of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are very clear and unambiguous in the ICC statute. All innocent people deserve, as an inalienable human right, such protection from anyone abusive of political power. In reality, U.S. laws and military courts would handle such criminal behavior by any American, thus leaving the ICC subservient to our own Constitution. Mr. Fein's fears are simply based on ignorance of the Rome treaty.

Second, the bill is, in itself, an assault on the U.S. Constitution. According to David Scheffer, U.S. ambassador at large for war-crimes issues, the Justice Department agrees that if this bill becomes law it would "unconstitutionally intrude upon the president's authority as commander in chief." A Pentagon official, upon listening to Mr. Scheffers' remarks at a hearing on the bill, agreed. Even more disastrous, however, would be this bill's impact on national security and the lives of U.S. service members. According to administration officials, this bill would "prevent the president from participating in United Nations peacekeeping efforts even where he determines that such participation is necessary for the safety of United States forces or the national security, for example, responding to a sudden attack to rescue U.S. forces in danger."

Rep. Tom DeLay and Sen. Jesse Helms, authors of the bill, have let their single-minded dislike for the United Nations get in the way of their oath to uphold the Constitution and protect our nation's security. They even are willing to put American service members at greater risk. It is unlikely to happen, but Mr. Helms and Mr. DeLay should withdraw their bill. In recent hearings on the bill, Rep. Donald M. Payne called it "one of the most ridiculous pieces of legislation" he had ever seen. That was an understatement. The bill is dangerous.

In the words of Mr. Scheffer, if this bill becomes law, it will "achieve exactly the opposite of the result intended and seriously harm our own national security and foreign policy interests. The legislation would cripple our negotiating leverage to achieve the common objective of protection of American service members from surrender to the ICC. Section 5 [of the bill] could make it impossible for the United States to engage in critical multinational operations. Section 7 could weaken essential military alliances." At best, this bill is a partisan ploy to get a few Democrats on record as voting against "service member protection." Some believe the drafters of this bill mistitled it just for that purpose.

In preventing any level of the U.S. government from cooperating with the ICC, this bill would make the United States a safe haven for war criminals and political leaders who masterminded genocides or other crimes against humanity. Imagine that. Congress prohibiting even local American police and judicial systems from dealing with mass murderers. Now that's torching the original intent of the U.S. Constitution. Messrs. Fein, Helms and DeLay are all playing with matches. CHUCK WOOLERY Issues advocacy director,, World Federalist Association, Washington

The objections raised by Bruce Fein to the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in "Torching the Constitution" are well-conceived, and his interpretation of post-World War II history is equally credible. Nevertheless, almost everyone else in the world believes the United States is hypocritical - or worse - for supporting international criminal tribunals against its vanquished enemies in the past while never providing for the possibility that such tribunals could be called into session against the United States itself, even under the most egregious of circumstances.

The international repercussions of America's failure to reconcile this dichotomy are quite destructive because it lends credence to the argument that these tribunals are nothing more than the exercise of ex-post-facto vengeance by a powerful victor over the hapless vanquished.

Ultimately, America's failure to at least continue good-faith negotiations on this issue - in whatever forum might be available - undermines both the integrity of the ongoing judicial proceedings against Serbia and Croatia, for example, and the moral position upon which the United States originally set its course during the Nuremberg war-crimes trials.

RAY L. HANNA Washington

-------- u.s. nuc facilities

Long-Term Management of DOE 'Legacy' Waste Sites Presents a Significant Challenge

Aug. 7, 2000
Contacts: Bill Kearney, Media Relations Associate Shelley Solheim, Media Relations Assistant (202) 334-2138;
e-mail <news@nas.edu>
http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/030907181?OpenDocument

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON -- The government's intended reliance on long-term stewardship to oversee its contaminated nuclear weapons sites is, at this point, problematic, says a new report from the National Academies' National Research Council. Details of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) stewardship plans have yet to be specified, adequate funding has not been assured, and there is no convincing evidence that institutional controls -- such as surveillance of radioactive and other hazardous wastes left at sites, security fences, and deeds restricting land use -- will prove reliable over the long run.

"Many weaknesses in institutional controls and other stewardship activities arise from institutional fallabilities," said Thomas Leschine, associate professor at the University of Washington, Seattle, and chair of the committee that wrote the report. "Understanding this and developing a highly reliable organizational model that anticipates failure while taking advantage of new opportunities for further remediation and isolation of contaminants remains a significant challenge for DOE."

"Moreover," added committee vice chair Mary English, research leader at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, "DOE must undertake long-term institutional management of residually contaminated sites with the expectation that plans developed today will need to be periodically revisited."

Nearly 150 sites around the country are contaminated, a nagging reminder of the nuclear arms race. DOE has concluded that even after planned remediation activities are completed -- or found to be infeasible -- at these so-called "legacy" waste sites, 109 of them will never be clean enough for unrestricted use. The department recently established the Office of Long-Term Stewardship to protect indefinitely the people and environment surrounding these sites -- which are located in 27 states, Puerto Rico, and territorial islands in the Pacific.

DOE should begin immediately to plan for a broader institutional management framework that equally balances contaminant reduction, physical isolation of waste, and custodial activities such as surveillance of waste migration, changes in the landscape, and human activity around the site, the committee said. Currently, DOE defines stewardship as something that begins after "closure" of a site when remediation is deemed finished, but ideally it should be considered while remediation strategies are still being formulated. The Office of Long-Term Stewardship has just begun its planning, though it is required by law to report to Congress on DOE's responsibilities by October 1.

Because the long-term behavior of contaminants in the environment is unpredictable and physical barriers may break down at some point, the committee urged DOE to develop its stewardship plans under the assumption that contaminant isolation eventually will fail. When institutional controls and other stewardship activities are required because of the fallibility of isolation, a precautionary approach should be adopted in which contaminant reduction is emphasized to address risks to human health and the environment.

No "one size fits all" formula exists for successful institutional management and decisions are likely to be made under conditions of considerable uncertainty, the reports notes. The best long-term management strategy overall appears to be one which avoids foreclosing future options, takes contingencies into account, and considers seriously the prospects of failure. It needs to be forward-looking because today's scientific knowledge and institutional capabilities do not provide much confidence that containment of sites with residual risks will function as expected indefinitely.

The long-term institutional management approach outlined in the report also calls for periodic re-evaluation of plans and research and development of new remediation technologies. Scientific breakthroughs outside DOE need to be monitored as well for their relevance to further reducing risks associated with residual contaminants. Equal attention should be given to social research that can be applied to the institutional and organizational aspects of this approach.

DOE officials view the long-term stewardship efforts that they have proposed so far -- which are likely to rely heavily on surveillance, maintenance, and record keeping -- as relatively inexpensive compared with the cost for initial remediation. But real costs cannot be estimated with any confidence since failures are likely to occur, the committee said. The goal of long-term institutional management should be to anticipate such failures and minimize the costs and risks associated with them.

Ongoing surveillance and environmental monitoring need to go beyond the boundaries of a site, the committee emphasized. For example, DOE has begun annual checking of building permit requests around the Oak Ridge Reservation site in Tennessee after a nearby golf course attempted to use water from a contaminated aquifer. In addition, proposed land-use changes inside a site, perhaps for the "reindustrialization" of the former facility for a new manufacturing purpose, need to be carefully considered.

DOE should frankly acknowledge gaps in its technical capabilities and organizational deficiencies when explaining long-term institutional management plans to the public, the committee said. In addition, the scientific basis for decisions should be clear, and the public should be actively engaged in the development of stewardship plans.

The report was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The National Research Council is the principal operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering. It is a private, nonprofit institution that provides scientific and technical advice under a congressional charter. A committee roster follows.

Copies of Long-Term Institutional Management of U.S. Department of Energy Legacy Waste Sites will be available this fall from the National Academy Press at the mailing address in the letterhead; tel. (202) 334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242. Reporters may obtain a pre-publication copy from the Office of News and Public Information at the letterhead address (contacts listed above).

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources Board on Radioactive Waste Management

Committee on Remediation of Buried and Tank Wastes

Thomas M. Leschine (chair) Associate Professor School of Marine Affairs College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences University of Washington Seattle

Mary R. English (vice chair) Research Leader Energy, Environment, and Resources Center University of Tennessee Knoxville

Denise Bierley Environmental Consultant St. Helens, Ore.

Gregory R. Choppin R.O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Department of Chemistry Florida State University Tallahassee

James H. Clarke Professor of the Practice of Civil and Environmental Engineering Vanderbilt University Nashville, Tenn.

Allen G. Croff Associate Director Chemical Technology Division Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge, Tenn.

William R. Freudenburg Professor of Rural Sociology and Environmental Studies Department of Rural Sociology University of Wisconsin Madison

Donald R. Gibson Jr. Program Manager TRW Inc. Colorado Springs, Colo.

Naomi H. Harley Research Professor of Environmental Medicine Department of Environmental Medicine New York University School of Medicine New York City

James H. Johnson Jr. Professor of Civil Engineering and Dean College of Engineering, Architecture, and Computer Sciences Howard University Washington, D.C.

Shlomo P. Neuman1 Regents' Professor of Hydrology and Water Resources Department of Hydrology and Water Resources University of Arizona Tucson

W. Hugh O'Riordan Attorney Givens, Pursley & Huntley Boise, Idaho

Edwin W. Roedder2 Associate Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Harvard University Cambridge, Mass.

Benjamin Ross President Disposal Safety Inc. Washington, D.C.

Raymond G. Wymer Director Chemical Technology Division Oak Ridge National Laboratory (retired) Oak Ridge, Tenn.

RESEARCH COUNCIL STAFF
Robert Andrews Study Director

Member, National Academy of Engineering
Member, National Academy of Sciences

--

[From: John Loretz, Program Director, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW); Executive Editor, Medicine and Global Survival, 727 Massachusetts Ave., 2nd floor, Cambridge, MA 02139, (617) 868-9230, (617) 868-2560 (fax)

http://www.ippnw.org, http://www.healthnet.org/MGS]

----

Dominion to buy Millstone nuke for $1.3 bln

Aug 7 2000
Reuters
From: "Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>

NEW YORK, Power provider Dominion Resources Inc. <D.N> on Monday said it agreed to buy Northeast Utilities Inc.'s <NU.N> Millstone nuclear station for $1.3 billion in cash to expand its reach in the New England power market.

The deal also ends Northeast's efforts to shed the station, which it put up for auction in April. The three-unit station on the Long Island Sound near New London, Conn., is New England's largest electrical generating plant. Its checkered history includes charges of pollution, retaliation against whistle-blowers and extended power outages that cost Northeast Utilities as much as $1 billion in power replacement costs associated with shutdowns in the mid-1990s.

The Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control in April hired J.P. Morgan to conduct an auction of the Millstone nuclear power station.

Richmond, Va.-based Dominion said it expects Millstone to add 5 cents per share to earnings in the first and second year of ownership. Dominion said it expects the deal to close by April 2001 and said the purchase includes $105 million for nuclear fuel.

"This acquisition supports our broader corporate strategy to become a major energy provider of choice in the Northeast, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, home to 40 percent of the nation's demand for energy," said Chief Executive Thomas Capps in a statement.

"By adding Millstone to our diverse portfolio of generating assets, we're positioned to increase our market share in New England significantly."

Dominion shares closed up 1 at 50-5/8 ahead of the news in trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Northeast shares closed up 1/4 at 23 on the NYSE. Dominion said it will ultimately finance the deal with a combination of debt, equity and perhaps asset sales.

Subsidiaries of NU own 100 percent of Millstone Unit 2, an 870- megawatt nuclear reactor and 68 percent of Millstone Unit 3, a 1,150-megawatt reactor that has several other partial owners.

The sale also will include Millstone Unit 1, a 660-megawatt reactor that was retired in July 1998 and is currently being placed in safe storage for future decommissioning.

The 1970s energy crisis spurred NU to build the Millstone units. But by the 1980s, construction delays raised the cost of the final unit, Millstone 3.

The 1995 shutdown of Millstone 1 began NU's nuclear troubles. In 1996 regulators closed all of NU's nuclear operations, except the Seabrook nuclear plant in New Hampshire, because of safety concerns.

Current NU Chairman Michael Morris was brought in to fix the company's troubled nuclear plants. He replaced Bernard Fox, who left after federal regulators ordered NU to comply with regulations and fix management problems. NU managers had routinely retaliated against whistle-blowers

NU received permission to restart the Millstone units in 1998 and 1999. But it had to absorb the $1 billion in power replacement costs associated with extended shutdowns.

In 1999, NU agreed to plead guilty to 25 federal felony counts and pay $10 million in penalties for polluting water near Millstone and lying to regulators. Consolidated Edison agreed to buy NU for $3.3 billion in cash and stock and $3.9 billion in assumed debt.

----

FirstEnergy in Talks to Buy GPU

Akron, Ohio, Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) -- FirstEnergy Corp., an Ohio utility owner, is in talks to buy GPU Inc. of New Jersey for more than $10 billion in stock and assumed debt, people familiar with the talks said.

The companies might reach an agreement this week, though final terms haven't been reached and the talks could collapse, the people said.

A premium of 20 percent to 30 percent is being discussed, the people said, valuing the stock portion of the transaction at $4.1 billion to $4.4 billion. GPU has about $5.9 billion in debt. Both companies declined to comment.

GPU was one of the first U.S. utilities to sell its power plants, including the working nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island, to concentrate on delivering electricity. That forced GPU to buy power for its 2.2 million customers at fluctuating prices, making the company vulnerable to takeover.

``It was a strategy that backfired,'' said Michael Worms, an analyst with Gerard Klauer Mattison & Co. who has ``neutral'' ratings on GPU and FirstEnergy.

FirstEnergy shares fell 2 3/8, or 8.8 percent, to 24 9/16 in early trading. GPU rose 2 7/16, or 8.7 percent, to 30 1/2. FirstEnergy had climbed 19 percent this year, while GPU was down 5.7 percent.

Pennsylvania Power

GPU's position has been weakened by disappointing results from overseas investments, Worms said. The company in June agreed to sell its Australian electric-transmission unit, GPU PowerNet, to Singapore Power Ltd. for $1.27 billion, about $530 million less than GPU paid in 1997.

GPU, based in Morristown, New Jersey, also has investments in the U.K. and Argentina. It sells electricity in New Jersey and Pennsylvania through utilities Jersey Central Power & Light, Metropolitan Edison and Pennsylvania Edison. The company had sales of $4.76 billion last year.

Acquiring GPU would allow Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy to expand into central Pennsylvania and New Jersey. FirstEnergy owns Pennsylvania Power, a utility based in New Castle, near the Ohio border, with about 145,000 customers. The company also has stakes in power plants in western Pennsylvania.

FirstEnergy had 1999 revenue of $6.32 billion. Besides Penn Power, the company owns Ohio Edison, Toledo Edison Co. and the Illuminating Co. The four utilities supply 2.2 million customers in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

FirstEnergy was formed in November 1997, when Ohio Edison Co. bought Centerior Energy Corp. for $1.6 billion. Last year, FirstEnergy bought an additional 20 percent stake in a Warren County, Pennsylvania, hydroelectric plant from GPU for $43 million.

In December, GPU sold the sole working reactor at Three Mile Island, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to AmerGen Energy Co., a joint venture of Philadelphia-based Peco Energy Co. and the U.K.'s British Energy Plc.

Three Mile Island's other reactor has been idle since 1979, when it nearly melted down in the U.S.'s worst nuclear accident.

Sandy Perle Director, Technical ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Division ICN Biomedicals, Inc. ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue Costa Mesa, CA 92626 Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100 Extension 2306 Fax:(714) 668-3149 E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com

Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205 ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com

Maybe this is why the sale of Oyster Crack was delayed?
Norman Cohen <norco@bellatlantic.net>

----

Nuke Sites May Not Rid Contaminants

Monday August 7
By H. JOSEF HEBERT,
Associated Press Writer
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000807/us/nuclear_legacy_1.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - More than two-thirds of the government sites involved in decades of nuclear bomb production will never be completely cleaned of contamination, according to a study by the National Academy of Sciences.

``Long-term stewardship will be required for over 100 of the 144 waste sites,'' said the report released Monday by a special panel examining government plans to deal with this legacy of the Cold War years.

And the scientific panel warned that any plan for managing long-term isolation of contaminated sites should anticipate problems because the likelihood of the containment ``measures failing ... is relatively high.''

The sites are in 27 states and range from the massive Hanford reservation in Washington state, where government reactors made plutonium for the first nuclear bombs, to portions of the nation's federal research labs such as Argonne in Illinois and Sandia in New Mexico.

The time for remediation of the sites, contaminated with radiation and dangerous chemicals, range from several years to nearly 50 years. And for decades after that continued stewardship of many of these sites will be required, the scientists said.

Furthermore any plan for dealing with these sites must be flexible with continued involvement by the federal government because ``the likelihood that institutional management measure will fail at some point is relatively high,'' said the report.

The report was requested by the Energy Department as it develops long-term strategies cleaning up materials that in some cases are expected to remain dangerously radioactive for thousands of years.

``The Academy did a good job at pointing out the many things we have to look at,'' said Gerald Boyd, the department's deputy assistant secretary for science and technology.

Boyd said the department agrees that many of these sites cannot be abandoned even after the contamination is clearly contained.

``We can't walk away from these sites. We can't turn our backs to them. That's what they (the Academy) are recommending to us and that's what we're planning to do.''

While some areas likely will never be clean enough to be used, other areas - or parts of facilities - are expected to be cleaned sufficiently of contamination for restricted uses, the scientists said.

The DOE strategy involves two stages: first containment of the contamination and remediation, a process already underway. Secondly, long-term ``stewardship'' of sites where residual contamination will be left for the foreseeable future, perhaps always.

But such long-term management is full of uncertainties, the report said.

``At many sites future risk from residual wastes cannot be predicted with any confidence because numerous underlying factors that influence the character, extent and severity of long-term risks are not well understood,'' said the report.

Thomas Leschine of the University of Washington, chairman of the committee that wrote the report, said that as a result the government model for long-term stewardship of these sites must be flexible and anticipate failure.

``Understanding this and developing a highly reliable organizational model that anticipates failure while taking advantage of new opportunities for further remediation and isolation of contaminants remains a significant challenge for DOE,'' said Leschine.

Mary English, a researcher at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and the committee's vice chair, said that any plans for these sites ``will need to be periodically revisited'' because of changing conditions and new technological developments.

The Energy Department must ``acknowledge gaps'' in its technical capabilities today as they would be used to contain and isolate radioactive wastes hundreds of years into the future, the study said.

-------- new mexico

Judge Hears Scientist's Motions

New York Times
August 7, 2000 Filed at 11:57 p.m. EDT
By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-Scientist-Secrets.html

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Wen Ho Lee's lawyers asked a judge Monday to dismiss most of the charges against the fired nuclear scientist on grounds that his alleged misconduct is not covered by federal law.

Lee, 60, is charged with 59 counts, mostly alleging that he transferred restricted files from secure to unsecure computers and to computer tapes at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

He could spend life in prison if convicted. His trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 6.

In their motion, defense attorneys Mark Holscher and John Cline ask U.S. District Judge James A. Parker to dismiss all but 10 of the counts because they deal with ``intangible information'' not covered by federal law.

``The statutes at issue ... respectively cover only tangibles such as documents and writings and do not apply to intangibles such as information,'' the motion states.

In a separate motion, the defense argues that the lab did not assign a classification level to the files Lee allegedly downloaded until after he was fired on March 8, 1999.

They contend the references could cause a jury to believe that the files had been classified as secret or confidential at the time of Lee's alleged misconduct.

``The allegations concerning the files' classification levels represent an improper, after-the-fact attempt to inflate the files' sensitivity,'' the motion says.

Phone messages left for the U.S. attorney's office and defense attorneys were not immediately returned Monday.

Lee has been held without bail since December. His defense team requested a new bail hearing, but prosecutors responded Friday by saying he still poses a flight risk and a threat to national security if released pending trial.

-------- ohio

Environmental Management: There Is A Better Way

By ALVIN L. ALM and JAMES R. MAHONEY

(Editor's Note: This article was written just prior to Al Alm's untimely passing last month.)

The nation's environmental management system needs fundamental change.

The current system, which relies heavily on command-and-control regulations and specified end-of-pipe technology standards, cannot efficiently address today's environmental challenges.

This is not surprising. If we continued to rely on 1970's techniques for manufacturing and communication, the U.S. would now be hopelessly non-competitive in world markets. Similarly, it is unrealistic to expect that the environmental regulatory system established three decades ago would be efficient today.

The current system made sense 30 years ago, when the United States faced the major challenge of cleaning up heavily polluted air, water and soil after decades of neglect. Detailed technology standards were developed and mandated for motor vehicles and industries. Because conditions were so stark, the federal program made a fast and visible impact.

However, today's pollution problems often result from many diverse sources, and current control requirements are not well matched to the remaining cleanup priorities. For example, water quality in many parts of the nation is adversely impacted by sources not addressed by current regulations, such as urban runoff, farms, feedlots and timber operations.

Similarly, many sources not controlled by the current system continue to degrade air pollution levels, which remain unacceptable in several regions.

The current system needs structural changes to improve efficiency and to address today's unresolved environmental problems. Current regulatory costs are high-over $100 billion annually-and rising. The command-and-control focus of the current system substitutes centralized decisions for market competition in achieving environmental goals-a sure prescription for increasingly unproductive costs.

Moreover, the current system cannot effectively address several of the highest priority unresolved problems, including ground level ozone pollution in the Northeast, nutrient loading of streams and lakes from land runoff and practical controls for the multiplicity of greenhouse gases.

The change of administration provides a unique opportunity. Working with Congress and the various environmental constituencies, the new administration taking office in January 2001 will have a unique opportunity to lead a re-evaluation and improvement of the national environmental management system.

In particular, the relationship between the Environmental Protection Agency, the states, communities and the private sector should be re-defined to eliminate overlapping regulatory reviews and other unnecessary bureaucracy, and to encourage private sector initiatives to meet environmental goals more efficiently.

Many of the planning and management tools industry commonly employs to achieve overall productivity improvements can be used to optimize environmental compliance-but only with structural changes in the command-and-control regulatory system.

Proposed regulatory system changes will require careful evaluation, as well as pilot-scale experimentation in many cases, to minimize unintended outcomes. While practical implementation steps should proceed cautiously, the governing vision should be broad, embracing changes in technology, culture, organization and accountability. Two major areas should receive the highest priority.

The regulatory philosophy should be dramatically changed. The current technology-based system undermines opportunities to achieve least-cost reductions in total emissions for designated pollutants by controlling all sources at the end of the pipe.

For example, a joint study by EPA and Amoco Inc. (now BP Plc) determined that reducing benzene emissions was five times more costly by using EPA's prescriptive standards as compared to choosing the least-cost alternative. Overall performance standards, rather than end-of-pipe technology standards, will encourage continuing development of better solutions and result in large cost savings.

Self-monitoring by regulated companies and simplified reporting of environmental data can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of compliance monitoring, and can free up government and industry resources to address priority unresolved issues. In the future, third-party reviewers may be best suited to perform routine environmental compliance monitoring.

The tools for achieving environmental objectives should be expanded. Historically, command-and-control regulations have been the predominant tool for achieving environmental compliance. However, other approaches are more effective in the right circumstances.

For example, the sulfur dioxide emissions trading system, which was not operational until the early 1990's, is considered the most successful regulatory mechanism to date for achieving environmental benefits. Compliance is virtually assured, costs are substantially lower and the entire system is transparent to stakeholders and governments. Trading systems can also be applied to other air pollution problems and to certain nutrient water contaminants.

In the long run, information may become the most important environmental management tool. Information generated from California's Proposition 65 (requiring public notification of toxic exposures) and EPA's Toxic Release Inventory program (TRI) has resulted in substantial voluntary reductions by industry. When the TRI data was first released, a number of CEOs took corrective action, some because of the public relations effect and at least one because a large volume of chemicals was being wasted.

These recommendations are necessarily incomplete, but they illustrate the direction that regulatory restructuring can take. We will not achieve acceptable environmental quality without dramatic change to the current system, and the upcoming transition to a new administration provides a rare opportunity for constructive action. If we do not begin now to seize the opportunity, we may perpetuate an overly costly and ineffectual system for many years in the future.

-Alvin Alm was president of Chambers Associates Inc., a Washington-based public policy consulting firm. Previously, he served as deputy administrator of the EPA and assistant secretary of Energy for environmental management. James Mahoney is senior consultant at Chambers and former director of the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program and former environmental advisor to the Business Roundtable.

Kathy Crandall kathycrandall@earthlink.net

-------- us nuc politics

BUSH CAMPAIGN STATEMENT REGARDING LIEBERMAN

From: "Boddy, Lee" LBoddy@georgewbush.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:
Ari Fleischer, Mindy Tucker, Ray Sullivan or Scott McClellan, 512/637-7777

August 7, 2000

Statement from Bush Spokesman Ari Fleischer on press reports of the selection of Joe Lieberman:

"If Al Gore has in fact selected Joe Lieberman for his vice presidential nominee, he has chosen a good man whom Gov. Bush and Secretary Cheney respect."

"Governor Bush and Secretary Cheney respect Joe Lieberman for his intelligence, his integrity, and for many of the positions he has taken, positions which Gov. Bush and Sec. Cheney support but Al Gore has attacked. From Social Security reform to missile defense, tort reform to parental notification, and from school choice to affirmative action, Al Gore has chosen a man whose positions are more similar to Governor Bush's than to his own. The fact that Al Gore is willing to select a running mate whose positions he has attacked throughout this campaign will cause many to question Al Gore's commitment to the positions he takes."

---

Senator Lieberman:
On the Right of the Democratic Party on National Security Issues

PRESS RELEASE
COUNCIL FOR A LIVABLE WORLD
Monday August 7, 2000
Contact: John Isaacs 202.543.4100 x131 jdi@clw.org

Washington, DC- The imminent selection of Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman as Vice President Gore's running mate means that two national security moderates will top the Democratic ticket.

From 1989 to 1999 Sen. Joseph Lieberman compiled a 46 percent voting record, according to the Council for a Livable World annual voting guide. In 1993, Lieberman scored a dismal 15 percent and has consistently been ranked with the lowest scoring Democrats ever since and has often ranked below some moderate Republicans.

Interestingly, then-Senator Al Gore also compiled a 46 percent score from 1989-1992, the four years in which the two served in the Senate together. Both men supported the Gulf War and voted for use of force against Iraq, opposed by most Democrats. Both are more forward-leaning on national missile defense than most Democrats. Both tend to endorse higher military budgets despite the end of the Cold War.

On the other hand, both candidates are strong arms control supporters, including the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, START II and the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Ironically, Senator Lieberman enjoyed the support of the Council for a Livable World, an arms control advocacy organization, in first Senate race to oust incumbent Senator Lowell Weicker in 1988. In his inaugural year in the Senate, Lieberman compiled a perfect 100% score on the Council's annual voting index in 1989. After that, his record plummeted.

Lieberman supported funding cuts for the Star Wars program until 1993. Since then, he opposed measures to reduce funds for Ballistic Missile Defense and was one of the first Democrats to endorse deploying national missile defenses "as soon as technologically feasible," allying himself with missile defense hawks such as Republican Senators Thad Cochran (R-MS) and John Kyl (R-AZ).

He has consistently voted against initiatives to reduce the overall military budget and has supported retaining budget firewalls to prevent transfer of funds from defense accounts to domestic programs. Lieberman voted against cuts in the intelligence budget and has opposed efforts to disclose the total intelligence budget.

Connecticut is home to major defense contractors, and Lieberman has been assiduous in promoting weapons that bring jobs to the state, including a number of aircraft and the Seawolf and New Attack Submarines. He has also promoted arms sales abroad by supporting loan guarantee programs for arms sales and voting against the arms sale Code of Conduct.

On the positive side, Lieberman opposed the B-2 bomber, the MX missile rail garrison, and anti-satellite weapons. He supported the nuclear testing moratorium and has consistently advocated UN peacekeeping efforts and payment of US debt to the UN. Last year, Lieberman also voted for amendments to permit further reductions in our nuclear arsenal and to carry out another round of military base closures.

"Sen. Lieberman is an impressive candidate," said Council President John Isaacs, "He is very knowledgeable about arms control and foreign policy issues. However, after the Cold War, he moved to the right of the Democratic Party on national security issues -- and will be right at home with Al Gore."

Sen. Lieberman's scores on Council's annual arms control voting index:

1989- 100
1990- 70
1991- 61
1992- 69
1993- 15
1994- 33
1995- 23
1996- 55
1997- 50
1998- 40
1999- 57

----

Bush builds his foreign-policy team

Tuesday, August 1, 2000,
Miami Herald
TRUDY RUBIN
http://www.herald.com/content/tue/opinion/digdocs/092392.htm

The Republicans have picked a theme for each day of their party convention, and today is national security day. Everyone knows foreign policy isn't a vote-getter. Yet the phrase ``national security'' has a solid Republican ring, and the Grand Old Party wants to show that George W. Bush can handle America's global affairs more responsibly than Bill Clinton or Al Gore could.

The task is tricky, given Bush the Younger's stunning lack of knowledge about the world outside Texas. So W.'s been bolstered by a foreign policy team of heavies who fought the Cold War under Ronald Reagan and Bush Sr. -- topped off by former Bush defense secretary turned veep nominee Dick Cheney.

They'll be selling experience, tough-headedness against the enemy -- all the qualities that beat back the Soviet Union. But the Cold War's been over for a decade, the Soviet Union is finished and no one's come up with a better label for the current murky transition period than the ``post-Cold War era.''

From what they've said and written so far, this team of ex-Cold Warriors doesn't seem to have figured out how to handle today's world.

The foreign policy tone has been set by Condoleeza Rice, a brainy, black, beautiful Soviet specialist who served on the National Security Council under Bush Sr. Rice's academic mentor was Joseph Korbel, an anti-Soviet Czech emigre who happened to be Madeleine Albright's father.

As Bush junior's chief foreign-policy adviser, Rice has emphasized that power matters, and the exercise of power by the democratic United States matters most. She argues, fairly enough, in the journal Foreign Affairs, that the Clinton administration was never fully comfortable with the exercise of U.S. power. Instead, says she, the Clinton team tried to work ``reflexively'' through the United Nations, or to set international ``norms'' through unverifiable treaties.

When the Clintonites did pursue military action, she charges, they did it haphazardly -- failing to set priorities clearly, then drifting into poorly planned operations in places like Haiti and the Balkans. The Republicans, on the other hand, would build up the military, use force (only) when needed and focus on relations with Russia and China.

All well and good. But if W. is going to focus on the big powers, he needs someone else to handle the myriad ethnic conflicts that disturb the peace in the post-Cold War world. This means figuring out how to strengthen U.N. peacekeeping operations, or regional organizations, to do the dirty work U.S. troops don't want to do.

Republicans, however, won't pay U.S. arrears for previous peacekeeping operations, let alone spend money for new ones. Nor will they pony up the barest foreign-aid budget. The United States can't be taken seriously as the global leader while paying out a fraction of what the European Union and Japan offer in development aid.

As for focusing on Russia and China, Rice doesn't sound much different from Clinton. She argues that free trade can change China. And she says our top priority with Russia is to convince them to eliminate thousands of Soviet-era nukes.

However, the Republican rush to build a $60 billion national missile defense system is likely to stall Russian plans to build down their nuclear forces. The Russians see the Republican missile defense plan -- however unworkable -- as symptomatic of a U.S. drive to marginalize them as a great power.

Rice never confronts this basic contradiction. Could it be that the vision of national missile defense summons up some of the heady certainties of the Cold War era?

It may be no accident that some Reaganauts on W.'s team are banging the drums, again, to dump Saddam Hussein. Push them for details on how to achieve this miracle, and they have none. Maybe just talking about it relives the glories of the Gulf War.

But this is a different era, messier, less sure. If W. makes it to the White House, his foreign policy team will find that U.S. power cannot be exercised in the same way that it could in previous decades.

<a name="military"></a>
-------- MILITARY (by country)
-------- arms sales

Taliban Arms Embargo Contemplated

By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-Bombings-Security.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Stepping up its campaign against the Taliban government in Afghanistan, the Clinton administration said Monday it is discussing with other U.N. Security Council members the possibility of imposing an arms embargo against that country.

This and other punitive measures are being contemplated for the Taliban's refusal to hand over suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

Boucher said other steps include barring senior Taliban officials from traveling internationally and the closing of Taliban offices in foreign countries.

Boucher used the occasion of the second anniversary of the bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa to disclose the initiative

Bin Laden, a Saudi exile, is wanted for the East Africa bombings but the Taliban says he cannot be turned over to American authorities because there is no bilateral extradition treaty. The Taliban also says Afghan culture forbids a guest their country to be delivered to enemies.

Boucher noted that six persons wanted in the bombings are awaiting trial in the United States and three others are in custody in the United Kingdom pending extradition to the United States. Eight others, including bin Laden, remain at large.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright made a brief appearance before reporters Monday to talk about the East Africa bombings, which killed more than 200 persons, including 12 Americans.

``Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families of those, American and African, who were killed or seriously injured,'' she said.

Since the tragedy, she said, physical security has been enhanced at every U.S. diplomatic post and there are now mandatory inspections for every vehicle entering American diplomatic facilities overseas. In addition, 337 new diplomatic security personnel have been hired and trained.

Boucher also talked about additional security enhancements either taken or planned:

-- More than 20,000 representatives from more than 100 countries have received instruction in anti-terrorism techniques.

-- U.S. surveillance teams have been established in many countries ``so we can watch for those who might be watching us.''

-- At the State Department itself, security awareness briefings have been held for 7,000 officials. Eventually, briefings will be held for all department employees.

-- The presence of uniformed guards has been increased both inside and outside the building.

-- Plans call for the creation of 900 new positions, including 500 security special agents over a two- or three-year period, at a cost of $300 million.

-------- guatemala

Report Slams Guatemalan Army for Child Abductions

By Reuters
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-guatema.html

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemala's first report on forced disappearances of children during the country's brutal 36-year civil war has blamed the Central American nation's armed forces for 92 percent of abductions.

The 200-page document, released on Monday by the prominent Archdiocese of Guatemala's Human Rights Office (ODHA), gleaned information from interviews with parents and relatives of 86 children.

Most went missing in Guatemala's western highlands in the early 1980s, when intensive guerrilla activity and army repression plagued the mostly Maya Indian area.

``This report aims to prevent such instances of pain and suffering from occurring again in Guatemala,'' the office's coordinator, Bishop Mario Rios Mont, told reporters.

Mont's predecessor, Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi, was bludgeoned to death in 1998, the day after the same office released a report blaming the army for the majority of wartime atrocities during a conflict in which some 200,000 people died, many of them women and children.

The latest report attributed 86 percent of child disappearances to abductions, almost exclusively by the army, but in a few cases by pro-government paramilitary groups or leftist guerrillas.

The remaining 14 percent were not taken by force, according to the report. Many children were separated from their parents while on the run from aggressors, it said.

Four years after the government and guerrillas signed a 1996 peace agreement ending the war, many cases remain shrouded in mystery.

``He disappeared and nobody knows how; nobody can give us any information. There's no trace,'' read the testimony of one Indian woman, whose toddler son vanished following a skirmish in her village.

Three children have so far been reunited with their relatives, ODHA said.

The report said 444 cases of disappeared children had so far come to light in Guatemala, a number it expects will rise dramatically as research continues.

An earlier investigation project in neighboring El Salvador documented 520 cases of children who went missing during that country's 12-year civil war, which ended in 1992.

A spokesman for Guatemala's armed forces said the institution would cooperate fully with any investigations stemming from the report.

``We have absolutely nothing to hide,'' Capt. Jose Valladares told Reuters by telephone. ``If we are summoned to court, we will go.''

Atrocities committed by all sides during the war must be fully investigated under the conditions of the peace accords.

-------- iraq

Bread and Sympathy Offered for Iraq

August 7, 2000,
Washington Post
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51839-2000Aug7.html

Chanting "Stop the sanctions now!" and carrying loaves of bread, a few hundred people demonstrated outside the White House yesterday morning, and 104 were arrested when they sat on the sidewalk and refused to move. It was the second day of demonstrations by a coalition of peace activists and clergy to protest conditions in Iraq on the 10th anniversary of economic sanctions imposed after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Protesters said more than 1 million Iraqis have died from malnutrition and because they lack supplies such as medical equipment. They also decried U.S. and British bombing aimed to enforce the Iraq no-fly zones. Many children have been victims of the sanctions and of the bombing, protesters said.

"Yes, Saddam [Hussein] is terrible," said Ellen Barfield, of Baltimore, an organizer with the group Voices in the Wilderness. "So why are we blaming children who weren't even born in 1990 when Kuwait was invaded?"

The sanctions were approved by the United Nations Security Council, and the Clinton administration argues they are necessary to prevent Saddam Hussein from developing weapons and renewing aggression in the region. Officials point out that food and medicine are not banned, and that Saddam Hussein diverts resources to build palaces.

The protesters say restrictions prevent Iraq from importing adequate food. W. Mahdi Bray, president of the Washington-based Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations, said some Iraqis are reduced to selling kidneys to raise money for food.

"There is this double whammy on the people," Bray said. "They live under the oppression of a dictatorship, and then there's the other oppression of our sanctions."

The demonstrators carried a water purifier to the steps of the Treasury Department Annex, adjacent to Lafayette Square. The department enforces bans on commerce in such technology to Iraq.

"It doesn't look like much," said James H. Matlack, director of the Washington office of the American Friends Service Committee, holding the device aloft. "But this is life or death for many people in Iraq."

The device can regulate the infusion of chlorine into 1 million gallons of water a day; the lack of clean water is spreading disease in Iraq, according to the protesters.

"Why, why, why?" protester Stephanie Schaudel said, demanding an explanation for the sanctions while standing inches from uniformed officers of the Secret Service, who barred the Treasury Annex door. One of the guards said simply, "The doors are closed."

The demonstrators said the water purifier and others like it, along with chlorine, will be delivered to Iraq by sympathetic people traveling there. They displayed a banner with the names of 1,000 people in a "campaign of conscience" who are donating money to support such exports.

Then they left the Treasury Annex and marched to Pennsylvania Avenue NW in front of the White House, and some stuck their bread loaves on the sharp points of the fence protecting the White House grounds. Some sat down next to the fence and, after three warnings from a U.S. Park Police officer, were arrested without incident and charged with misdemeanors of demonstrating without a permit or demonstrating in a restricted area, according a Park Police spokesman. Three were also charged with damaging government property for splashing a red liquid meant to symbolize blood on the sidewalk.

Those arrested were put into plastic handcuffs and led onto police vans. They included Barfield; Schaudel; Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit; the Rev. John Dear, a Jesuit peace activist; and the Rev. Jim Lawson Jr., a retired United Methodist pastor who recently visited Iraq.

All 104 arrested protesters were out of jail by mid-afternoon. Most were given the option of paying $50 or returning for a court date, and most chose to come back for trial.

Bray said the demonstrators aren't making much headway with Democratic or Republican leaders during an election year, but as the crowd dispersed before noon, he expressed this hope: "After the election, with pressure from Americans, we'll be able to develop a foreign policy that contains Saddam Hussein and any capability he has for weapons of mass destruction--and still provide food, medicine and human relief for the people of Iraq."

----

Toughing It Out, Iraq Rails at Sanctions

NewsMax.com
Monday, Aug. 7, 2000
http://www.NewsMax.com/articles/?a=2000/8/7/75658

Rather than open Iraq's doors again to arms inspectors, President Saddam Hussein is vowing to wriggle out of international economic sanctions he insists are genocide.

At the onset of the 11th year of sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council, a front-page editorial in al-Thawra, the official newspaper of the Iraqi dictator's tightly controlled Baath Party, said Sunday:

"Our hands and pickaxes will destroy the wall of the embargo and open the road to the future. It is the Iraqi mentality that will create the means and methods that will end the blockade."

Echoing Saddam's anti-Semitic line, the Iraqi military daily al-Qadissiya said, "The Americans and their allies the Zionists are imposing the unjust embargo as part of their continuous aggression against Iraq."

The government-controlled English-language daily, the Baghdad Observer, said, "A million and a half Iraqis are already dead, mostly children, because of the economic blockade.

"For 10 years, the Security Council has been committing genocide in Iraq under flimsy pretexts."

According to a report by Reuters news agency:

Iraq's line is that the prolonged embargo is Washington's weapon of last resort to try to topple Saddam from power after failing to oust him in the short-lived Persian Gulf War that began when Iraq invaded Kuwait in late 1990.

U.N. sanctions were imposed on Iraq after an international alliance forged by then-President George Bush defeated Iraq, throwing its armies back inside its borders.

Later, Baghdad rejected a U.N. resolution that could ease the sanctions whenever Iraq allows international arms inspectors to return to check on weapons of mass destruction. They left Iraq on the eve of a U.S.-British bombing campaign in December 1998.

Iraq maintains that a U.N. oil-for-food deal allowing Baghdad to pay for essentials through crude exports has done little to alleviate people's suffering.

Saddam has accused the United States and Britain of blocking Iraqi efforts to purchase food and medicine under the oil pact.

Washington says Saddam uses the limited oil revenues permitted him to free up other funds to maintain his military forces.

----

Demons of oil dependency

Frank Murkowski
August 6, 2000
http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/commentary-200086144946.htm

In America's collective consciousness, 10 years is a long time. After all, a lot can happen in a decade. Ten years ago, in the summer of 1990, our government ran deficits, not surpluses; the Soviet Union was our dominant foreign policy preoccupation; Bill Gates was a mere millionaire; and if you got "on line" to check out "the Web," you were waiting to see "Arachnophobia," a hit movie that year.

Yet the more things change, the more they stay the same. Then, as now, the high cost of gasoline was a major topic for public discussion. Ten years ago, our dependence on foreign oil rose above 50 percent for the first time. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), by far our largest supplier, raised its target price on crude oil by 17 percent, and prices at the pump topped $1 a gallon for the first time in six years.

On Aug. 2, 1990, newspapers were warning in editorials that the U.S. energy situation was "looking ominous." Overdependent on imports and subject to the price-fixing whims of the oil cartel, the United States was increasingly vulnerable to external factors beyond its control, papers were suggesting.

Almost on cue, Saddam Hussein and his tanks rolled into Kuwait. This outrageous act of naked aggression was our worst nightmare: a dictator bent on domination of the Middle East; a tyrant anxious to acquire and willing to use the most fearsome weapons against even his own people; a man willing to stop at nothing to achieve his twisted visions.

The ostensible reason for the invasion was Saddam's displeasure that Kuwait refused to raise oil prices. Higher prices would have meant greater revenues for Iraqi oil exports - and more funds to fuel Saddam's nuclear, biological and chemical ambitions. The day after the invasion, Amer Cohen and Marvin Miller stated in a newspaper column that the two fundamental U.S. interests in the Middle East were (1) ensuring the flow of oil and (2) preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction. In one stroke, Saddam had challenged both of our fundamental interests in ways that, even more fundamentally, threatened American and international values alike. Saddam's invasion of Kuwait could not be left to stand.

Yet 10 years later, despite the hundreds of lives and billions of dollars that have been expended to contain him, Saddam is far from gone from the scene. He still threatens our two fundamental interests in the Middle East in ways that are as profound now as they were 10 years ago. In early 1999, with the price of oil hovering at around $12 a barrel, OPEC began a run-up in oil prices to reach a target price of about $25 a barrel. At the same time, the United Nations authorized increased production for Iraq under the "oil for food" program to 2.5 million barrels a day, from almost nothing at the end of 1996. In September of last year, Saddam abruptly cut production of oil by 1.2 million barrels a day, sending shock waves through the global economy and sending the price of a barrel of oil above $30, from which it has yet to recover.

Ten years after invading Kuwait to force a higher price for OPEC crude oil, Saddam has his wish at last. The higher crude prices have enabled him to undertake clandestine weapons purchases and renew his desire for domination of the Middle East. In every speech, Saddam closes by urging death to Israel. Almost daily, our airplanes are fired upon by Iraqi guns. Almost every week, new reports surface of Iraqi purchases of new weapons technology. Every month, Saddam receives some $50 million from oil smuggling, which he directly channels to his military ambitions.

Incredibly, Iraq is not only our most proven enemy, it is also our fastest growing supplier of imported oil. The United States today purchases some 700,000 barrels of oil from Iraq a day - nearly twice as much as we did before the invasion of Kuwait. We rely on Saddam to heat our homes, deliver our mail and help us get to work in the morning. The very ships and planes that enforce sanctions against Saddam are fueled with his oil. This horrifying paradox suggests a foreign and energy policy in disarray.

Meanwhile, international public sympathies seem to be swinging in Saddam's favor because of the hardships the Iraqi people suffer from economic sanctions and Saddam's grotesque strategy of placing weapons batteries in populated areas to lure allied fire onto Iraqi civilians. The United States and our allies may have won the Persian Gulf war, but Saddam is winning the peace.

The United States imports nearly 60 percent of its oil today and is on track to import nearly two-thirds of its oil 10 years from now. If our energy situation looked "ominous" in 1990, it has reached crisis levels in 2000.

Before the Gulf war, our reliance on imported oil was ill-conceived. The Gulf war should have driven this point home. Instead, our victory made us believe reliance on imported oil was sustainable, reliable and secure. Saddam, apparently, knew better.

We are on a collision course. By increasing our energy dependence on Iraq, we place our lives in the hands of our most impassioned enemy. With each day that passes, Saddam's influence on the Middle East grows, and our energy security is imperiled.

The Department of Energy predicts that in the next decade we will be two-thirds reliant on imported oil. We have the tools today to correct our energy policy and become more self-reliant. To do so, of course, will require difficult choices. I, for one, would rather face difficult choices now than be faced with no choice at all in another 10 years.

----

UN 'recognises Iraq policy limits'

Financial Times
7 Aug 2000 07:22GMT
By Reuters
http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3ZD334LBC&live=true&tagid=ZZZINS5VA0C&subheading=middle%20east%20and%20africa

The United Nations chief arms inspector for Iraq Hans Blix said on Sunday his monitoring agency could never find out everything about Iraq's banned weapons programmes.

Blix, whose U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) is currently barred from operating by Baghdad, said no inspection was totally foolproof.

"It is generally recognised that no inspection, however intrusive, however effective, can ever come up with a 100 percent answer or mapping of the capacity that Iraq has," Blix told BBC radio.

"I think the (U.N. Security) council has come to accept that," he said.

UNMOVIC replaced the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM) whose inspectors pulled out of Iraq in 1998 on the eve of a U.S.-British bombing campaign.

Iraq has repeatedly said it would not allow Blix's team to work before international sanctions, imposed exactly 10 years ago, are lifted. The United Nations says Iraq must first cooperate with Blix before the sanctions are eased.

Blix, a Swede and former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iraq might still change its mind and let his inspectors in to do their work. The new U.N. arms agency started training 44 weapons inspectors from 19 countries earlier this month.

"They may find that there is no other way of eliminating or suspending the economic restrictions to which they are subjected," he said.

Blix promised UNMOVIC would be a "proper, appropriate U.N. organ". Iraq said its predecessor UNSCOM was dominated by the United States and Britain and was helping drag out the sanctions as long as possible.

"(UNMOVIC) will have a broad geographic distribution and we are to be very correct, not cosy with the Iraqis, but correct in our dealings with them," he said.

---

Text Of President Clinton's Address to the Nation on the Bombing of Iraq President Bill Clinton

NewsMax.com
December 16, 1998
http://www.NewsMax.com/articles/?a=2000/8/22/224241

Good evening. Earlier today, I ordered America's armed forces to strike military and security targets in Iraq. They are joined by British forces. Their mission is to attack Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and its military capacity to threaten its neighbors. Their purpose is to protect the national interest of the United States, and indeed the interests of people throughout the Middle East and around the world.

Saddam Hussein must not be allowed to threaten his neighbors or the world with nuclear arms, poison gas or biological weapons.

I want to explain why I have decided, with the unanimous recommendation of my national security team, to use force in Iraq; why we have acted now; and what we aim to accomplish. Six weeks ago, Saddam Hussein announced that he would no longer cooperate with the United Nations weapons inspectors called UNSCOM. They are highly professional experts from dozens of countries. Their job is to oversee the elimination of Iraq's capability to retain, create and use weapons of mass destruction, and to verify that Iraq does not attempt to rebuild that capability. The inspectors undertook this mission first 7.5 years ago at the end of the Gulf War when Iraq agreed to declare and destroy its arsenal as a condition of the cease-fire.

The international community had good reason to set this requirement. Other countries possess weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles. With Saddam, there is one big difference: He has used them. Not once, but repeatedly. Unleashing chemical weapons against Iranian troops during a decade-long war. Not only against soldiers, but against civilians, firing Scud missiles at the citizens of Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Iran. And not only against a foreign enemy but even against his own people, gassing Kurdish civilians in Northern Iraq.

The international community had little doubt then, and I have no doubt today, that left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will use these terrible weapons again. The United States has patiently worked to preserve UNSCOM as Iraq has sought to avoid its obligation to cooperate with the inspectors. On occasion, we've had to threaten military force, and Saddam has backed down. Faced with Saddam's latest act of defiance in late October, we built intensive diplomatic pressure on Iraq backed by overwhelming military force in the region.

The U.N. Security Council voted 15 to zero to condemn Saddam's actions and to demand that he immediately come into compliance. Eight Arab nations -- Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman -- warned that Iraq alone would bear responsibility for the consequences of defying the U.N.

When Saddam still failed to comply, we prepared to act militarily. It was only then, at the last possible moment, that Iraq backed down. It pledged to the U.N. that it had made, and I quote, a clear and unconditional decision to resume cooperation with the weapons inspectors.

I decided then to call off the attack with our airplanes already in the air because Saddam had given in to our demands. I concluded then that the right thing to do was to use restraint and give Saddam one last chance to prove his willingness to cooperate. I made it very clear at that time what unconditional cooperation meant, based on existing U.N. resolutions and Iraq's own commitments. And along with Prime Minister Blair of Great Britain, I made it equally clear that if Saddam failed to cooperate fully, we would be prepared to act without delay, diplomacy or warning.

Now over the past three weeks, the U.N. weapons inspectors have carried out their plan for testing Iraq's cooperation. The testing period ended this weekend, and last night, UNSCOM's chairman, Richard Butler, reported the results to U.N. Secretary General Annan.

The conclusions are stark, sobering and profoundly disturbing. In four out of the five categories set forth, Iraq has failed to cooperate. Indeed, it actually has placed new restrictions on the inspectors. Here are some of the particulars:

Iraq repeatedly blocked UNSCOM from inspecting suspect sites. For example, it shut off access to the headquarters of its ruling party and said it will deny access to the party's other offices, even though U.N. resolutions make no exception for them and UNSCOM has inspected them in the past.

Iraq repeatedly restricted UNSCOM's ability to obtain necessary evidence. For example, Iraq obstructed UNSCOM's effort to photograph bombs related to its chemical weapons program. It tried to stop an UNSCOM biological weapons team from videotaping a site and photocopying documents and prevented Iraqi personnel from answering UNSCOM's questions. Prior to the inspection of another site, Iraq actually emptied out the building, removing not just documents but even the furniture and the equipment. Iraq has failed to turn over virtually all the documents requested by the inspectors. Indeed, we know that Iraq ordered the destruction of weapons-related documents in anticipation of an UNSCOM inspection.

So Iraq has abused its final chance.

As the UNSCOM reports concludes, and again I quote, "Iraq's conduct ensured that no progress was able to be made in the fields of disarmament. In light of this experience, and in the absence of full cooperation by Iraq, it must regrettably be recorded again that the commission is not able to conduct the work mandated to it by the Security Council with respect to Iraq's prohibited weapons program."

In short, the inspectors are saying that even if they could stay in Iraq, their work would be a sham. Saddam's deception has defeated their effectiveness. Instead of the inspectors disarming Saddam, Saddam has disarmed the inspectors.

This situation presents a clear and present danger to the stability of the Persian Gulf and the safety of people everywhere. The international community gave Saddam one last chance to resume cooperation with the weapons inspectors. Saddam has failed to seize the chance. And so we had to act and act now. Let me explain why.

First, without a strong inspection system, Iraq would be free to retain and begin to rebuild its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs in months, not years.

Second, if Saddam can cripple the weapons inspection system and get away with it, he would conclude that the international community -- led by the United States -- has simply lost its will. He will surmise that he has free rein to rebuild his arsenal of destruction, and someday -- make no mistake -- he will use it again as he has in the past.

Third, in halting our air strikes in November, I gave Saddam a chance, not a license. If we turn our backs on his defiance, the credibility of U.S. power as a check against Saddam will be destroyed. We will not only have allowed Saddam to shatter the inspection system that controls his weapons of mass destruction program, we also will have fatally undercut the fear of force that stops Saddam from acting to gain domination in the region.

That is why, on the unanimous recommendation of my national security team -- including the vice president, the secretary of defense, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the secretary of state and the national security adviser -- I have ordered a strong, sustained series of air strikes against Iraq. They are designed to degrade Saddam's capacity to develop and deliver weapons of mass destruction, and to degrade his ability to threaten his neighbors.

At the same time, we are delivering a powerful message to Saddam. If you act recklessly, you will pay a heavy price. We acted today because, in the judgment of my military advisers, a swift response would provide the most surprise and the least opportunity for Saddam to prepare.

If we had delayed for even a matter of days from Chairman Butler's report, we would have given Saddam more time to disperse his forces and protect his weapons. Also, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins this weekend. For us to initiate military action during Ramadan would be profoundly offensive to the Muslim world and, therefore, would damage our relations with Arab countries and the progress we have made in the Middle East. That is something we wanted very much to avoid without giving Iraq a month's head start to prepare for potential action against it.

Finally, our allies, including Prime Minister Tony Blair of Great Britain, concurred that now is the time to strike. I hope Saddam will come into cooperation with the inspection system now and comply with the relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions.

But we have to be prepared that he will not, and we must deal with the very real danger he poses. So we will pursue a long-term strategy to contain Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction and work toward the day when Iraq has a government worthy of its people. First, we must be prepared to use force again if Saddam takes threatening actions, such as trying to reconstitute his weapons of mass destruction or their delivery systems, threatening his neighbors, challenging allied aircraft over Iraq or moving against his own Kurdish citizens. The credible threat to use force, and when necessary, the actual use of force, is the surest way to contain Saddam's weapons of mass destruction program, curtail his aggression and prevent another Gulf War.

Second, so long as Iraq remains out of compliance, we will work with the international community to maintain and enforce economic sanctions. Sanctions have cost Saddam more than $120 billion -- resources that would have been used to rebuild his military. The sanctions system allows Iraq to sell oil for food, for medicine, for other humanitarian supplies for the Iraqi people.

We have no quarrel with them. But without the sanctions, we would see the oil-for-food program become oil-for-tanks, resulting in a greater threat to Iraq's neighbors and less food for its people.

The hard fact is that so long as Saddam remains in power, he threatens the well-being of his people, the peace of his region, the security of the world. The best way to end that threat once and for all is with a new Iraqi government -- a government ready to live in peace with its neighbors, a government that respects the rights of its people.

Bringing change in Baghdad will take time and effort. We will strengthen our engagement with the full range of Iraqi opposition forces and work with them effectively and prudently.

The decision to use force is never cost-free. Whenever American forces are placed in harm's way, we risk the loss of life. And while our strikes are focused on Iraq's military capabilities, there will be unintended Iraqi casualties. Indeed, in the past, Saddam has intentionally placed Iraqi civilians in harm's way in a cynical bid to sway international opinion.

We must be prepared for these realities. At the same time, Saddam should have absolutely no doubt if he lashes out at his neighbors, we will respond forcefully. Heavy as they are, the costs of action must be weighed against the price of inaction.

If Saddam defies the world and we fail to respond, we will face a far greater threat in the future. Saddam will strike again at his neighbors. He will make war on his own people. And mark my words, he will develop weapons of mass destruction. He will deploy them, and he will use them.

Because we're acting today, it is less likely that we will face these dangers in the future.

Let me close by addressing one other issue. Saddam Hussein and the other enemies of peace may have thought that the serious debate currently before the House of Representatives would distract Americans or weaken our resolve to face him down.

But once more, the United States has proven that although we are never eager to use force, when we must act in America's vital interests, we will do so. In the century we're leaving, America has often made the difference between chaos and community, fear and hope. Now, in the new century, we'll have a remarkable opportunity to shape a future more peaceful than the past, but only if we stand strong against the enemies of peace. Tonight, the United States is doing just that.

May God bless and protect the brave men and women who are carrying out this vital mission and their families.

And may God bless America.

---

U.S. Jets Bomb Iraq Again

NewsMax.com
February 9, 2000
UPI
http://www.NewsMax.com/articles/?a=2000/2/9/123208

WASHINGTON - United States jets bombed Iraqi military sites today for the third time this month after being targeted by Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery, according to U.S. European Command, which enforces the northern no-fly zone in Iraq.

These exchanges have become almost routine since December 1998, when Saddam Hussein began challenging the nine-year-old United Nations no-fly zones following a four-day bombing siege on sites in Baghdad because Hussein would not allow arms inspectors access to key sites.

They come at a time when the international community is trying to convince Iraq to allow arms inspectors into the country once again.

As such, the rate of attacks has slowed noticeably. In the southern no-fly zone, overseen by U.S. Central Command, there has been only one attack since the new year dawned. That follows a year in which attacks against multiple Iraqi miitary sites were launched on 66 separate days in the southern zone, at a rate of about five a month.

The northern no-fly zone has been more active this year. Attacks were carried out on seven days in January and three so far in February, usually in response to Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery fire.

This follows a year in which attacks on Iraqi military posts were carried out on 100 separate days, primarily against components of the air defense system.

Today's attack, the attack yesterday and one on Feb. 3 in the northern zone came in response to anti-aircraft artillery fire near Bashiqah, according to European Command.

---

Iraq Spurns U.N. Bid to Restart Weapons Inspections

NewsMax.com
February 10, 2000
AP
http://www.NewsMax.com/articles/?a=2000/2/10/133728

BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi authorities will not allow a United Nations weapons inspection team into the country to restart disarmament activities under a Dec. 17 resolution, a top Iraqi leader said Thursday.

``There shall be no return of the so-called inspection teams. We reject the infiltration by spies using such cover,'' the official Iraqi News Agency quoted Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan telling a visiting Russian envoy.

The remarks by Ramadan are the most negative by an Iraqi leader regarding the U.N. Security Council resolution and come at a crucial juncture when the newly appointed chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix of Sweden, is trying to set up the new disarmament commission. Ramadan did not mention Blix by name, but his team was set up under the December resolution.

Iraqi leaders have repeatedly said they won't deal with the resolution, but they have stopped short of formally notifying the United Nations of their stand.

Russia, perceived here as the closest Iraqi ally on the Security Council, dispatched Nikolai Kartuzov to Baghdad in a bid to persuade the Iraqi government to cooperate, Baghdad-based diplomats said.

But the diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Kartuzov, a former Russian ambassador to Iraq and currently Russia's ambassador at large, was facing an uphill task.

The resolution demands a resumption of the U.N. weapons inspections in Iraq that were suspended on the eve of United States and British airstrikes in late 1998.

But INA, the official news agency, said Ramadan told Kartuzov that Iraq ``is not committed to the resolution and is not under obligation'' to implement it.

``It is a resolution which the United States has drafted to realize its aggressive intentions against Iraq,'' Ramadan was reported as saying.

Kartuzov arrived in Baghdad early this week and has held separate meetings with senior Iraqi leaders, including Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz.

State-run newspapers on Thursday quoted Aziz as telling Kartuzov that Iraq will not cooperate with the United Nations to implement the resolution.

``The resolution is a bad rewrite of previous Security Council resolutions which reflect the failure of the council to implement its commitments toward Iraq,'' Aziz said, according to the al-Thawra newspaper.

Iraq says it has no more banned weapons and is demanding a complete lifting of U.N. sanctions, imposed after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Aziz, in remarks last week, said his government may be willing to cooperate if the United Nations made the resolution palatable to Iraq. He did not elaborate.

---

Iraq Claims It Has "Repelled" NATO Jets

NewsMax.com
March 14, 2000
Xinhua
http://www.NewsMax.com/articles/?a=2000/3/14/145411

BAGHDAD - Iraqi air defense artillery drove back the United States and British warplanes overflying northern and southern Iraq on Tuesday, an Iraqi military spokesman said.

In a statement carried by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), the spokesman said that at 14:30 (1130 GMT), the U.S. and British warplanes, in 11 formations, made 18 armed sorties from Saudi Airbia and six from Kuwait airspace over the southern provinces of Basra, Misan, Thi-Qar,Qadissiyah, Wasit, Muthana and Najaf.

The Iraqi anti-warplane missile system challenged the hostile planes and forced them to flee back to their bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Since the United States and Britain launched the four-night air strikes against Iraq in December 1998, their warplanes have made a total of 19,547 armed sorties, among which 16,037 were from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, said the spokesman.

U.S. and British warplanes attacked civilian installations in southern Iraq last Saturday and injured eight people, the INA reported.

U.S. and British aircraft use bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to mount their patrols of the southern no-fly zone which was set up after the 1991 Gulf War, with the so-called aim of protecting the region's Shiite Muslims from being attacked by the Iraqi government troops.

A similar no-fly zone was imposed over northern Iraq to protect the Kurdish community there as claimed.

Baghdad has never recognized the no-fly zones, which are not directly covered by any United Nations resolution and have been the sites of almost daily skirmishes since the air war last December.

---

Iraq Close to Nuclear Bomb

NewsMax.com
March 23, 2000
UPI
http://www.NewsMax.com/articles/?a=2000/3/23/55145

As the United Nations tried to convince Saddam Hussein to allow arms inspectors back into his outcast country, a nuclear arms control expert says the only thing Iraq lacks to make a nuclear bomb is a cache of highly enriched uranium.

"Saddam Hussein is closer to having a nuclear bomb than most people think," said Gary Milhollin, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, in testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Near Eastern affairs.

Based on his review of reports from U.N. arms inspectors, who were last in Iraq in late 1998, Milhollin said Iraq has a bomb design small enough to fit on the end of a Scud missile, and Iraq may still have nine Scud missiles left.

He says inspectors found an Iraqi document describing an offer of nuclear weapon design help from an agent of Pakistan, a recent initiate into the world's nuclear club.

"Regardless of how the Iraqis managed to do it, Saddam Hussein now possesses an efficient nuclear bomb design," Milhollin testified.

Prospects for Iraq to allow inspectors back into his weapons laboratories are dim, said the former deputy executive chairman of the U.N. Special Commission on Iraq, Charles Duelfer. He resigned his post March 1 after almost seven years.

Because the United Nations is unlikely to allow Iraq to control its income from oil sales even if full inspections are granted, Duelfer says Saddam Hussein has almost no incentive to agree to them.

Milhollin warned that the new head of the proposed U.N. arms inspection regime, Dr. Hans Blix, has a "checkered history" on Iraq. Blix headed the International Atomic Energy Agency "while Iraq ran an ambitious nuclear weapons program under his inspectors very noses."

Milhollin also asserts Iraq, using U.N.-approved "oil for food" money, has purchased eight critical electrical switches to trigger atomic bombs. The switches were culled from six medical machines, ostensibly for pulverizing Iraqi kidney stones without invasive surgery.

In 1998, Iraq ordered six lithotripter machines as well as 120 extra-high-precision electronic switches as "spare parts." It officially received six machines and two switches, but Millhollin says the number supplied is probably higher.

Milhollin also says Iraq has not accounted for at least 3.9 tons of VX, the deadliest nerve gas, and at least 600 tons of ingredients to make it.

---

Russia Condemns U.S.-British Bombings of Iraq

NewsMax.com
April 7, 2000
Xinhua News Agency
http://www.NewsMax.com/articles/?a=2000/4/7/160732

MOSCOW - Russia on Friday strongly condemned United States and British air raids over southern Iraq on Thursday, which killed 14 civilians.

Information released in Baghdad on casualties shows the damage caused during the latest strikes by U.S. and British air forces against southern Iraq is the heaviest since the United States and the United Kingdom launched the "Desert Fox" campaign against Iraq in December 1998.

"As a result of strikes against civilian facilities, 14 innocent civilians have been killed and 19 injured. Northern regions of the country also came under fire," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Naturally, these facts are bound to cause serious concern, especially because the above-mentioned actions, which are carried out practically on a daily basis in so-called no fly-zones, are absolutely illegal from the point of view of international law. They also directly contradict diplomatic efforts now being made with the aim of ensuring the enforcement of Resolution 1284 on Iraq passed by the United Nations Security Council."

"The illegal actions against a sovereign state that entail numerous human deaths and heavy destruction not only do not cease, but are also glossed over in every way," said the statement, expressing grave concern over "the excessive use of military force against civilian populations" by the United States and the United Kingdom.

---

The New Gulf War: McCaffrey Vs Hersh

NewsMax.com
Tuesday, May 16, 2000
NewsMax.com
http://www.NewsMax.com/articles/?a=2000/5/16/84950

A Gulf War shootout has resurfaced in a new firefight between a retired general and a famed investigative journalist.

At issue is a March 2, 1991 incident during the Gulf War when troops under the command of then-Major General Barry McCaffrey attacked a retreating Iraqi column and destroyed some 700 Iraqi tanks, armored cars and trucks.

In a 34-page article in the current New Yorker magazine, reporter Seymour Hersh charges that retired four-star General McCaffrey, now the Clinton administration's drug czar, used unnecessary force in the encounter with Iraqi troops two days after the Gulf War cease-fire went into effect.

In the story Hersh quotes retired Lt. Gen. James H. Johnson Jr., one of McCaffrey's Gulf War colleagues, as saying that "there was no need to be shooting at anybody" on March 2, 1991. "They couldn't surrender fast enough. The war was over."

The article cites statements by other officers who were on the scene.

Patrick Lamar, the operations officer of McCaffrey's division, said the initial skirmish that triggered McCaffrey's order to attack was "a giant hoax. The Iraqis were doing absolutely nothing. I told McCaffrey I was having trouble confirming the incoming" fire.

Retired Lt. Gen. John J. Yeosock said that "what Barry ended up doing was fighting sand dunes and moving rapidly" and McCaffrey was "looking for a battle."

Maj. Gen. Ronald Griffith said McCaffrey "made it a battle when it was never one."

Appearing on NBC's Today show, Hersh charged, "They were a defeated army going home and he attacked them."

Nonsense, says McCaffrey, who castigates Hersh as a critic who wasn't there for using biased hindsight to attack his actions.

"This is nonsense, this is revisionist history," an angry McCaffrey fumed, adding that he ordered his troops to attack the Iraqis only after two of his company commanders said the Iraqis were firing on their men. "We obviously had to support our soldiers," McCaffrey said.

In a television interview McCaffrey charged that Hersh "is recycling charges that were investigated 10 years ago. It conclusively demonstrated there was no wrongdoing," said McCaffrey,

McCaffrey's defenders point to the fact that in four separate investigations the army vindicated the general's actions.

An Army investigation of the allegations that McCaffrey ordered an unnecessary attack concluded there was no evidence of war crimes or any misconduct by McCaffrey or his troops.

Yesterday the Army issued a brief statement saying: "No new issues appear to have been raised in the story" and that "there is no need to reopen the investigation." The statement added, "The Army has confidence in the conduct and integrity of the soldiers of the 24th Infantry Division."

The White House jumped to the defense of its director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Clinton spokesman Joe Lockhart said McCaffrey has the president's full support and called the article "false," attacking Hersh as a self-promoter.

"I think the article itself is another in a series of articles by a journalist who thinks if you throw enough stuff up against the wall, maybe something will stick," Lockhart said. "It's an attempt to gratuitously go after public officials in an attempt to try to revive a journalist's career."

The heated dispute between McCaffrey and Hersh and the New Yorker, which burst into public with the publication of the article, has been simmering below the surface for six months, ever since the author first began to work on the story, according to the Boston Globe.

The paper cited heated correspondence between the magazine and McCaffrey supporters, some of who had warned the general that he was about to become the victim of a hatchet job.

The Globe reported that in a May 8 letter to New Yorker editor David Remnick, McCaffrey himself wrote of Hersh: "I have no trust in his objectivity. He has poisoned the well in his interviews with sources by his openly expressed animosity and contempt."

And the new Gulf War shows no signs of a cease-fire.

"... it has sparked a major food fight that will be waged in political, military, and media circles across the country," the Globe predicts, quoting New Yorker public relations director Perri Dorset as saying, "This is only the beginning."

---

For the story behind the story... Has Scott Ritter 'Turned'?

NewsMax.com
Tuesday June 27, 2000 4:39 AM EST
http://www.NewsMax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2000/6/27/35734

Formerly head of U.N. inspections in Iraq, Scott Ritter has been taking a much more conciliatory tone toward Iraq lately.

Once considered the staunchest of U.N. officials in their quest to have Iraq live up to promises it was not building weapons of mass destruction, Ritter quit his post with dire warnings that Clinton administration appeasement toward Iraq was enabling Hussein's regime to continue its weapons program.

But this week Ritter has been widely quoted as saying U.N. efforts to stop Hussein's weapons program were doomed if the U.N. insisted on Iraq's full disarmament, a demand Mr. Ritter believes should be dropped.

Say what?

Ritter is also now claiming that Iraq has no real program of making weapons of mass destruction, nor the capability to produce such weapons.

Ritter argues that Iraq had no prayer of seeing U.N. sanctions lifted because the bar - for 100 percent disarmament of weapons of mass destruction - is too high to meet because Iraq could just never convince the world it had met those demands.

In the same breath that Mr. Ritter says Iraq has "lied and cheated," he also scolds the U.N. for its hard-line approach: "It is imperative that the Security Council decide what its objective in Iraq is: is it to forever keep the Iraqis prisoner under the guise of weapons inspections, or is it to disarm Iraq?"

Hmmmm. We thought Mr. Hussein was keeping the Iraqis prisoner.

Is this the same Scott Ritter of 1996 who was outraged by U.N. acquiescence to Saddam Hussein's lies and refusal to account to the international community?

London sources tell NewsMax.com that Scott Ritter has made some strange new bedfellows in the pro-Iraqi community and among critics of the U.N. sanctions who would like to see those sanctions lifted.

-------- puerto rico

Puerto Ricans Chase U.S. Navy Bus

By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-Puerto-Rico-Navy-Bombing.html

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Puerto Rican protesters chased a U.S. Navy bus and scuffled with riot police Monday as authorities arrested 32 women for trying to stop bombing exercises on the outlying island of Vieques.

The women, arrested Monday at dawn, were the latest of dozens of protesters to break into the military training ground on Vieques. They were immediately detained.

When a Navy bus carrying the detainees left the camp, about 80 other protesters jumped in their cars and chased the bus, Police Sgt. Jose L. Velardo said.

Police escorting the bus called for reinforcements, who set up a roadblock.

``We had 20 to 25 cars following this bus,'' Velardo said. ``Things were very tense.''

Protesters claimed riot police threw retired schoolteacher Luz Legillu to the ground and pointed weapons at her. Velardo said Legillu, wife of a former Vieques mayor, complained to him but said he did not see the scuffle.

Velardo said the crowd dispersed after local police intervened.

He also said riot police reported that protesters threw motor oil at the bus and patrol cars. The riot police commander could not be reached for comment immediately.

The clash came as the Navy's USS Harry Truman battle group continued practicing. Jets began dropping dummy bombs on the firing range last week. Ships are expected to fire inert shells during exercises that could last through Aug. 24.

Anger over the Navy's presence flared in April 1999 after a jet dropped two bombs off target and killed a civilian guard on the range.

Protesters invaded the area for a year until federal agents removed them May 4. The Navy owns two-thirds of Vieques. Its bombing range is about 10 miles from the civilian sector and covers 900 acres on the eastern tip -- less than 3 percent of the island.

A Puerto Rican government report said exercises over 60 years had stunted the economy and harmed the environment.

The Navy denies any damage and says its live-fire training at Vieques is essential practice that saves lives in conflicts.

Under an agreement between President Clinton and the Puerto Rican government, the Navy resumed exercises with dummy munitions until a referendum is held. The Navy must pull out by May 2003 if residents vote to expel it.

--------

New Protests Over Naval Exercises on Vieques

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, 3:52 P.M. SUNDAY
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/07vieques.html

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Chanting ``No to the Navy!'' thousands of Puerto Ricans rallied in San Juan on Sunday to protest new U.S. military exercises on the outlying island of Vieques.

Jets from the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier began dropping dummy bombs on Vieques on Thursday, and ships from its accompanying battle group will begin shelling the island later this month.

About 5,000 protesters marched in 90-degree heat to a rally at the gates of Fort Buchanan, an army base in suburban San Juan. There, organizers urged activists to redouble their yearlong effort to force out the Navy. Police said the protest was peaceful.

Activists claim the exercises endanger Vieques' 9,400 residents and have stunted economic development. But the Navy called the rally ``part of a multi-million-dollar smear campaign'' directed by groups who want independence for Puerto Rico.

``Most of these people have a political affiliation, and their cause has nothing to do with Vieques,'' said Navy spokesman Jeff Gordon.

Some of the protesters marched to the rally from the federal prison in San Juan, where authorities are holding 19 activists - including two local lawmakers - on charges of trying to enter the bombing range to halt exercises.

Attendance at the rally - organized hastily after the Navy announced the new exercises last week - fell far short of the 80,000 who marched at a similar event in February.

Resentment over the Navy's presence in Vieques boiled over in April 1999 after a U.S. Marine Corps jet dropped two bombs off target, killing a civilian security guard working on the Navy bombing range. A study by the Puerto Rican government revealed other close calls and concluded the bombing has caused environmental damage - a charge the Navy denies.

Protesters built camps on the range, halting exercises for one year until U.S. Marshals cleared them out by force on May 4. Since then, more than 450 people have been arrested trying to re-enter the training ground.

President Clinton has promised to order the Navy out by May 2003 if Vieques residents vote in a referendum to expel them. Until the vote, expected next year, maneuvers are to continue with non-explosive bombs and shells.

But activists fear a new U.S. president may renege on Clinton's deal if a military emergency arises. They want the Navy to leave immediately.

On Sunday the Harry Truman battle group was on the high seas northeast of Puerto Rico, Gordon said. Its airplanes were dropping 25-pound metal bombs on Vieques.

The Navy and the Puerto Rican government have set up equipment to monitor the noise of guns when ship-to-shore shelling begins later this month, Gordon said.

-------- u.s.

GAO says Pentagon overestimates cost cuts

Washington Times
August 7, 2000
By Rowan Scarborough
http://208.246.212.80/national/default-200087221931.htm

The Pentagon is overestimating billions of dollars in savings from a major privatization program because the four branches refuse to give up troops even if their jobs are eliminated, according to an internal report.

The department is projecting savings of nearly $12 billion in 1997-2000 and has ordered the Navy, Army, Air Force and Marine Corps to reduce their budgets accordingly.

But a draft report by the General Accounting Office, Congress' audit agency, says all that money won't be there, possibly harming combat readiness.

It blames the overestimate on delays in conducting management evaluations, the cost of the evaluations themselves, and the fact the services will not give up about 200,000 targeted positions.

"There are no savings if the military position is converted to contract because the military will still keep its end strength and now it needs additional money to pay the contract," said Jay Spiegel, executive director of the Reserve Officers Association of the United States.

The GAO's warning delivers a blow to the Pentagon's No. 1 management reform, the 1997 Defense Reform Initiative. The GAO looked at two programs within the initiative: one to privatize some combat support jobs and another, called "strategic sourcing," that looks at ways to eliminate or streamline tasks.

The Pentagon plans on saving billions of dollars on those two programs alone. But a draft GAO report, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times, concludes:

The Defense Department's "anticipated savings projections have not adequately accounted for the estimated costs of conducting and implementing the studies or the estimated cost for retaining its military personnel, all of which could significantly reduce the anticipated level of savings."

"The department is already reducing future operating budget estimates in anticipation of savings, and such reductions can create operational difficulties for service components."

The GAO compiled the report for the House Armed Services subcommittee on military readiness and will release its findings shortly.

The four branches, especially the Army, are vigorously resisting pressure from some Pentagon civilians to reduce their ranks.

They are also debating how far to carry privatization. The Army, for example, has hired a civilian firm to augment Army truck drivers in the Balkans. Some military officials fear the push to privatize could thrust civilians closer to the battlefield.

"I believe that war is not a commercial function," said Mr. Spiegel. "People on the battlefield should be soldiers, not contractors. If a group of ground contractors is killed in the next conflict, I'm not confident the company will send over another group to do the job. That's not the case with soldiers."

Underlying Mr. Spiegel's concern is a fear the Army may look to cut Guard and Reserve personnel to create budget savings. His organization and members of Congress successfully headed off reductions mandated by the 1997 quadrennial review, the armed forces' strategic road map. But the issues will likely emerge again in the 2001 review.

A July 27 letter from the department's deputy undersecretary for installations said it generally agreed with the GAO's conclusions. The letter said "substantial savings are being realized and sustained, but the exact amount of savings cannot be determined with a high level of precision."

The military already has suffered significant readiness problems in the past 10 years. Shrinking budgets coupled with increased overseas deployments put a strain on training time, spare parts, equipment and retention of key people.

President Clinton and Congress responded by increasing spending. But some parts of the president's projected increases stem from savings that Republicans say may not materialize.

The GAO report does not say by how many dollars the Pentagon overestimated savings. But it says that to stave off readiness shortfalls, the Pentagon should not write budgets based on false estimates.

"Retaining positions will likely increase requirements for the operation and maintenance budget accounts," the report says. "Some military officials expressed concern that this could adversely affect their ability to meet regular operating requirements."

--------

Cohen Announces Delay in Defense

New York Times
August 07, 2000
By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-Missile-Defense.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon's assessment of how and when to move forward with a national missile defense will take several weeks long than planned, Defense Secretary William Cohen said Monday.

As a result, Cohen is unlikely to recommend a course of action to President Clinton until early September, officials said.

That still would give Clinton time to decide before leaving office whether to authorize initial steps toward building a new missile-tracking radar in Alaska -- a key first step to eventually deploying a national missile defense.

Cohen previously had indicated he expected to make his recommendation to Clinton by mid-August following an internal Pentagon study, called a deployment readiness review, to assess technical progress and other factors.

``A number of difficult issues remain to be resolved,'' Cohen said in a brief written statement Monday.

These issues -- including whether the rocket booster to be used for the antimissile system can be ready for full-scale production by 2003 -- must be settled before Cohen receives the internal assessment, he said.

Another unsettled question is whether the Pentagon should go ahead with the next flight test of the antimissile system as scheduled this fall. Officials are considering putting it off until December or later. The past two flight tests -- the most recent of which was in early July -- failed, raising questions about whether the Pentagon was pushing too hard to meet a target date for deploying the system by 2005.

The internal review now under way is headed by Jacques Gansler, the under secretary of defense for acquisition and technology, and officials of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, which runs the project.

``I will make no recommendation about the future of the NMD program until I have analyzed their findings,'' Cohen said. ``I expect that to happen and to report to the president within the next few weeks. Recent reports that I have made a decision on this matter, preliminary or otherwise, are wrong.''

``There is no immediate or artificial deadline for a recommendation to the president,'' he added.

``My goal is to make the best possible recommendation ... not the earliest possible recommendation.''

---

More Army troops called to fight Western wildfires
Clinton to survey damage in Idaho

CNN
August 7, 2000
From staff and wire reports
http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/08/07/wildfires.04/index.html

HAMILTON, Montana -- As acre after acre of the Western United States goes up in flames daily, 500 additional U.S. Army troops got orders this week to join some 1,200 troops already battling the wildfires, the Pentagon announced.

http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/08/07/wildfires.04/map.hamilt.bitterroot.link.jpg

The 500 troops from the 1st Cavalry Division at Ft. Hood, Texas, are expected to deploy as soon as Sunday, following several days of training with personnel from the National Interagency Fire Center, an Army statement issued Monday said.

Troops of the 20th Engineering Battalion will get several more days of training on the ground in Montana before going to the front lines of the fires in the Lolo National Forest near the town of Superior, Montana.

U.S. Agriculture Undersecretary James Lyons said the fires have the upper hand in the battle despite firefighters' best efforts.

He said "16 major fires came off the board, where we track fires nationally, this morning. Unfortunately 18 went on, so we're not gaining ground."

Smoke everywhere you look

Nineteen large wildfires were raging in Montana on Monday, consuming more than 167,000 acres. Pat McKelvey, fire information officer at the Blodgett fire in western Montana, said the smoke appears to be everywhere.

"You can stand on a ridge here in Hamilton and see fire columns in almost every direction you want to look," he said. "It's a situation I've never seen before."

Evacuations were ordered Monday in southwestern Montana as wildfires approached and thousands of acres of forest went up in flames.

The northern Rockies are the latest ground zero for wildfires that have burned more than 4 million acres in the United States this year, most of them in Western states.

Idaho and Montana together have nearly half of the current 66 large fires reported by the NIFC.

President Clinton was to visit the federal agency's headquarters in Boise on Tuesday to survey Idaho's biggest fires and meet with some of the crews fighting them.

Idaho's governor said this could be the toughest fire season in the state's history.

"Every night we have 40 to 50 new lightning strikes; 95 percent of those are being extinguished before they get started," said Gov. Dirk Kempthorne. But those fires that continue burning have the potential to become an inferno.

Kempthorne described the rapid growth of one fire that now has consumed more than 100,000 acres. He said the fire took only four hours to expand from only 200 acres to 25,000 acres.

Blazes also were burning in nine other states -- Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Firefighters reported making headway against blazes in California, but Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, remained closed for the second time this year as flames crept to within several hundred yards of ancient cliff dwellings and within a mile of a center housing 2 million Southwestern artifacts.

http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/08/07/wildfires.04/map.colorado.mesa.verde.jpg

7.4 million acres burned in 1988

Forecasts offered little hope of relief from the hot, dry weather baking parts of the West. "The reality is, many of these fires will not be extinguished until the snows fly later this fall," Kempthorne told CNN.

Fire center spokeswoman Sue Vap said firefighters from Canada were assisting against Montana blazes, while their counterparts from Mexico were on duty in Arizona. In all, she said, about 20,000 firefighters and support personnel were battling wildfires in the United States.

Mary Apple, a spokeswoman with the fire center, said most fire crews are working 14 days straight with just one day of rest. "People are tired, but they're doing OK," she said. "They're trained to fight fires, so they can handle it."

Throughout the country, the amount of land that has burned this year is larger than the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined.

Apple said this year was on track to surpass 1988, when 7.4 million acres burned, more than in any year since the 1950s.

Some in Montana won't budge

At least two homes had been destroyed in Montana's Bitterroot Valley, south of Missoula, and residents were warned that more could be burned.

Some evacuated residents were allowed to return to their homes in the Bitterroot's Pinesdale area Monday morning -- but only to obtain belongings.

Hundreds of people had been told to evacuate last week in the Bitterroot Valley, and scores more were ordered out Sunday near Sula, Montana, where the two homes burned.

A firefighters' camp in Sula, about 30 miles south of Hamilton, had to be moved, and flames destroyed a caterer's tent.

Some residents, such as Al and Nola Grisso, refused to let the threat force them out.

"We wouldn't leave unless we absolutely had to," Al Grisso said from his log home with a U.S. flag in front. Standing on the porch, he could see smoke.

Containment a low priority

Steve Frye, commander of the firefighting effort in the Bitterroot Valley, said people who ignored evacuation orders were "on their own."

"These aren't the kinds of fires we're going to run in front of and stop," Frye said Sunday.

Frye also said that containment is a "low, distant, third priority." Firefighters' top priorities were protecting lives and buildings, he told residents, and there was little doubt that more buildings would be destroyed.

About 500 Marines from Camp Pendleton, California, arrived Saturday in Idaho to complete their fire training. Elsewhere in Idaho, U.S. Army troops from Ft. Hood worked on the 23,000-acre Burgdorf Junction fire in the Payette National Forest.

Mesa Verde closed again

In southwestern Colorado, the latest Mesa Verde fire had spread across 5,000 acres as of Monday.

"We've been very lucky, but we're not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination," said fire spokesman Joe Colwell.

The national park, ravaged by a 23,000-acre fire in July, reopened Friday but was closed the same day by the new fire.

"Hopefully, we're not facing any risk of having the famous archaeological structures at Mesa Verde be burned, but nevertheless, we're very concerned," Colorado Gov. Bill Owens told CNN.

Ironically, the earlier fire helped to "uncover archaeological artifacts that we didn't know about," he said. "In kind of a perverse way, the fire is helping us."

Owens said, "Much of the park has never been burned, so we've never had a chance to see what's underneath the brush. We have archaeologists in right now cataloging and protecting the items that have been uncovered in the first fire this summer."

Optimism in California

The largest fire currently burning in California -- the 73,000-acre Manter Fire in the Sequoia National Forest -- should be contained by Thursday, according to fire information officer Lee Bentley.

"We'll lick it," he told CNN.

To the south, officials predicted the fire that started on the Pechanga Indian Reservation east of Temecula, California, and grew to more than 10,000 acres as of Monday also would be fully contained by the end of the week, if not sooner.

"We may even have this licked by today, weather permitting, and then the mop-up would start," said fire information officer Edward Osorio. "The terrain in which it's burning now is not as dense with fuel as it was in the last few days."

CNN Correspondent Charles Zewe, CNN National Security Producer Chris Plante, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

-------- OTHER

-------- alternative energy

Swedish team sees solar power competitive in 10 yrs

August 7, 2000
Reuters
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=7710

STOCKHOLM - A Swedish university research team believes solar power from so-called CIGS cells could compete in price with electricity produced in conventional power stations in 10 years' time.

The Uppsala University team using a module of solar cells made from copper indium gallium selenium (CIGS) has converted sunlight to electricity with a high, 16.6 percent efficiency, the team leader told Reuters on Friday.

Using the same photovoltaic technique, a team at the U.S. Dept of Energy National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) in Golden, Colorado achieved 17.7 percent efficiency four years ago.

"The difference is that while the NREL team used one cell we had a module of nine interconnected cells. This is like a cutout of a larger area which is how this sort of power will be produced," said Professor Lars Stolt, who heads the team at Uppsala's Angstrom Solar Centrum.

Stolt believes that in 10 years' time power produced this way could cost 0.3 Swedish crowns ($0.032) per kilowatt hour, competing with fossil fuel power stations.

"The biggest problem for us is to develop a co-evaporation technique for depositing the solar cell layers," Stolt said.

"The issue is to scale up this process for the production environment. It must be applicable for the production of thin-film solar cells on an industrial scale," he added.

Photovoltaic technology uses semiconductor materials such as silicon to convert sunlight to electricity.

Increased use of solar energy is expected by its protagonists to reduce pollution, save energy and drive down power costs for industry and households.

-------- spying

Egyptians say activist spied for the U.S.

08/06/00
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/nwssun02.htm

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -Prosecutors accused a prominent Egyptian-American human rights advocate Sunday of spying for the United States and bribing government officials, his lawyer said.

No formal charges have been lodged against Saad Eddin Ibrahim, who's been jailed for more than a month. Under Egyptian law, he can be held for up to six months without formal charges.

But prosecutors have made several accusations in their investigations - including that Ibrahim accepted foreign money without government permission and forged voting cards for a documentary about elections that tarnishes Egypt's image. Ibrahim has denied the accusations.

Ibrahim's lawyer, Farid el-Dib, told The Associated Press late Sunday that the scholar is now also accused of ''espionage for the United States to undermine Egypt's national security and harm its military, economic and political interests.''

Ibrahim denied the new allegations, said el-Dib, who denounced them as ''a farce.''

The attorney said espionage accusation was based on a U.S. conference that Ibrahim attended in 1994, where he lectured on Islamic extremism in Egypt. The conference was organized by the U.S. Defense Department in cooperation with an Egyptian think tank, he said.

''They (authorities) left all the Egyptian high ranking-officials and academics that attended the conference and accused Saad Eddin Ibrahim,'' el-Dib said, adding that Egypt's ambassador to the United States also had attended.

Prosecutors also accused Ibrahim of researching Egyptian factories for a U.S. organization that aims to hurt the country's economy.

El-Dib said Ibrahim's think tank, called Ibn Khaldun, provided data on some clothing factories for Verite, a Massachussetts-based nonprofit organization that helps corporations assure consumers that goods sold under their trademarks are produced under working conditions that meet international human rights standards.

During interrogations late Saturday and Sunday, Ibrahim was also accused of bribing state television officials to collect research data, el-Dib said. He said Ibrahim had no knowledge of the officials named.

International human rights groups have pressed Egypt to release Ibrahim and the U.S. State Department has expressed concern about the case. His family has appealed to President Hosni Mubarak to intervene.

Ibrahim has said in a statement from jail that his arrest is a government attempt to keep an Ibn Khaldun monitoring body from overseeing November parliamentary elections. Ibrahim has in the past made vote-rigging accusations, which the government has rejected.

-------- activists

Over 100 Arrested Near White House in Iraq Protest

Monday August 7 (Reuters)
From: "Max Obuszewski" mobuszewski@afsc.org

WASHINGTON - Police Monday arrested more than 100 people who protested against sanctions imposed on Iraq a decade ago by demonstrating in front of the White House and pouring fake blood [actually real blood] on the sidewalk.

About 250 people armed with signs like ``Sanctions are Mass Murder'' and ``Sanctions Suck the Life out of Countries'' gathered in Lafayette Park across from the White House to deplore the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq by the United Nations after its Aug. 2, 1990, invasion of Kuwait.

Baghdad says some 1.5 million Iraqis may have died as a result of the sanctions and it rejects a U.N. resolution that would ease them if it allowed international inspectors to resume searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Some protesters crossed Pennsylvania Avenue to attach signs including ``Stop Sanctions Now!'' and ``US has killed 1.7 million Iraqis for oil'' to the black iron fence ringing the White House and to stand on the sidewalk in front of the mansion, violating a ban on such stationary protests.

U.S. Park Police spokesman Robert MacLean said about 104 people were arrested for demonstrating without a permit and for violating the ``restricted zone'' in front of the mansion, where protesters are allowed to march but not to sit or stand.

MacLean said three of these were arrested for pouring a red liquid that protesters claimed was blood -- but was tested and found not to be -- onto the sidewalk. He said these three were also expected to be charged with damaging property.

Police loaded the protesters, their hands tied behind their backs with flexible plastic cuffs, onto arrest wagons and took them to a station where most were expected to be released if they showed identification and paid a standard $50 fine. [Not correct. There was no need to pay the $50 fine to be released]

The protesters could be given a maximum sentence of one year in jail for demonstrating without a permit but police said this was rarely imposed.

MacLean said the protesters had a permit to demonstrate but this was revoked after they stood in front of the fence around the White House and ignored three warnings to move away.

[Note not one protester is quoted in this article, and there is no mention of the organization that called the demonstration. From Baltimore, Ellen Barfield, Terry Fitzgerald and Max Obuszewski were arrested, and some of the others were Art Laffin, Kathy Boylan Shields, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, Rev. James Lawson, Rev. Simon Harak, S.J., Rev. John Dear, S.J. and a host of first-timers. The National Mobilization to End the Sanctions Against Iraq, which included a wide variety of groups, called the demonstration. Not all of the groups necessarily endorsed the civil resistance.]

----

Protesters Deride U.N. Sanctions

By Stephen C. Fehr
Washington Post
Monday, August 7, 2000 ; B03
From: "Nancy A. Hey" <cattynancy@hotmail.com>

The soggiest people in Washington yesterday were also some of the most devoted: hundreds of protesters marching from the Lincoln Memorial to the White House to rally in the driving rain for an end to the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq.

Soaked from head to toe, with only the trees in Lafayette Square to protect him from the rain, Ken Giles of the Jewish Peace Fellowship sought to explain a cause that would bring people out on such a dreary day.

"This is an international tragedy that needs to be dealt with," Giles said through claps of thunder. "All sanctions do is hurt the Iraqi people. To allow this human crisis to go on for 10 years is a sin."

The Washington rally was one of a few around the world over the weekend to protest the sanctions, imposed by the U.N. Security Council on Aug. 6, 1990, four days after Iraq invaded Kuwait, setting in motion the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The activists--who represent human rights, interfaith and peace organizations--contend that the restrictions cause thousands of malnourished and sick Iraqi children to die while failing to weaken Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

"I'm just horrified that the United States--a supposedly loving democracy--is willing to kill these thousands of children to get at a man we haven't got at for 10 years," said Patricia Cullen, of Mount Rainier, huddling futilely under a tree on the saturated, muddy lawn.

The demonstrators plan to risk arrest today by sitting down in front of the Treasury Department building and the White House, where sit-ins are prohibited.

"We're going to try and say with our bodies that these sanctions must be lifted," said John Dear, executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a New York-based humanitarian group.

President Clinton was not at the White House yesterday and the protesters' stand-in was a no-show. Martin Sheen, the actor who plays President Josiah Bartlet on NBC's "The West Wing," was to be on hand, said rally organizers, but his flight from Los Angeles was canceled. Sheen is one of a group of entertainers involved in the movement, which also attracted veteran protest singer Pete Seeger, who sang his trademark peace songs.

In international shows of support yesterday, four American activists began a three-day fast outside the United Nations offices in Baghdad and a protester partially climbed a 450-foot-high millennium memorial in London. In Los Angeles, religious groups are preparing protests against the sanctions and other causes during next week's Democratic National Convention.

At yesterday's Washington rally, Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader was one of several speakers who took aim at Clinton and his secretary of state, Madeleine K. Albright, who have consistently defended the sanctions. She said last week that Saddam Hussein is trying to portray his regime as a victim of sanctions, masking the fact that his country's misery is his fault.

"He hopes his people's suffering will worsen so that the pressure for lifting sanctions will heighten and the revenues he needs to rebuild his weapons of mass destruction will once again begin to flow," Albright wrote in an op-ed piece in the Financial Times of London.

Hussein has lied to U.N. weapons inspectors and concealed his ability to build weapons of mass destruction, U.S. officials say. Jim Lawson Jr., a Methodist minister from Los Angeles long active in the civil rights movement, took offense yesterday at Albright's comments, saying she was suggesting the anti-sanctions activists were being duped.

Scanning the crowd in Lafayette Square, Lawson said: "If she thinks these housewives, clergy and young people are being influenced by Saddam, she's out of her mind. We're here because we know our nation has more to export than bombs and sanctions."

In 1996, the Iraqis were allowed to export oil to buy food, medicine and other items, a program that State Department officials say should provide the means to feed the Iraqi people. "The U.N. sanctions have never prohibited or limited the amount of food or medicine Iraq could import," Albright wrote in the op-ed piece. But the program has failed to supply much of the country with adequate health care, water and electricity, the protesters say.

"The children of Iraq are not our enemy," Dear said. "They're suffering more from us than the Iraqi government."

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.

---

104 Arrested in Iraq Sanctions Protest

By David Montgomery
Washington Post Staff
Writer Monday , August 7, 2000
From: "Nancy A. Hey" <cattynancy@hotmail.com>

Chanting "stop the sanctions now!" and carrying a water-purifying device that U.S. policy forbids being sent to Iraq, a few hundred people demonstrated outside the White House, and 104 were arrested after they sat on the sidewalk and refused to move.

It was the second day of demonstrations in Washington by a coalition of peace activists and clergy calling attention to conditions in Iraq after 10 years of sanctions imposed after the Persain Gulf War. The protesters said more than 1 million Iraqis have died from lack of medical supplies or have been killed in bombing to enforce the no-fly zone. Many of those who have died have been children, according to the protesters.

"Yes, Saddam [Hussein] is terrible," said Ellen Barfield of Baltimore, an organizer with the anti-sanctions group Voices in the Wilderness. "So why are we blaming children who weren't even born in 1990 when Kuwait was invaded?"

The demonstrators carried the water purifier to the steps of the Treasury Department Annex off Lafayette Square. The department enforces rules against commerce in such technology to Iraq. "Why, why, why?" the protesters asked, standing inches from uniformed members of the Secret Service, who replied simply, "The doors are closed."

The demonstrators said the small device and others like it, which can chlorinate 1 million gallons of water a day, will be delivered to Iraq by sympathetic people traveling there. The demonstrators carried a banner with the names of 1,000 people in a "campaign of conscience" who are donating money to support such exports, in violation of U.S. law.

Leaving the treasury annex, they marched to Pennsylvania Avenue NW in front of the White House. Those who wanted to risk arrest sat down next to the fence protecting the White House grounds. After three warnings from U.S. Park Police officers, they were arrested and charged with misdemeanors of demonstrating without a permit or demonstrating in a restricted area, according a Park Police spokesman. Three were also charged with damaging government property for splashing a red liquid they called "blood" on the sidewalk.

Those arrested included Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit, the Rev. John Dear, a Jesuit peace activist, and the Rev. Jim Lawson Jr., a retired United Methodist pastor who recently visited Iraq.

----

News Release on Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR II)
(Argonne National Laboratory-West, Idaho)
August 7, 2000
From: "Tom Clements" clements@nci.org

"Organizations Condemn DOE Failure to Follow Congressional Mandate to Close Idaho Breeder Reactor; Support Inspector General's Call for Prompt Shutdown"

"In reaction to a highly critical report by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Inspector General (IG), 37 public interest organizations from across the country today condemned the DOE's failure to honor explicit Congressional direction to close the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR II) in Idaho. In 1994, Congress directed EBR II closed "as soon as possible," but that directive has not been carried out six years later."

Press release from Snake River Alliance, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, Nuclear Control Institute http://www.nci.org/pr8700.htm

Letter from 37 organizations to Secretary of Energy Richardson http://www.nci.org/c8700.htm

DOE's Inspector General's audit report on problems with the EBR II shutdown program can be found at: http://www.ig.doe.gov/pdf/ig-0474.pdf

----

Arrested in D.C. Protest

New York Times
08/07/00
By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-US-Iraq-Sanctions.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Police arrested 104 people Monday as they sat down in front of the White House while protesting the crippling decade-old international sanctions against Iraq.

Many of the 250 demonstrators at the White House and Treasury Department chanted ``stop the killing of Iraqi children.'' Some held aloft loaves of bread and other held signs reading ``Iraqi children Holocaust II'' and ``remember Iraq.''

They oppose sanctions imposed shortly after Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, provoking the Gulf War. They can't be lifted until U.N. weapons inspectors certify that Iraq's biological, chemical and nuclear weapons and the missiles used to deliver them have been destroyed -- but Saddam has barred inspectors.

``We don't agree with Saddam, but you can't punish a whole nation for what one man has done,'' said Michael Borkson of Boston.

Critics blame the economic sanctions for Iraq's economic decline and an increase in malnutrition, disease and deaths, especially among children.

Concerned by the deteriorating situation, the U.N. Security Council opened a loophole to its embargo in 1996 called the oil-for-food program. It has allowed Iraq to sell oil as long as about half the proceeds buy essentials for its people. Most of the rest goes to pay war reparations and U.N. administrative costs.

The United States government, a major proponent of the sanctions, says Saddam is enriching himself and his friends with the oil revenues while his people suffer.

``I feel as if I'm living in Germany before the Holocaust and I need to stand up and say this is wrong,'' said protester Grace C. Sims of Arlington, Va. ``If I don't I am complicit.''

Monday's nonviolent protest on Pennsylvania Avenue was the final event in three days of activities promoted by a national coalition of some 90 U.S. organizations including church groups and peace groups from across America. On Sunday more than 300 people including folk singer Pete Seeger and Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader marched and rallied.

--------

Four Arrested in L.A. DNC Protests

New York Times
08/07/00
By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/p/AP-Convention-Protest.html

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Two women scaled the 15-story downtown Figueroa Hotel and tried to unfurl a giant banner across from the Staples Center denouncing corporate dominance at the Democratic National Convention.

Within an hour, the banner was cut down by police Monday, and the two climbers and two others were arrested and booked for investigation of trespassing and failure to comply with police orders, Officer Guillermo Campos said.

The banner, modeled after the U.S. flag with corporate logos in place of stars, got snagged on one side and was never fully unfurled.

The Monday morning demonstration was to kick off action planned at the arena for next week's Democratic National Convention. The four-day convention begins Monday.

A coalition of groups created the 1,500-square-foot banner, which had in its blue field logos of Citigroup, Nike, McDonald's, Occidental Petroleum and others.

The two women hoisted the banner a short time after they scaled the building at about 8:30 a.m.

Firefighters arriving in six trucks placed air mattresses below the climbers.

``Firefighters have no issue with freedom of speech ..., but they're taking up resources,'' Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Steve Ruda said.

Activists called the response and criticism ``overreaction.''

The protest was organized by Action Resource Center, Adbusters, Amazon Watch, Rainforest Action Network and Ruckus Society.

Amazon Watch spokeswoman Atossa Soltani said the coalition was ``working on peaceful nonviolent protests'' throughout the period leading up to the convention as well as during the four-day meeting starting Monday.

---

Riots from Seattle to Philly

Washington Times
August 7, 2000
Bruce Chapman
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/ed-column-20008716052.htm

Protest groups that trashed Seattle during the World Trade Organization meetings in December now have tried violently to disrupt the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. Plans are under way for still bigger civil disturbances at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. An International Monetary Fund meeting in Prague in September is slated for yet another riot. But there still has been no public recognition that these events have a common organizing and funding background. The modus operandi among the protests since Seattle is consistent - a kind of scripted chaos - as is participation by such relatively new groups as Direct Action Network, Global Exchange and the Rainforest Action Network. There are always advance "training sessions" that plan the mayhem, secretive cell-like "affinity groups" that implement the planning, masks (so it is hard for the police to blame anyone in particular), defense lawyers on the scene, and even the larger-than-life-size puppets and the bongo drums. Also consistent is the amalgam of ostensible causes, of which "globalization" is always key. The rioters likewise have a common public-relations line. Initially, they pledge to be "peaceful." Then, they let it be known that they will "only" sponsor acts of "civil disobedience and direct action." They would have you believe that such tactics - blocking intersections, trespassing on private property, forcibly keeping delegates out of their meetings and infiltrating conference proceedings to shout down speakers - are ethical and legal. Given any opportunity, these direct actions morph into the acts of violence and property damage the protest organizers claimed at first to oppose: assaulting police, breaking windows, throwing paint. Regardless of how hard local authorities try to placate them in advance, the protesters purport to find the local police (everywhere) to be uncommonly "brutal." Something new in Los Angeles is the planned disruption of transit service in the metro area. City Council members already are complaining about the unexpectedly high level of security the city will have to provide the Democrats. That figure is nearing $10 million two weeks before the event, and some folks are questioning the decision to invite the convention there in the first place.

Crucially, there appears to be a bright thread through the funding apparatus: the California-based, tax-exempt Foundation for Deep Ecology and (at the same Sausalito address) the International Forum on Globalization. The Forum is an umbrella group for 55 organizations opposed to globalization and high technology. The donor behind the foundation and the main donor behind the Forum is Douglas Tompkins. He is a businessman who nurses an intense anger for modern technology and international trade. Several Tompkins-funded groups - including the Rainforest Action Network, which engages in civil disobedience "direct action" - are signatories to an anti-computer, anti-trade screed that appeared recently as an ad in the Sunday New York Times.

In 1998 alone, Mr. Tompkins provided the Forum with $200,000. The Forum's Web site says the group "focused its efforts throughout most of 1999 on the WTO." And while some of its work is just research and conferencing, one of its ominous goals is "disrupting corporate rule." In 1998, Mr. Tompkins also gave $200,000 to the civil disobedience outfit Rainforest Action Network. It would be useful to know what funds he gave in 1999 and 2000.

Mr. Tompkins made his fortune, ironically, in the highly trade-dependent field of recreational apparel. He was a founder of North Face and Esprit brands, and from his profits out of those companies, he put at least $170 million into his Foundation on Deep Ecology. This foundation's 1998 IRS report reflected past dealings with Global Exchange, a behind-the-scenes force in Seattle and one of the groups organizing events in Los Angeles.

The co-founder of Global Exchange, Juliette Becker, 27, was profiled in the New Yorker recently, photographed as a kind of ingenue. But Miss Becker is not naive. She relishes her role in the creation of Direct Action Network, a key coordinator of the Seattle protests and connected to both the political convention protests. As William Finnegan of the New Yorker put it, "The shutdown of the Seattle Ministerial would never have happened without the emergence of the efforts of the Direct Action Network."

Mr. Tompkins lives in semi-seclusion in Chile, where he has created an "ecological park" the size of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut combined. According to the Atlantic Monthly, he makes tireless efforts to keep others away from his vast preserve and to move out residents already there. Quoted in the London Sunday Times, he rails against "the runaway train of the global economy and its handmaidens - cyber-technology and a lethal cocktail of other clusters of technologies, such as television, satellite communications, virtual computation and especially the avalanching and cascading effect e-commerce will have on the economy."

Lots of other people have criticisms of technology and the global economy, of course. They also are entitled to hold peaceful demonstrations. But rich utopians such as Mr. Tompkins do not have the right to use tax-exempt funds to finance groups that set out to break the law.

Much as been made in Seattle of the unpaid security bill left over from the WTO riots. But instead of investigating the rioters and their financial backers, the Seattle City Council set up investigations of the police department and the business leaders who invited the WTO to town. That mistake is the biggest lesson Seattle has to offer other cities.

The U.S. Justice Department seems to have been lax so far. Perhaps, therefore, it is time for Congress and the media to investigate the rioters - and for cities such as Seattle, Washington, Philadelphia and soon L.A. to send their security bills to the wealthy individuals who make the riots financially possible.

Bruce Chapman is president of the Discovery Institute in Seattle.

-------

OneList subscribers:

1. NucNews 00/08/07 -
From: Ellen Thomas <prop1@prop1.org>

2. IMPORTANT: COVER-UP OF NUCLEAR BOMB IN VIEQUES
From: FlapsC@aol.com

3. MORE EVIDENCE OF NRC's BALATANT SIDING WITH INDUSTRY & CONTEMPT FOR PUBLIC WELL BEING/DEMOCRACY/CONGRESS
From: smirnowb@ix.netcom.com

4. "To My Shock
From: ivan buchbinder <pentaske@memes.com>

-----------

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 07 Aug 2000 07:37:35 -0400
From: Ellen Thomas <prop1@prop1.org>

NucNews 00/08/07 -
http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm. et

1) Washington Daybook, Washington Times and AFP, August 7, 2000 http://www.washtimes.com/national/daybook-200087213948.htm

Iraqi sanctions protest - 9 a.m. - Education for Peace in Iraq Center and a broad coalition of organizations hold a National Mobilization to End the Sanctions Against Iraq. Actor Martin Sheen participates. Location: Lafayette Park, proceeding to Treasury Department, 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Contact: 202/244-0951.

Swearing-in ceremony - 9 a.m. - Energy Department hosts a swearing-in ceremony for Dr. Mildred Dresselhaus, new director of the Energy Department's Office of Science. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson participates. Location: Energy Department, outside main entrance, 1000 Independence Ave. SW. Contact: 202/586-5806.

Nader news conference - 10 a.m. - Nader for President Campaign holds a news conference to display new Ralph Nader campaign spots. Location: National Press Club, Lisagor Room, 14th and F streets NW. Contact: 202/265-4000.

Town Hall meeting - 7 p.m. - Rep. Albert R. Wynn, Maryland Democrat, holds a Town Hall meeting to discuss community concerns and important issues facing the nation. Location: Silver Spring Library meeting room, 8901 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. Contact: 202/225-8699.

2) Philadelphia - Report from Legal Support

From: "Cliff Pearson" <cliff@dallasprogressive.org> Date: Sunday, August 06, 2000 4:25 PM

As the Republican Party met in Philadelphia this past week, protest demonstrations were held every day. On Tuesday, August 1st, almost 400 people were arrested as nonviolent direct action tied up downtown Philly during the afternoon rush hour. About a dozen people had been arrested before then, and more have been picked up since, but the majority of arrests happened on Tuesday.

Not everyone arrested was actually involved in any direct action: 75 people were taken into custody at the space where puppets were being put together for use in the protests; others have been picked up just walking the streets. (Note: Kendall and I were lucky. We left the puppet space about 30-45 minutes before it was raided. If we had stayed, we would have been arrested also.)

(There continue to be conflicting reports on the number of people arrested, an indication of the problems people have faced since being taken into custody.)

As of this morning (Saturday, August 5th), more than 250 of those arrested are still in jail. They are engaging in jail solidarity, demanding that everyone be treated equally and that all have access to food, water and bathrooms, as well as access to their lawyers.

Stories about what has unfolded have come to light as people have been released, and several people still have possession of their cell phones and so more information is being passed along that way.

The Legal Support Team have reported extremely disturbing instances of misconduct by police and prison guards. Actually, misconduct is much too weak a word and some are calling it torture, including:

-sleep deprivation by overnight handcuffing in awkward positions, including one man who was handcuffed in a crucifixion position.

-the use of pepper spray to coerce arrestees into attending arraignments

-the stripping off some of the prisoners' clothing

-beatings and draggings

-denial of essential medication, including for people with diabetes and asthma

-denial of food, water and access to restrooms for extended periods.

There are numerous accounts of arrestees who have been isolated, verbally abused, punched, kicked, thrown against walls, bloodied, and dragged naked across floors, in one instance through a "trash trough" containing refuse, spittle and urine.

There has been a reported sexual assault by a female officer who twisted a prisoner's penis, as well as reports of people dragged by their genitals and nipples being twisted by guards. Seven eyewitnesses saw one woman dragged naked and bleeding.

Many of the arrestees have been held since Tuesday without arraignment, some without phone calls or contact with their lawyers. There are reports of missing paperwork, and arraignments with incomplete or slipshod records. A handful of people have been allowed only very limited visits with their attorneys.

And to make matters even worse, excessively high bail has been set for many of those arraigned, with most bail ranging from $15,000 to $30,000, and several set at anywhere between $100,000 and $500,000. Two people have had their bail set at $1,000,000: Kate Sorenson an activist with the Philadelphia Direct Action Group and Philly ACT-UP (she faces seven felony charges) and John Sellers from The Ruckus Society, an organization which trains people in creative nonviolent direct action tactics. He was standing on a sidewalk when arrested. The 75 people arrested at the puppet space have all been given $15,000 bail for "obstructing traffic" charges, and they were not even in the street when arrested.

To make matters worse, the Philadelphia police are being hailed as models of restraint by the mainstream media in Philadelphia and in signs all around town. As people have called the police, district attorney's office and other officials they are being told that everything is fine and there are no problems . . . blatant lies.

The news of what's happening inside the jails is hardly getting out. People around the country are encouraged to call Philadelphia officials and an effort is underway to get Amnesty International into the jails. (Dr. Rick Halperin of Dallas, a respected and veteran human rights activist, is a former national chairperson for Amnesty International USA and is sending these allegations to higher-ups everyday.)

In the face of all this, reports from inside indicate that those arrested are tired and harassed, but for the most part in good spirits and continue to practice jail solidarity. As they demand their release, people inside are singing, chanting, telling stories and about 150 people are on a hunger strike, some for almost three days now.

It is important to keep up the calls to officials in Philadelphia. People are reporting having a hard time getting through and then, when finally getting someone, being told everything is okay.

District Attorney Lynne Abraham 215-686-8701 Chief Maxwell ­ Head of Detectives and Criminal Investigation 215­686­3362 Deputy Commissioner Mitchell ­ in charge of Demonstrations 215­686­3364 Captain Fisher ­ Civil Affairs 215­685­3684 Mayor John Street 215­686­2181 Stephanie Franklin Suber ­ Mayor's Chief of Staff 215­686­7508 Ken Trujillo ­ City Solicitor 215­683­5003 Councilman Nutter Councilwoman Blackwell 215­685­3416 215­685­3418

Please be persistent! We are winning the Battle of the Telephones!

For more information, contact the Legal Support Team in Philadelphia at (215) 925-6791.

---

Date: 6 Aug 2000 13:06:27 -0000 From: a16-dc-planning@egroups.com

Protesters who are in jail in Philadelphia urgently need your help. The city says that no deal will be negotiated and prison conditions are worsening. Of the 390 people arrested during the convention 85 percent are still doing jail solidarity. Many are also doing hunger strikes. There have been many abuses by police and corrections officers. Protesters were held in tiny 6x8 holding cells for 48 hours or longer. There were at least 6 people in every holding cell. Sleep was almost impossible. Food consisted of a cheese sandwich on white bread and a carton of iced tea every 8 hours. There have been reports of guards assaulting protesters. Many people are in isolation.

We are asking anyone who can to come to Philadelphia to support us. If you can't come please contact the media about the human rights violations in Philly. You can also call Mayor Street and demand that he negotiate with our legal team.

The majority of the protesters who came to Philadelphia were committed to non-violence. The city has responded with repression and brutality. Any support you can offer is greatly appreciated. The following are some contact numbers.

- R2K Legal 215-925-6791 - Independent Media Center 215-545-1288 - For news and updates visit the IMC website at www.phillyimc.org - The American Friends Service Committee is assisting us and may be able to provide housing. You can call them at 215-241-7000.

[For twenty years, a patient voice outside the White House has been alerting people to the encroaching police state. Mocked and ignored, he keeps on working and warning. Perhaps now people will begin to understand and we can all start doing something about it. See http://prop1.org/thomas.htm.]

-----------

Message: 2
Date: Mon, 07 Aug 2000 19:19:44 EDT
From: FlapsC@aol.com

IMPORTANT: COVER-UP OF NUCLEAR BOMB IN VIEQUES

(PLEASE FORWARD TO ACTIVISTS AND MEDIA CONTACTS. THANK YOU)

In February 1995, Noticentro 4, the news program of Puerto Rico's TV station WAPA TV, aired a special report entitled RED ALERT, in which it denounced what history has confirmed. . .the problems caused by the presence of the U.S. Navy in Vieques, Puerto Rico and the consequences of its practices over Vieques.

The special report, RED ALERT, by renowned reporter Pedro Rosa Nales, unleashed the fury of the high command of the U.S. Navy in Puerto Rico, which tried to have the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) revoke the TV station's license. The Navy also accused Pedro Rosa Nales of having violated the Espionage Law, a charge which did not succeed before the U.S. Justice Department.

During that investigation, the reporter revealed an incident with a nuclear bomb in Vieques in the mid-60's. Now, five years after that special report, Noticentro 4 has new evidence that confirms that the incident with the nuclear bomb in Vieques did indeed occur and that the U.S. Government, including the U.S. Navy, covered up the facts.

Don't miss this important and powerful special report, RED ALERT II: THE COVER UP, starting this Wednesday August 9, 2000 at 5:00PM EST on WAPA TV's Noticentro 4 (first part), continuing on Thursday August 10 at 5:00PM (second part) and ending on Friday August 11 at 5:00PM (third and final part).

If you are in Puerto Rico, we recommend that you watch and tape this special report. If you are outside of Puerto Rico, you can watch this special report live, or later on that night, through the Internet by accessing Noticentro 4's website: http://noticentro.coqui.net. Your computer must have a sound card and the program Streamworks, which you can download and install for free following the instructions in Noticentro 4's website.

---------

Message: 3
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 00:51:35 -0400 (EDT)
From: smirnowb@ix.netcom.com

MORE EVIDENCE OF NRC's BALATANT SIDING WITH INDUSTRY & CONTEMPT FOR PUBLIC WELL BEING/DEMOCRACY/CONGRESS

Please dissemenate widely.

http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/nrccongress.html
Documented By Public Citizen

http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/violations.html

http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/stewart.html
New URL: Alice Stewart "Low-Level" Rad Study

MOTHERSALERT HOMEPAGE:
http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert

-Bill Smirnow

-----------

Message: 4
Date: Tue, 08 Aug 2000 01:23:30 -0700
From: ivan buchbinder <pentaske@memes.com>

"To My Shock

Y'all, Washington Gov. Gary "Brain" Locke seems to be in a state of "Shock" most of the time when dealing with Nuc issues... ya know like guaranteeing that no radioactive materials were released during the wildfires on the Handford Res. Now this little bit of Nuc electrotherapy on his denuded brain stem. Lets face folks were taking it up the ass, the Dragon's run roughshod over the system every time. Know what I mean. "Undisclosed amounts of foreign nuclear waste have been coming to Hanford through the years under secretly negotiated national-defense treaties"

Later

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/local/html98/radi08m_20000808.html


====================================================================

DOEWatch List ----A Magnum-Opus Project --- Subscribe online: http://www.onelist.com DOEWatch page: http://members.aol.com/doewatch

1. South Australia says no to N-dump
From: magnu96196@aol.com

2. TRU-ly complicated Lots of issues still must surface before 'nastiest' waste
From: magnu96196@aol.com

3. As cancer claims children, doctors blame U.S. weapons
From: magnu96196@aol.com

4. Hiroshima observes 55th anniversary of bombing
From: magnu96196@aol.com

5. Entergy, FPL GROUP, STONE and WEBSTER and ME.
From: Raymond Shadis <shadis@ime.net>

6. More on Lockheed Martin pension plan
From: magnu96196@aol.com

7. Some questions for Secretary Richardson
From: magnu96196@aol.com

8. Groups propose health clinic for sick workers
From: magnu96196@aol.com

9. Workers say water testing is conflict of interest
From: magnu96196@aol.com

10. Opposing sides gather at Y-12; 23 are arrested
From: magnu96196@aol.com

11. Tests may pack a punch Livermore lab's plutonium blasts
From: magnu96196@aol.com

12. Nuclear Energy Seen as Means to Produce Hydrogen
From: magnu96196@aol.com

13. Nuclear plant protests mark Hiroshima Day
From: magnu96196@aol.com

14. Nuke Sites May Not Rid Contaminants
From: magnu96196@aol.com

15. MORE EVIDENCE OF NRC's BALATANT SIDING WITH INDUSTRY & CONTEMPT FOR PUBLIC WELL BEING/DEMOCRACY/CONGRESS
From: smirnowb@ix.netcom.com

-----------

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 08:17:31 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

South Australia says no to N-dump

JIM GREEN
http://www.greenleft.org.au/current/415p9.htm

What part of the word "no" does federal science minister Nick Minchin not understand?

A poll conducted by Channel 7 in July last year found that 93% of South Australians oppose the siting of a national radioactive waste dump in the state. A 1999 survey, commissioned by Greenpeace and conducted by Insight Research Australia, found that 86% of South Australians (and a majority of Australians) opposed the federal government's planned dump.

A poll conducted by the Advertiser, SA's only mass circulation newspaper, in July found that 87% of South Australians oppose a dump in the north of SA, 95% oppose an intermediate- to high-level dump in the same area, 96% would resist a privately owned dump that accepted waste from other countries; 78% want a referendum on the issue and 66% are dissatisfied with Minchin's handling of the issue. Minchin represents SA in the Senate.

The fiercest opposition to the nuclear dump plan comes from traditional Aboriginal owners, especially those who were scarred by the British nuclear weapons tests at Maralinga and Emu Plains in the 1950s and 1960s.

The lower house of the SA parliament voted 46-1 in July in favour of a bill to prohibit the storage of long-lived, intermediate-level waste in the state. The legislation is likely to pass the upper house of when it next sits, in October.

Despite this overwhelming opposition, the federal government is proceeding with its plan for a low-level underground dump in SA -- which the SA Liberal government supports -- and it is threatening to override the SA legislation in order to "co-locate" a store for intermediate-level waste adjacent to the underground dump.

Privatisation

Later this month, Minchin's department intends to appoint a private corporation to manage the dump project. The project manager would then engage a contractor -- most likely a private company -- to construct and operate the dump.

The federal government's tender document states 'it is expected that the project manager will ... finalise a contract with the successful tenderer before the end of the environmental impact assessment and the relevant licensing application processes'.

According to the Australian Conservation Foundation's (ACF) David Noonan, "The plan to finalise the construction contract before the environmental assessment and licensing processes are completed show complete disregard for public consultation and would prevent any legitimate public role in decision making for the dump."

The federal government's confidence in the outcome of the environmental assessment rests on the fact that the government will itself write, "review" and rubber-stamp the environmental impact statement.

The ACF has condemned the secrecy provisions for the planned dump. "Commercial Confidentiality" exclusion clauses will be used by the federal government to prevent the disclosure of the commercial or financial affairs of the private dump operator.

Thin end of the wedge

Claims that a low-level radioactive waste dump will be the thin edge of the wedge are not "scare-mongering, as Nick Minchin has repeatedly claimed. Numerous government reports make it clear that the proposed low-level dump could be followed by an above-ground store for long lived, intermediate-level radioactive wastes (including wastes from the reprocessing of spent fuel from the nuclear reactor in the Sydney suburb of Lucas Heights). In addition, the federal government plans to dismantle nuclear reactors at Lucas Heights and dump them in SA.

The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), which operates the Lucas Heights reactor, has said that if overseas reprocessing contracts fall through, spent fuel could be sent to SA for "extended interim storage". In the event of reprocessing contracts falling through, the federal government might also attempt to establish a spent fuel reprocessing/conditioning plant in SA.

If the federal government succeeds in establishing a dump in SA, then Pangea Resources, the company which wants to dump high-level waste in Australia, can be expected to try its luck in SA.

James Voss, president of Pangea Resources, visited Australia in 1998. Voss offered to operate the proposed low-level waste dump.

Later that year, a leaked corporate video revealed that Pangea, with funding from British Nuclear Fuels Limited, was scheming to dump 75,000 tonnes of high-level radioactive waste in Australia. In 1999, Minchin apologised in the Senate for falsely claiming that no federal minister had met with Pangea.

The SA Labor opposition jumped onto the no-dump campaign in late 1999. Federal Labor, however, continues to hedge its bets.

In the early 1990s, the federal Labor government threatened to seize land for a national radioactive waste dump if no state government volunteered. In 1994, the federal Labor government moved 2000 cubic metres of low level waste to Woomera without public consultation. In 1995, 35 cubic metres of intermediate-level waste was moved there.

In July, federal Labor science and industry spokesperson Martyn Evans and Labor leader Kim Beazley said that a nuclear dump in SA could not be ruled out under a federal Labor government. Since then, however, the federal party has changed its tune.

On July 31, the national Labor Party conference unanimously passed a resolution, moved by SA Labor leader Mike Rann, that Labor would "respect community concerns and state legislation" when dealing with "medium- to high-level nuclear waste storage". The resolution said nothing about the planned low-level underground dump.

Minchin said the Labor resolution was "a complete humiliation" for Evans who should resign "because his policy has been thrown out the door. This is clearly a short-term, populist attempt to curry favor in SA and give Mr Rann some comfort in his attempt to win government." SA Labor's opposition to a nuclear dump is "cynical, short-sighted and irresponsible manipulation of this issue in pursuit of short-term political gain", he added.

And without doubt it is, but Minchin and his party are in no position to be casting the first stone. In 1995, SA Liberal Premier Dean Brown wrote to Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating suggesting that if the federal government dropped its proposal to list the Lake Eyre region as a World Heritage site, the state government would "reconsider" its opposition to a low-level dump. It appears that a deal was struck.

Recent scandals surrounding the federal government's botched "clean-up" of the Maralinga weapons-testing site -- which left at least 120 square kilometres uninhabitable -- further undermine the Coalition's credibility in SA.

The federal bureaucrats responsible for the Maralinga "clean-up" are also driving the waste dump plans, the same minister is involved, as is the same "regulatory" agency is involved.

As engineer Alan Parkinson, writing in the July 24 Canberra Times, noted: "Those with responsibility for the proposed national waste repository are the same people who have recently buried long-lived plutonium waste (half-life 24,000 years) in an unlined burial trench only 2-3 metres below ground -- slightly deeper than we place human corpses. If accepted, this precedent should now allow the Commonwealth to place all radioactive waste in shallow, unlined burial trenches, with no regard for its longevity or toxicity, and no regard for the suitability of the site."

Reactor

The federal government asserts that the plan for a centralised waste dump and store are driven by scientific and safety considerations. The real agenda is political: moving radioactive waste away from Lucas Heights to reduce local opposition to the planned new reactor.

The proposed new reactor would generate another 1600 fuel rods, and according to ANSTO documents, annual generation of radioactive waste would increase up to 12-fold depending on the waste category.

Minchin's mantra is that South Australians should accept the waste because they will benefit from medical radioisotopes produced. However, the lie that a new reactor is needed for medical isotope production has been exposed from an unlikely source -- Dr Barry Elison, president of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Physicians in Nuclear Medicine.

Elison issued a press release in June saying a new reactor was "vital" for isotope production. Yet a month later, when asked how doctors coped during the February-May closure of the Lucas Heights reactor, Elison admitted he was not aware that it had been down!

The federal government disputes claims that most of the radioactive waste sent to a national dump or store would come from Lucas Heights. However, the director of radioactive waste management at ANSTO has acknowledged that the "major fraction" of Australia's radioactive waste is generated at Lucas Heights. The federal environment department acknowledged in 1999 that ANSTO is a "major contributor" to the national stockpile.

The government downplays ANSTO's contribution by calculating waste by volume. As British Nuclear Fuels Limited said on June 23, "Because [radioactive] discharges contain many elements with varying impacts, the volume of what is actually discharged is almost irrelevant -- it is the radiation dose impact which must be considered."

Channel 7 populism

Adelaide's Channel 7 (part of Kerry Stokes' extensive national television network) is organising a protest against the nuclear dump outside Parliament House at noon on August 16. The populist nature of Channel 7's move is revealed by the station's involvement of 80-year-old Ivy Skowronski, an Adelaide resident who gained some notoriety last year for a law and order crusade. No-one can remember the last time Channel 7 organised a rally -- not even Ivy.

[Channel 7 has set up an "I'm with Ivy" web site at <http://imwithivy.on.net> and is hoping to get 300,000 signatures on a petition protesting against nuclear dumping in SA.]

The socialist youth group Resistance is organising a high school walkout. Participants will meet at 11am on August 16 at Adelaide University's Barr Smith Lawns and then join the "I'm with Ivy" rally. The demands of the "Students against the Dump" walkout are: No waste dump in SA, no waste dump anywhere; Land rights, not uranium; Close existing uranium mines; and No new mines, no new reactors.

For more information about the Resistance high school walkout, phone (08) 8231 6982 or email <adelaide@dsp.org.au>. Visit the Resistance web site at <http://www.greenleft.org.au/resistance>.

----------

Message: 2 Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 09:59:48 EDT From: magnu96196@aol.com Subject: TRU-ly complicated Lots of issues still must surface before 'nastiest' waste lea

Source: http://www.knoxnews.com/science/munger/fm08072000.shtml

TRU-ly complicated Lots of issues still must surface before 'nastiest' waste leaves town August 7, 2000 By Frank Munger News-Sentinel staff writer

It's been called the nastiest waste in Oak Ridge, a distinction not to be taken lightly in a place that has produced hazardous gunk in many varieties since the 1940s. This so-called transuranic (TRU) waste consists of nuclear byproducts of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's reactor operations and historic processing of radioisotopes for industry and medicine.

The waste is pretty hot stuff, some of which requires layers of shielding or remotely operated equipment just to inspect and move the containers. Plus, the waste will remain radioactive for thousands, even millions, of years.

The good news is that Oak Ridge's stockpile, stored in concrete bunkers or steel tanks for decades, is headed out of town -- although any celebration may be premature.

Shipments aren't scheduled to begin until early 2003, and there are still some potential holdups and headaches.

The U.S. Department of Energy recently issued the final environmental impact statement for a project that would treat and repackage the highly radioactive material and send it west to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Oak Ridge. A formal "record of decision" is expected to be signed this month with the concurrence of environmental regulators, setting the stage for the real work to begin.

Foster Wheeler Environmental Corp. was awarded a contract for the project a couple of years ago, contingent on the work passing environmental reviews and DOE giving approval to Foster Wheeler's proposed use of a low-temperature drying technology to reduce the liquid waste volume and prepare the sludge for disposal.

Indeed, Foster Wheeler's waste-treatment plan emerged as the preferred option during the evaluation and gained generally positive views in the public comment period.

The Oak Ridge work no doubt will receive much attention within the DOE national complex of nuclear facilities, partly because of the nature of the waste itself and partly because the $200 million project involves a privatization concept that hasn't worked so well in other places.

Foster Wheeler is required by contract to put up the capital to construct the waste-treatment facilities; it will receive money from DOE only after successfully achieving some processing milestones.

DOE, however, already has paid Foster Wheeler about $24 million for design work and for acquiring all the necessary permits to do the waste treatment at a site west of ORNL near Highway 95.

Gary Riner of DOE's Oak Ridge office said everything is going pretty much according to plan, but he noted actual certification of wastes won't take place until shortly before the first shipments are made from Tennessee to New Mexico.

The situation gets more complicated.

At this point, the underground waste repository near Carlsbad, N.M., has only been permitted to receive "contact-handled" TRU waste, a category of waste that doesn't require extensive shielding.

Oak Ridge has a relatively small share of the contact-handled transuranic waste in the DOE complex, but it lays claim to most of DOE's "remote-handled" TRU waste -- radioactive material defined as having a surface dose rate exceeding 200 millirems per hour.

Unfortunately, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant's permit has not been modified to accept the hotter stuff, and there's no guarantee that it will, even though DOE's planning is obviously based on such approval.

"Hopefully, it'll be resolved in the next year," Riner said, "but we're having to do some contingency planning."

One of those contingencies might be interim storage at Oak Ridge, and that's not a popular choice. It means spending more money for surveillance and maintenance and living with the threat posed by accidents or catastrophic events.

Some of the Oak Ridge wastes included in the project contain hazardous chemicals and other radioactive materials not traditionally defined as transuranics (having an atomic number greater than uranium).

All told, there's about 100,000 cubic feet of radioactive sludge and solids to be processed in Oak Ridge and about 50,000 cubic feet of low-level liquids associated with the stored wastes.

Frank Munger can be reached at 482-9213 or by e-mail at twig1@knoxnews.infi.net. This weekly column on science and technology also is available on our Web site at http://www.knoxnews.com/science/munger/.

========

Comments:

The TRU wastes stored at ORNL was an extremely serious problem that threatened to close down the lab in the mid-80's due to nuclear criticality reaction problems in some of the ORNL gunnite tanks, situated right in the middle of the labs grounds. Had congress and the regulatory agencies learned of these severe problems in the 80's, they would have forced the lab to shut down by removing all the workers from the area. This was an uncontained nuclear accident that was leaking fast gases into the off gas systems and venting thru the central stacks. ORNL left this accident and several others unreported because of that risk of closure.

These tanks were loaded down with natural uranium and other fissile materials residues that formed a reactive layer.

Special secretive operations were done on the reacting tanks to pry sludges apart and stop the reactions in the 80's that resulted in a nuclear fast gas release of nuclear fallout that showered the center of the lab with Sr-90 and Cs-137 fallout.

As these waste were removed here recently they were blended down in concentrations to avoid the criticality potential from recurring.

These wastes are very hot and its mostly the Sr-90 and Cs-137 that contribute to the heat and radiation.

The real story about the 80's operations on the gunnite tanks is very covered up by ORNL.

-----------

Message: 3
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 11:50:24 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

As cancer claims children, doctors blame U.S. weapons

Aug. 5, 2000
http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/aug00/deathsid206080500a.asp</A>

Baghdad, Iraq - Wearing a lace-fringed bonnet and a faint smile, Azhaar Kamel, 7, watched with wide eyes as American visitors entered a cancer ward at Saddam Pediatric Hospital.

She was a gentle child.

She also was a symbol of an issue as troubling and elusive as any childhood fantasy or fear.

Azhaar had leukemia. So did several of the other 19 cancer patients from various parts of Iraq.

Doctors, echoing their government, blamed nearly all of the cancers on a simple-sounding acronym: DU.

But the "depleted uranium" debate is not simple.

It involves about 320 tons of armor-piercing slugs that U.S. and British planes and tanks fired during the Gulf War.

The slugs were made from the low-level radioactive metal that remains when U-235 isotopes are removed from natural uranium to make enriched uranium for nuclear weapons and reactors.

Heavier than lead, depleted uranium self-ignites and gets sharper as it penetrates armor.

Much of it vaporizes, giving off fine particles that can be inhaled. Some fall onto the ground, sometimes where crops are later grown. Some cling to damaged equipment that soldiers and civilians later climb on. Winds carry some away.

Whether the particles - which have low, alpha-ray radioactivity and are chemically toxic - pose dangers is unresolved.

Iraqis say the particles have caused a sharp rise in cancer rates and birth deformities, especially in Basra and other southern areas.

Iraqis have had more exposure to such particles than U.S. troops, but there are other factors: a population weakened by malnutrition, pollution from refineries and burning oil wells, and Iraq's use of poison gas against both Iran and rebels among its own people.

The World Health Organization has not yet studied depleted uranium in Iraq.

Veterans groups in the United States are concerned because hundreds of U.S. soldiers may have had close exposure. Some think that could be one factor in the unusual illnesses many Gulf War veterans have reported.

Definitive studies of depleted uranium's long-term effects have not been done.

A General Accounting Office report to Congress on March 29 said that two expert reviews of evidence, plus monitoring by Veterans Affairs of a few dozen highly exposed veterans, show that radiation from inhaled or ingested depleted uranium is an unlikely health hazard to U.S. troops.

That supported the Pentagon's position.

But the report, which notes that veterans with DU shrapnel in their bodies have elevated uranium levels in their urine, also says more research is needed.

Opposition groups such as the Military Toxics Project cite conflicting evidence among both civilian and military studies. They point out elaborate protective procedures used to handle depleted uranium. And, noting that such weapons were used in Kosovo, they say the Pentagon is protecting its ability to use the weapons on future battlefields.

"I am looking for a way to follow up on this," said Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), who had asked the General Accounting Office for an analysis and is still bothered by some discrepancies in the report. "I'm not convinced that enough research has been done, and I do have a continuing sense that this depleted uranium was dangerous and may have caused health problems.

"To me, the response so far of the federal government really goes to the core of whether we treat our soldiers fairly. What I have noticed working with Agent Orange and other issues like this is, we sort of have a tendency to say to our military people, when they say they're not feeling well, to basically assume that it's not serious or that they're making it up.

"My view is we should assume that they're telling the truth and that they're right. After they've made this kind of sacrifice, that should be the kind of assumption we have."

Feingold added that a broader, intensive study by the National Academy of Sciences on the possible illnesses associated with Gulf War toxin exposures in general, including depleted uranium, is expected to be released soon.

Back in Iraq, Azhaar's mother is more concerned about getting sanctions lifted.

Doctors treat leukemia but say they do not have enough antibiotics to fight other diseases that weakened cancer patients contract.

"I feel that she's finished," said Azhaar's mother, Lila, 42. "She can't even stand, she's so fatigued.

"I think about death all the time. Every time we hear that somebody with the same disease has died, we have no hope."

Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Aug. 6, 2000.

---------

Message: 4
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 11:53:50 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Hiroshima observes 55th anniversary of bombing

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20000807a1.htm

HIROSHIMA (Kyodo) Hiroshima on Sunday commemorated the 55th anniversary of its 1945 atomic bombing in a ceremony attended by the Russian ambassador to Japan, the first envoy from a full-fledged nuclear power to join the annual event.

Young women place floating lanterns in the river at Peace Memorial Park to pray for the A-bomb victims. After a one-minute silent prayer held under the scorching sun at 8:15 a.m., when the atomic bomb was dropped on the city 55 years ago, Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba delivered an annual peace declaration.

"Having called on the world to abolish nuclear weapons, Hiroshima wishes to make a new start as a model city demonstrating the use of science and technology for human purposes," Akiba said in the city's Peace Memorial Park near ground zero.

"We will create a 21st century in which Hiroshima's very existence formulates the substance of peace," he said at the final memorial ceremony this century.

"On the international stage, Hiroshima aspires to serve as a mediator actively creating reconciliation by helping to resolve conflict and animosity," he told some 50,000 attendees, including Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and Russian Ambassador to Japan Alexander Panov.

At the start of the 50-minute ceremony, Akiba and two citizens placed two books listing 5,021 people whom the city office has newly recognized as victims of the bombing over the past year into a room under the arch-shaped cenotaph in the park.

The total number of victims as claimed by the city came to 217,137 as of Sunday, including an estimated 140,000 who died as a direct result of the bombing by the end of 1945.

Mori said in an address, "(Japan) welcomes the May agreement by a U.N. meeting to review the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to promote the policy of nuclear disarmament."

In that April-May meeting, the world's nuclear powers agreed for the first time to seek an "unequivocal undertaking" to eliminate their nuclear arsenals.

"Furthermore, Japan has just issued a peace message from Okinawa after urging the leaders of the other Group of Eight powers to reach an agreement to promote nucle

ar disarmament and nonproliferation in the July 21-23 summit, based on the results of the NPT meeting," Mori said.

Abdallah Baali, who chaired the NPT meeting, was among the dignitaries attending the ceremony.

But Akiba did not praise or otherwise highly evaluate the agreement of the NPT meeting in the declaration, the 52nd issued since 1947. The city office did not issue a declaration in 1950 and 1951, when it was affected by political disputes over the 1950-1953 Korean War.

Mori later told reporters, "During the ceremony I renewed my belief that this tragedy must not be repeated. Japan is prepared to submit a draft resolution to eliminate nuclear weapons to the U.N. General Assembly session in fall."

Mori also said the government will study if it is possible to help overseas atomic-bomb survivors, particularly those now residing in North Korea.

After the ceremony, Panov said, "The tragedy in Hiroshima was the worst the world has ever seen. I decided to attend today's ceremony since it is the last one in the 20th century."

Speaking at a press conference in Hiroshima, Panov said the process to scrap nuclear arsenals should be accelerated, adding that Russia is prepared to cooperate to reduce the number of strategic nuclear warheads in the world to 1,500.

Health and Welfare Minister Yuji Tsushima, whose ministry handles policies for rehabilitation of atomic-bomb survivors, also was present, as were House of Representatives Speaker Tamisuke Watanuki and House of Councilors President Juro Saito.

The city has invited the envoys of the five main nuclear powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus India and Pakistan to attend the ceremony since 1998, when New Delhi and Islamabad conducted a series of nuclear tests.

India and Pakistan sent their ambassadors to the ceremony that year, while only Pakistan did so in 1999. Russia is the only country among the seven to send its ambassador this year.

Attempt made on Mori

HIROSHIMA (Kyodo) An unidentified man was detained Sunday for trying to assault Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori after the latter attended a ceremony to mark the 55th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, police said. The incident occurred at around 9 a.m. when Mori was getting into a car after the memorial ceremony at the city's Peace Memorial Park.

Police said Mori was not injured and seemed not to be aware of the attack. The man, whom witnesses described as in his 20s, was being interrogated by police but is refusing to answer questions, investigators said.

The Japan Times: Aug. 7, 2000

------------

Message: 5
Date: Mon, 07 Aug 2000 13:08:33 -0400
From: Raymond Shadis <shadis@ime.net>

Entergy, FPL GROUP, STONE and WEBSTER and ME.

FRIENDS of the COAST
OPPOSING NUCLEAR POLLUTION
Post Office Box 98, Edgecomb, Maine 04556

AUGUST 7, 2000 Contact: Raymond Shadis FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 207-882-7801 PRESS ADVISORY ALL IN THE FAMILY Giant Corporate Mergers Close Circle in Maine's Prettiest Village Entergy, FPL Group, Stone and Webster are Now Biggest in the Energy Business with 36,550 Employees and an Enterprise Value Of more than $27 Billion.

Entergy Corporation took over management of Maine Yankee Atomic Power Station in January of 1997 and decommissioning activities at the Wiscasset plant in August of that same year. Entergy solicited proposals for fixed price contracts to tear down the defunct plant and cleanup the site. Stone and Webster was selected as Decommissioning Operations Contractor. Meanwhile, FLP Group ( Florida Power and Light) purchased all of the generating facilities of Central Maine Power Company except for Maine Yankee. These facilities include the oil-fired Mason Station in Wiscasset. FLP Group has been extremely quiet and non-committal about its plans for the Mason Station. Earlier this year, it was announced that Stone and Webster was headed for bankruptcy. Here is an Updated Calender of Shifting Corporate Fortunes:

· On June 2nd Entergy merged on of its division with Shaw Group, Inc. to create Entergy-Shaw.

· On July 17th Shaw Group announced its purchase of Stone and Webster.

· On July 31st Entergy announced its merger with FLP Group to create the nations largest power company.

The appropriate press releases may be accessed at: www.entergy.com/news/2000 and www.shawgrp.com/news_releases

Ray Shadis, spokesman for Friends of the Coast, an environmental group overseeing the Maine Yankee decommissioning, said it was impossible to predict what effect the mergers and acquisitions could have on Maine Yankee decommissioning or Wiscasset economic recovery efforts. "But", Shadis said," if small bait enticed Wiscasset officials to snap at a chance for a nuclear waste dump, this should send them into a zero-dignity frenzy." He also said he thought it was disrespectful that Maine Yankee did not inform the Community Advisory Panel of the Entergy-Shaw-Stone and Webster merger-purchase at the last CAP meeting on June 21st when the future of decommissioning operations was discussed. "Could it have slipped their minds?" he asked.

END

---

July 31, 2000

For Release Immediate

ENTERGY AND FPL GROUP AGREE TO A $27 BILLION MERGER OF EQUALS CREATING THE NATION'S LARGEST POWER COMPANY

The New Company, With More Than 48,000 MW of Generating Capacity, Will Serve 6.3 Million Customers Juno Beach, FL and New Orleans, LA (July 31, 2000) - FPL Group, Inc. (NYSE: FPL) and Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) today announced they have agreed to combine in a merger of equals, creating the largest power company in the nation.

The new company, which will be named at a later date, will be the largest U.S. electric utility and the largest power producer. Based on the closing stock prices of both companies on Friday, July 28, 2000, the combined company will have a total enterprise value of more than $27 billion, ($16.4 billion in equity market capitalization and $10.7 billion in debt and preferred stock).

The new company will combine and leverage strategically positioned assets to create a premier energy company. The company will have a strong market position in wholesale generation, trading, marketing and transportation.

Under the terms of the agreement, which was approved unanimously by the boards of directors of both companies, each holder of FPL Group common stock will receive 1.00 share of the new holding company for each share of FPL Group common stock, and each holder of Entergy common stock will receive 0.585 of a share of the new holding company for each share of Entergy common stock, in a tax-free, stock-for-stock exchange. The transaction will be immediately accretive to both companies, based on consensus security analysts' earnings estimates. Average annual earnings per share growth for the combined company is expected to be 10 percent or more.

FPL Group and Entergy have authorized share repurchase programs totaling $1 billion to be implemented prior to the close of the merger. The programs ($570 million at FPL Group and $430 million at Entergy) include remaining authorizations from the companies' existing share repurchase programs.

The newly combined company expects to pay a dividend that is consistent with FPL Group's current dividend policy. Based on FPL Group's current annual dividend of $2.16 per share, Entergy's shareholders would receive $1.26 per share on an as-converted basis compared to Entergy's current dividend of $1.20 per share. The merger combines two high performance cultures to create a company that will be ranked the:

electric utility serving more than 6.3 million customers
power producer with a generating capacity of more than 48,000 megawatts
nuclear power generator with more than 10,000 megawatts
among utilities in market capitalization at $16.4 billion

The combined company will be one of the nation's largest independent power producers with nearly 10,000 net megawatts of unregulated generating capacity. Also, through Entergy's pending venture with Koch Industries, the combined company will be one of the largest U.S. marketers of both electric power and natural gas, will own 10,000 miles of strategic natural gas pipeline assets, and will be the world market leader in weather derivatives.

In addition to becoming one of the largest energy organizations, the new company will be a top performer on a number of operational criteria. Florida Power & Light, the principal subsidiary of FPL Group, has long achieved customer service ratings in the top 10 percent of the industry, and an independent study published in April ranked Entergy first among all U.S. electric utilities for year-over-year improvement in customer satisfaction. The combined electric generation fleet will be an environmental leader, with emission rates among the lowest of all U.S. generating companies. It will also be one of the most efficient, with operating costs among the lowest in the industry. The new company will be the U.S. leader in natural gas generating capacity - and the nation's largest user of natural gas.

Benefits of the Transaction

Earnings Growth "We are creating a company with the scope and scale to prosper in the changing industry marketplace," said James L. Broadhead, chairman and chief executive officer of FPL Group, Inc. "We expect to deliver average annual earnings per share growth of ten percent or more over the next several years fueled by a combination of revenue enhancement opportunities and cost savings. Our strong balance sheet and increased cash flows will enable our new company to more aggressively pursue profitable growth opportunities."

Strategic Fit "The merger combines two strategically aligned, financially healthy companies into an organization that has no equal in the industry," said J. Wayne Leonard, chief executive officer of Entergy Corporation. "We both have divested non-core businesses and are focusing on enhancing our utility operations. At the same time, we are rapidly growing our wholesale generation businesses with an emphasis on clean energy from nuclear, natural gas, and renewable energy sources. The Entergy-Koch venture brings premier trading and risk management skills and creates the potential to link our industry-leading gas positions through the Gateway Pipeline.

Combining our assets and skills will not only enhance our ability to achieve these strategic goals, but will also create the opportunity to move to a new level as a leading energy company."

Benefits to Customers "FPL has demonstrated consistent year-over-year improvement in key performance and customer satisfaction measures and is an industry leader in plant operations, customer service and system reliability," said Mr. Leonard. "Over the past two years, our employees at Entergy have dramatically improved our service quality as well. When we combine best practices, we expect to further enhance the level of service provided by both companies. Stakeholders can count on our new company to carry on the values shared by both Entergy and FPL Group: safety as our highest priority, quality service, environmental responsibility and good corporate citizenship."

Competitive Strength. Mr. Broadhead said, "In addition to strengthening our utility operations, we will be creating one of the largest, most financially sound, and fastest growing wholesale generating companies, with all the critical capabilities in place to ensure even greater success. By combining our premier operating skills, solid project development expertise and vast energy marketing and trading resources, we expect to accelerate our growth and to maximize the value of our portfolio.

"Through its pending ventures with other industry leaders such as Koch Industries and The Shaw Group, Entergy has taken an innovative approach to add to its capabilities and to expand its growth opportunities," said Mr. Broadhead. "We would expect these partnerships to provide added benefit to our combined company as we grow our wholesale generation portfolio."

Strategic Outlook of the New Company

The new company will carry out the closely aligned business strategies of FPL Group and Entergy, which are based on strong core utility operations and growth in wholesale energy markets, primarily in clean, low-cost electric generation. It will pursue additional growth through development of electric, natural gas, weather and telecommunications products and services for a large and diverse customer base.

Utility Operations

The regulated utility business within the merged company will serve more than 6.3 million customers through its affiliates Florida Power & Light, Entergy Arkansas, Entergy Gulf States, Entergy Louisiana, Entergy Mississippi and Entergy New Orleans. The super-regional utility will own and operate 38,400 megawatts of capacity. It will be the largest operator of gas-fired power plants and the largest buyer of natural gas and residual fuel oil in the country.

Through concerted efforts to reduce costs and improve service, the combined company expects to effectively compete in any market environment. As unregulated retail opportunities continue to expand, the combined company will be well positioned to leverage its superior scale and scope through deploying e-commerce applications for customer aggregation, transactions and billing.

Nuclear Operations

The combined company will be a premier national nuclear company, a strategic goal adopted by Entergy in 1998. It will be the second-largest nuclear generator in the country, with more than 10,000 megawatts of utility and competitive nuclear capacity at eight Entergy units - including two units on which Entergy expects to complete purchase later this year - and four FPL Group units. The new company expects to leverage its combined nuclear expertise and experience - including efficient plant operations, turnaround of underperforming units, acquisitions, decommissioning, and license extension - to capitalize on opportunities in the consolidating nuclear industry. The merger will combine FPL Group's nuclear units, recognized as some of the best-run plants in the country, with Entergy's growing fleet.

For 1997-1999, Entergy's and FPL Group's nuclear units achieved a combined capacity factor of 10 percentage points above the industry average. Bringing together the companies' nuclear generation operations will enhance the ability to manage risk, serve customers and leverage the talent and resources in the two organizations across nuclear operations in the company's regulated utility businesses and competitive generation markets.

Wholesale Operations

By combining both companies' wholesale operations, the merged company expects to more aggressively grow its portfolio and capture more value from its assets. The two companies have almost 10,000 megawatts of non-utility generating capacity today and, after the merger, plan to grow to 30,000 megawatts by 2004. Several factors that will enable the combined company to profitably grow its wholesale generation business include:

World class operating skills;
Strong, proven development teams;
Scale and scope to execute projects more quickly;

76 gas turbines under contract with General Electric for delivery through 2005;
A venture with The Shaw Group, which is expected to close soon, to accelerate construction and reduce costs of new projects;

A soon-to-be-completed venture with Koch Industries to fully leverage its current and future portfolio, manage risks and to capitalize on new markets such as weather derivatives.

These integrated wholesale capabilities - from trading and risk management to origination to development to asset financing and management will allow the combined company to create and capture more value from existing assets and to deploy more capital-efficient strategies.

Energy Marketing & Trading

Once merged, Entergy and FPL Group will benefit from one of the largest energy marketing and trading operations in the country. Later this year, Entergy expects to close its previously announced agreement with Koch Industries under which the companies agreed to form Entergy-Koch L.P., which is expected to rank among the nation's top 10 energy commodity traders in terms of combined volumes of electricity and natural gas. Entergy-Koch is expected to trade more than 100 million megawatts/year and to create a significant marketing platform to sell the company's wholesale generation. It also will procure more than 7-8 billion cubic feet of gas per day for the combined company. The venture also includes Koch's Gateway natural gas pipeline, a 10,000-mile system serving the Gulf South region.

The combined company expects its trading organization to enhance its utility and wholesale operations, as well as develop new products, such as Koch's innovative weather derivatives, to generate additional revenue opportunities. The combined company will also offer the opportunity for expansion of the Gateway pipeline into the growing Florida market.

Telecommunications

The new company also will operate a wholly owned subsidiary, FPL FiberNet, offering fiber optic capacity in Florida on a wholesale basis. Formed in January 2000, the company operates a 1,600-route mile fiber optic network in Florida and is building intra-city networks to serve Florida's top 15 metropolitan markets. Through agreements with other providers, it offers an 8,500-route mile network throughout the fast-growing Southeast market.

FPL FiberNet will add to its existing 45,000-fiber mile system to reach approximately 500,000 fiber-miles within the next few years in order to meet the exploding demand for fiber capacity in Florida and connections to Latin America. The combination with Entergy provides additional telecommunications opportunities in Entergy's traditional service territory.

Transaction Details

Based on the number of common shares currently outstanding, FPL Group shareholders will own 57 percent of the common equity of the combined company, and Entergy shareholders will own 43 percent. The combined company expects the merger will provide annual synergies growing from $150 million to $275 million over the first few years after closing.

Of the total, the regulated businesses should realize annual cost savings of $110 million to $150 million, derived from eliminating duplicate corporate and administrative positions and programs, as well as procurement economies. The competitive businesses expect annual cost savings and revenue enhancements of $40 million to $125 million. Additionally, the competitive businesses expect to realize annual capital expenditure savings of $50 million to $100 million.

The companies will seek to minimize workforce effects of the merger through a variety of efforts. All union contracts will be honored. Mr. Broadhead will serve as chairman of the combined company, and Mr. Leonard will become president and chief executive officer. The new company's board of directors, which will include both Mr. Broadhead and Mr. Leonard, will initially consist of 15 members, eight from FPL Group and seven from Entergy.

The merged company will locate its corporate headquarters in Juno Beach, FL and will have its utility group headquarters in New Orleans. Each of the company's six utilities will continue to maintain its headquarters at its present location. The merger requires the approval of shareholders of both companies, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Federal Communications Commission; the expiration or termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act; and the completion of regulatory procedures in Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and the city of New Orleans. The companies' objective is to complete the transaction within 15 months.

Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. acted as financial advisor to FPL Group. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and J.P. Morgan & Co. Incorporated acted as financial advisors to Entergy. Cravath, Swaine and Moore acted as legal counsel to FPL Group. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP acted as legal counsel to Entergy.

Company Information

FPL Group, with annual revenues of more than $6 billion, is one of the nation's largest providers of electricity-related services with a generating capacity of more than 20,000 megawatts. Its principal subsidiary, Florida Power & Light, serves 3.8 million customer accounts in Florida. FPL Group employs 11,350 employees and operates in 17 states. FPL Energy, LLC, FPL Group's independent power production subsidiary, is a leader in generating electricity from clean and renewable fuels. Information is available on the Internet at www.fplgroup.com.

Entergy Corporation, with annual revenues of nearly $9 billion, is a major global energy company engaged in power production, distribution operations, and related diversified services, with more than 12,200 employees. It is also a leading provider of wholesale energy marketing and trading services. Entergy owns, manages or invests in power plants generating nearly 30,000 megawatts of electricity domestically and internationally and delivers electricity to about 2.5 million customers in portions of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Information is available on the Internet at www.entergy.com.

Information on Entergy's venture partners: Koch Industries Inc., the second-largest privately held company and one of the most successful energy traders in the United States, is involved in virtually all phases of the oil and gas industry, as well as in chemicals, plastics, energy services, chemical and environmental technology products, asphalt products, metals and mineral services, ranching, financial services, and ventures. The Shaw Group Inc., the world's leading innovator of turnkey piping solutions and provider of erection services, has experience in the construction of over 200,000 megawatts of electric generation worldwide.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

This press release contains forward looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements with respect to revenues, earnings, performance, strategies, prospects and other aspects of the businesses of FPL Group, Inc. and Entergy Corporation are based on current expectations that are subject to risk and uncertainties.

A number of factors could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those indicated by such forward looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties relating to: changes in laws or regulations, changing governmental policies and regulatory actions with respect to allowed rates of return including but not limited to return on equity and equity ratio limits, industry and rate structure, operation of nuclear power facilities, acquisition, disposal, depreciation and amortization of assets and facilities, operation and construction of plant facilities, recovery of fuel and purchased power costs, decommissioning costs, present or prospective wholesale and retail competition (included but not limited to retail wheeling and transmission costs), political and economic risks, changes in and compliance with environmental and safety laws and policies, weather conditions (including natural disasters such as hurricanes), population growth rates and demographic patterns, competition for retail and wholesale customers, availability, pricing and transportation of fuel and other energy commodities, market demand for energy from plants or facilities, changes in tax rates or policies or in rates of inflation or in accounting standards, unanticipated delays or changes in costs for capital projects, unanticipated changes in operating expenses and capital expenditures, capital market conditions, competition for new energy development opportunities and legal and administrative proceedings (whether civil, such as environmental, or criminal) and settlements and other factors. Readers are referred to FPL Group, Inc.'s and Entergy Corporation's most recent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Additional Information and Where to Find It

In connection with the proposed merger, FPL Group, Inc. and Entergy Corporation will file a joint proxy statement / prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS ARE ADVISED TO READ THE JOINT PROXY STATEMENT / PROSPECTUS WHEN IT BECOMES AVAILABLE, BECAUSE IT WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Investors and security holders may obtain a free copy of the joint proxy statement / prospectus (when available) and other documents filed by FPL Group, Inc. and Entergy Corporation with the Commission at the Commission's web site at http://www.sec.gov. Free copies of the joint proxy statement / prospectus, once available, and each company's other filings with the Commission may also be obtained from the respective companies. Free copies of FPL Group's filings may be obtained by directing a request to FPL Group, Inc., 700 Universe Blvd., P.O. Box 14000, Juno Beach, FL 33408-0420, Telephone: (561) 694-4000. Free copies of Entergy's filings may be obtained by directing a request to Entergy Corporation, 639 Loyola Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana 70113, Telephone: (504) 576-4000.

Participants in Solicitation

FPL Group, Inc., Entergy Corporation and their respective directors, executive officers and other members of their management and employees may be soliciting proxies from their respective stockholders in favor of the merger. Information concerning FPL Group's participants in the solicitation is set forth in FPL Group's Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Commission on July 31, 2000, and information concerning Entergy's participants in the solicitation is set forth in Entergy's Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Commission on July 31, 2000.

Press Teleconference Information:

Note to Editors: There will be a press teleconference on Monday, July 31, 2000 at 12:00 pm (Eastern time). The dial in number is (888) 243-1681 (within the U.S.) and (212) 993-0207 (internationally). You can visit FPL Group and Entergy merger web site at: www.dealinfo.com/fplgroup-entergy.

Satellite Uplink for FPL Group and Entergy B-Roll:

Monday, July 31, 2000

7:00 am - 7:30 am (Eastern time)
Telstar 6 Transponder 9 C-Band Downlink Frequency 3880 Vertical
12:00 pm - 12:30 pm (Eastern time)
Telstar 6 Transponder 9 C-Band Downlink Frequency 3880 Vertical

If you have any technical questions or problems with the satellite feed for B-Roll, please call Brett Curran at (212) 627-5622. Contacts for FPL Group:Contacts for Entergy:

Investors:Investors: Lisa KuzelRenae Conley (561) 694-4697504-576-4947 lisa_kuzel@fpl.comeconley@entergy.com For Media Inquiries: For Media Inquiries: 305-552-3888504-576-4238

Entergy Corporation

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June 2, 2000

Contact: Yolanda Pollard (News Media) (504) 576-4190 e-mail: ypollar@entergy.com 800-844-8084 #1440471 (pager) Christine Noel (Media & IR)

The Shaw Group Inc. 225-932-2563 christine.noel@shawgrp.com 877-401-0561 (pager)

Renae Conley (Investor Relations) Entergy 504-576-4947 econley@entergy.com 800-429-2126 (pager)

Entergy, Shaw Join Forces to Create Premier Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Power Plant Commissioning Company

(New Orleans, Louisiana) - Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) and The Shaw Group Inc. (NYSE: SGR) today announced plans to create Entergy-Shaw, a new company that will provide management, engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning services to build electric power plants.

Entergy-Shaw will capitalize on the rapidly growing electric power generation market, providing services for Entergy Wholesale Operations' (EWO) power development plans in North America and Europe. EWO is the power development, marketing and trading business unit of Entergy. In addition, the new company expects to provide similar services for other power development customers in the future. Entergy-Shaw is developing a market-driven reference plant design that is expected to reduce power plant capital costs significantly, while also reducing construction, commissioning and operating risks. One of the keys to the success of this company will be the execution of EWO's previously announced gas turbine rollout program. Entergy and Shaw will each own a 50 percent interest in the new company.

"We're combining the skills, capabilities and expertise of two entrepreneurial organizations," said Geoff Roberts, President & CEO of EWO. "The Shaw Group is to power plants what Intel is to computers. This new venture cuts out the middleman and allows us to capture substantial savings and additional value in a very dynamic and competitive marketplace. Shaw provides complementary capabilities to EWO with extensive scheduling, construction, procurement, balance-of-plant and erection experience with complex projects. This strategic venture is consistent with our execution of our core strategy of building low cost power plants that began with our commitment to a single turbine technology produced by our turbine partner, General Electric. Similar to the Entergy-Koch L.P. marketing and trading alliance, this is another major step forward in achieving our objective of being a low-cost wholesale power provider in targeted North American and European energy markets."

"The combination of EWO and Shaw is a win/win for all parties involved," said J. M. Bernhard, Jr., Shaw's Chairman, President and CEO. "Shaw is very proud to partner with Entergy, a world-class company that not only shares a geographic market presence with Shaw domestically and in Europe, but also has a platform for growth that mirrors the strategy we have long believed critical to succeed in a competitive environment. This venture will allow us to capitalize on our core competency and apply it to the entire value chain, further exemplifying our unique position and competitive advantage in our industry. Additionally, the rollout of Entergy's aggressive development strategy will provide us with a substantial stream of projects that will both solidify, and significantly increase, our revenue visibility over the next several years."

U. S. Senator John Breaux, (D-Louisiana), commented, "This combination of two Louisiana-based companies is great news for the citizens of Louisiana; and its creation will generate tremendous economic opportunity for our state in general. As Entergy-Shaw conducts business in and out of Louisiana, it will draw on both our financial and human resources, while contributing to its own growth and the continuing expansion of business development in our state."

Advantages of the Joint-Venture

Entergy, the third-largest U. S. generator of electricity and a leader in global energy development with revenues in excess of $8 billion per year, and Shaw, the world's leading innovator of turnkey piping solutions and provider of erection services with revenues in excess of $500 million, will combine to create a new force armed with the resources critical to succeed in today's competitive wholesale merchant power marketplace.

In addition to work associated with its power development portfolio, EWO will contribute its extensive skills, expertise and capabilities in start-up and commissioning of power plants.

Shaw will provide skills, expertise and capabilities associated with over 200,000 megawatts of worldwide experience in power plant piping. In addition to a proven track record of executing complex power projects, Shaw will contribute premier power piping engineering and design capabilities, which have historically resulted in significant cost savings in the project development stage, as well as access to the world's largest, and most advanced, pipe fabrication capacity.

By aligning the interests of the two parties, Entergy-Shaw will be able to realize substantial engineering, procurement and construction project savings and operational flexibility. The development of a standardized market-driven reference design for plants will complement Entergy's previous commitment to GE's advanced turbine technology. As a result of Entergy's strategic commitment to a consistent technology, further benefits associated with replication and volume procurement opportunities will be achieved.

Additionally, because of the dedicated management team and single point-of-contact, Entergy-Shaw will be able to respond to changes in market conditions more quickly and reduce time to market.

Governance

An eight-member Board of Directors, four each from Entergy and Shaw, will govern the new company. The Chairman of the Board will rotate each year with Entergy holding the position in the first year.

Required Approvals

The formation of the new company is subject to completion of some final documentation and receipt of any requisite regulatory approvals.

Background on the Parent Organizations

Entergy owns, manages or invests in power plants generating nearly 30,000 megawatts of electricity domestically and internationally and delivers electricity to about 2.5 million customers in portions of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy is a major global energy company engaged in power production, distribution operations, and related diversified services, with more than 12,000 employees. It is also a leading provider of wholesale energy marketing and trading services. The Entergy futures contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is one of the largest electricity trading points in the United States.

The Shaw Group Inc. is the largest supplier of fabricated piping systems and services in the world, with unparalleled piping experience and expertise in the worldwide power generation market. Shaw is also a leader in providing innovative solutions to the chemical processing, crude oil refining, petrochemical processing and oil and gas exploration and production industries.

With over 7,500 employees worldwide, Shaw offers integrated engineering, design, fabrication, erection and maintenance of piping systems and the manufacture of specialty pipe fittings and supports. The company operates facilities in California, Louisiana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Australia, the United Kingdom, Venezuela and Bahrain, where it has a 49 percent interest in a joint venture.

The following constitutes a "Safe Harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements contained in the foregoing release with respect to the revenues, earnings, performance, strategies, prospects and other aspects of the business of Entergy Corporation and The Shaw Group may involve risks and uncertainties.

Actual events and results may, for a variety of reasons, prove to be materially different from those indicated in these forward-looking statements, estimates and projections. Factors that could influence actual future outcomes include regulatory decisions, the effects of changes in law, the evolution of markets and competition, changes in accounting, weather, the performance of generating units, fuel prices and availability, financial markets, risks associated with businesses conducted in foreign countries, changes in business plan, the presence of competitors with greater financial resources and the impact of competitive products and pricing; the effect of the Entergy Corporation's and The Shaw Group's policies, including the amount and rate of growth of Entergy Corporation's and The Shaw Group's expenses; the continued availability to Entergy Corporation and The Shaw Group of adequate funding sources and changes in interest rates; delays or difficulties in the production, delivery or installation of products and the provision of services; and various legal, regulatory and litigation risks. Entergy Corporation and The Shaw Group undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. For a more detailed discussion of some of the foregoing risks and uncertainties, see Entergy Corporation's and The Shaw Group's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Back to News Contents Page (c) 2000, Entergy Corporation, All Rights Reserved.

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Message: 6
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 16:36:20 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

More on Lockheed Martin pension plan

Source: http://www.oakridger.com/

To The Oak Ridger:

I read with interest Joanne Gailar's excellent article, "Musings," in The Oak Ridger of July 20, 2000, on Lockheed Martin's pension plan.

I recently visited with Mr. Norman Sparks, supervisor of the Lockheed Martin Benefit Plans. He told me that the "committee" that oversees the pension plan has an established formula for pension increases which is calculated as a 30-percent cost-of-living increase since the last pension increase Jan. 1, 1992.

Mr. Sparks says, so far, there has been a 20-percent increase in the cost of living since Jan.1, 1992. (This means that, assuming an average 3.5-percent annual cost-of-living increase, it will take another three years for the 30-percent formula to kick in.)

Interestingly, premiums for the Major Medical Medicare Supplement Plan since 1992 have increased over 100 percent (12.5 percent per year average) and the increases have not been included in the calculation of the cost-of-living formula.

It is obvious that the "committee" that oversees the Lockheed Martin Pension Plan should revise their formula to include premium increases for the Major Medical Medicare Supplement Plan in their cost-of-living formula.

It is noted that, in a letter to retirees dated Dec. 13, 1991, from Clyde Hopkins, president of Martin Marietta Energy Systems, the Department of Energy approved a pension benefit increase for retirees who retired from Energy Systems. There has been no pension benefit increase since that time.

The "magnanimous" approval by the Department of Energy (presumably for use of government funds) is interesting, while at the same time, retirees from the Department of Energy continue to receive annual cost-of-living increases.

Wilton R. Osborn 206 Englewood Lane

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Message: 7
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 16:38:56 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Some questions for Secretary Richardson

Source: http://www.oakridger.com/

To The Oak Ridger:

This is an open letter to Energy Secretary Bill Richardson.

As a concerned citizen, I would like to inquire about your recent decision to suspend the release of potentially contaminated scrap materials for recycling from DOE nuclear facilities.

You stated in your DOE News release that "I am making this decision to ensure American consumers that scrap metal released from Energy Department facilities for recycling contains no detectable contamination from departmental activities." Do you understand how ludicrous that statement is?

What bothers me even more is the unspoken statement that you're sending to the American public. In my opinion you're telling the public that no exposure is acceptable. You are an appointed person of relatively high power in our government and yet you make what appears to be an independent decision.

I, as a taxpayer want to know what you based this decision on. I also want to know what qualifications, such as education, experience, etc., that gives you the right to make this decision on your own.

Do you not understand that our world has been radioactive from the day it was formed? That the general public is routinely exposed to natural radioactivity in food, water and our own bodies?

When are you or someone else in our government going to tell the American public who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day that they receive a dose of alpha emitting ionizing radiation directly to living lung tissue of 8,000 millirem of dose per year? This is more than an occupational nuclear worker is allowed to receive in one year.

Do you not know that you can go to any grocery store and buy food that is naturally radioactive or a discount store and buy radioactive lantern mantels?

Along the same line of thought, if you are going to stop the release of these metals until there is no detectable, then shouldn't we stop all travel by air because airline passengers receive exposure from radiation while flying? Shouldn't we stop all radiation therapy for cancer treatment since these treatments involve the use of radioactive materials and/or radiation exposure?

And yet you're concerned about releasing this metal for scrap? I'm sorry, but as a person with almost 23 years' experience in the field of health physics, I find your decision based solely on ignorance on your part and is a prime example of someone who speaks before thinking and getting all the facts.

Average exposure to a member of the general public in the U.S. is approximately 365 millirem of dose. This dose comes from man-made sources as well as natural background radiation. Radiation is all around us and always here. So how exactly do you intend to quantify no detectable?

Or is it your intention to put a huge number of people out of work just to satisfy your political gains or the wishes of some environmental activists somewhere?

And exactly how do you intend to justify to American taxpayers that it will cost untold amounts of money to store or bury this material?

I have absolutely no problem with my government addressing issues of public concern, but to not provide the public with all pertinent information is unfair to the public.

And just exactly who is this "public" voicing concerns? Everyone I know who has basic knowledge of radiation and contamination is not voicing these "concerns."

I train people to work in radiologically hazardous environments and one thing I emphasize to people is the fact that humans fear what they do not understand. That is what I do Å I show them how to understand something they cannot see, hear, taste, touch or smell.

Don't you think that someone (maybe you?) should help the public understand, too? Or is it your intention to add to the public's fear factor?

I will never deny that radiation in high enough doses is detrimental to human health, but release limits pertaining to free release of radioactive materials used in today's regulations are perfectly acceptable when compared to what it's going to take to achieve "no detectable."

Time and time again, we (the public) have watched as all forms of media tell only one side of the story concerning radiation. It appears now that our own secretary of energy is doing it, also.

Carol O'Shaughnessy 107 Walsh Lane

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Message: 8
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 17:00:40 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Groups propose health clinic for sick workers

August 7, 2000
by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff
Source: http://www.oakridger.com/

J.D. Hunter, Coalition for a Healthy Environment member and retired K-25 fire chief, holds a representative bottle of "K-25 water" when voicing concerns about illnesses caused by the facility. -- Staff photo by Paul Parson

Groups propose health clinic for sick workers

Standing before a small crowd Friday morning, Janine Vonner declared, "I am one of the sick workers from the K-25 gaseous diffusion plant."

Vonner, a former administrative assistant at the facility, went on to tell those attending the joint press conference between the grass-roots citizens' group Save Our Cumberland Mountains and the workers' group Coalition for a Healthy Environment that she had been exposed to several toxins at her former workplace. Those toxins include aluminum, arsenic, beryllium, cobalt, lead, mercury, nickel and uranium, among others.

"The burden of proof must not be borne by the affected workers," she said. "The burden must be on the government to prove we were not exposed."

Vonner and four other speakers addressed a small crowd assembled at the K-25 Overlook Friday about the damaging effects of nuclear weapon production processes on their health both in the workplace and in surrounding communities, grass-roots solutions for health problems from nuclear contamination, and the federal government's effort to compensate nuclear workers.

The other speakers were Janet Michel, SOCM and CHE member; Fannie Ball, SOCM member, retired Y-12 and K-25 worker and resident of the Scarboro neighborhood; J.D. Hunter, CHE member and retired K-25 fire chief; and Peggy Adkins, SOCM member.

"We're interested in helping those that have been harmed," Michel said. She added that the activities on the Oak Ridge Reservation used thousands of hazardous materials.

One project proposed by SOCM, in conjunction with CHE and the Oak Ridge Health Liaison, is an environmental health clinic that would be constructed in Roane County to research, diagnose and treat residents and workers who suffer from mysterious ailments.

The facility would be staffed with immunology, endocrinology, oncology and pediatric toxicology experts.

Other items discussed Friday included recent accusations that the K-25 site's sanitary water may be contaminated due to cross-connecting lines and the health study conducted on 53 K-25 workers.

For more information on SOCM or the proposed health clinic, call 426-9455.

============

Comments:

It would be ashmed to spend all this money on a health clinic just to find that most of these health effects stem from one toxic source effect. One toxic source from the plant was emitted in huge quantities and affected everyone that worked there and should not be left invisible. It was not even mentioned in this article, showing that neither CHE nor SOCM have included it in the reasoning for a clinic.

The group began with the TSCA incinerator as a problem as it was connected with cyanide emissions, but that is not an internally persistent toxin. However, TSCA does emit fluorides and insoluble oxide forms of metals that retain a long time.

Now its into the water, and there are some bad things in the water that are persistent, like Sr-90, hexavalent chromium, and so on. But most of that has passed now, and testing water won't find much of anything. However, it does make a good Erin Brokovich style thing.

Logic appears missing in this need to disconnect any cause and effects for a well known persistent toxin that all these sick folks were exposed to.

They can raise Be related metals to a pre-admission, but leave off another prime toxic release that outnumbers all those affected with Be. While there are lots of toxins involved in making many of these folks sick, they can't be treated for all of them at once. Which means you go after the worst one or few first.

I don't see CHE or SOCM answering these questions well-----or including the most prevalent and persistent toxic emission from the plant that has all the symptoms which most of them suffer from.

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Message: 9
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 17:03:31 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Workers say water testing is conflict of interest

by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff
August 7, 2000
Source: http://www.oakridger.com/

With sampling now scheduled to begin Tuesday on water at the Oak Ridge K-25 site, a group of workers are speaking out about just who will be analyzing the samples.

A letter to Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, signed by 23 people "on the behalf of other concerned workers," states it is a conflict of interest for the Department of Energy to use DOE contractor personnel and laboratories to perform the sampling and analysis.

"Independence from DOE is essential to maintain the study's integrity and credibility," the letter states.

DOE's plan for the K-25 site, also called East Tennessee Technology Park, is a result of employee concerns raised during a public meeting last week that focused on a sick-worker study. One employee cited cross-connecting lines for sanitary, fire and cooling waters and steam and storm drains as a possible way employees could be exposed to hazardous materials at the site.

However, since those concerns were announced, DOE officials have insisted the water is safe.

This morning, DOE spokesman Steven Wyatt said OMI, the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee's contractor for the water plant and distribution system, will obtain the samples and send them to a state-certified laboratory for analysis. This activity will be observed by state officials and other groups concerned about the water safety.

"We have been open to any and all suggestions," Wyatt said. "However, our desire, which has been stated by other organizations and individuals involved, is to get sampling results as soon as possi-

"The most rapid method is to perform sampling by the company that is responsible for supplying safe water, OMI. With the open approach toward planning this effort and the opportunity for outside organizations to observe and obtain samples, there simply is no reason to distrust this process. We believe it is the best approach for rapidly dealing with this issue.

"From the start of this process, DOE has actively sought the involvement of the concerned employees. We value their input and suggestions to this process. We want our process to be fair, honest, comprehensive and completely within the best interests of the users of the water system."

The K-25 site formerly produced enriched uranium for use in nuclear weapons and/or reactors. Currently, officials say there are around 1,750 employees at the site working on environmental cleanup and reindustrialization/reuse of the site's assets.

K-25 is supplied with water from a water treatment plant and distribution system that is operated under the surveillance of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

The federally funded CROET is responsible for ensuring effective reindustrialization of the K-25 site.Annual and other periodic inspections are performed to ensure that operations are in compliance with state and federal regulations for a potable water supply system.

As for reviewing past drinking water system operations, DOE is currently considering various options and more extensive sampling, if necessary. A meeting was scheduled for today to prepare an appropriate plan of action.

"For this phase, we will likely turn to outside resources to perform this work," Wyatt said.

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Message: 10
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 17:08:55 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Opposing sides gather at Y-12; 23 are arrested

August 7, 2000
Source: http://www.oakridger.com/

More than 100 people participated Sunday in the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance's march from A.K. Bissell Park to the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant. -- Staff photos by Paul Parson

Opposing sides gather at Y-12; 23 are arrested

Two sides -- each with a specific goal in mind -- gathered Sunday outside the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant for an afternoon of music, protests and arrests.

With the event staged on the 55th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, the Citizen Soldiers for the Atomic Bomb were on hand to show support for the nation's veterans, while the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance held its 12th annual peace protest.

Stacy Griffin, commander of the Citizen Soldiers group, said several veterans stopped by their site.

One of those veterans, Don Dorsey, who fought in World War II, said what the group was doing was a good thing and that it breaks his heart to see people protesting against the Y-12 facility.

Griffin added she was dismayed by OREPA's actions.

"Why do we let this go on? What they are doing is treason. They don't love this country."

Zo Mpofu, 23, of Asheville, N.C., was one of the more than 100 people who participated in OREPA's activities, including the march from Alvin K. Bissell Park to the plant.

"It was hot, but when you're doing something this fulfilling, you don't notice," she said. "The turnout is wonderful.

"We're here for peace. We're not degrading anyone. We honor our veterans. We're not going against them."

Mpofu was also representing her mother, a member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, who could not attend the meeting.

Sunday's activities resulted in the arrest of 23 people on charges of criminal trespassing under a state statute, rather than under a city ordinance, according to Oak Ridge Police Capt. Bill Moehl. Anderson County Attorney General Jim Ramsey has refused to prosecute past protesters on trespassing charges.

Those taken into custody read citations declaring plant officials were violating international law by continuing to produce nuclear warheads and then they crossed the boundary line leading into the Y-12 Plant. That's when authorities arrested them.

Arrested were Francisco Risso, 29, of Morganton, N.C.; Gordon Maham, 83, of Cincinnati; Dorothy Ross, 78, of Silva, N.C.; Richard Waldrop, 49, of Cleveland, Tenn.; Elaine Hunter, 56, of Crab Orchard, Ky.; Krista Galindo, 33, of Knoxville; Shelley Wascom, 41, of Lake City; Anne Hablas, 74, of Jacksboro; Lawrence Coleman, 58, of Knoxville; Lisa McLeod, 32, of Lake City; Gaye Evans, 56, of Knoxville; Margaret Bogle, 18, of Maryville; Betty Coleman, 57, of Knoxville; Rocio Huet-Cox, 44, of Maryville; and Erik Johnson, 56, of Maryville.

Also charged were George Cox, 54, of Walland; Laura Wallace, 18, of Stone Mountain, Ga.; Elizabeth Johnson, 53, of Maryville; Ingrid Johnson, 19, of Maryville; Elizabeth Lentsch, 63, of Addison; Mary Johnson, 20, of Maryville; and two 16-year-old juveniles from Maryville and Walland.

Moehl said those arrested were cooperative when taken into custody Sunday. The Oak Ridge Police Department was assisted by the Anderson County Sheriff's Department.

This morning, Steven Wyatt, spokesman for the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Operations office, issued the following statement regarding Sunday's activities.

"We respect the rights of all Americans to express their opinion," he said. "Our primary goal yesterday was to ensure the safety of the protesters and our employees. While there were arrests, overall it was an orderly and peaceful event."

The federal government created the Oak Ridge Reservation in 1943 to help develop the first atomic bomb. The uranium enriched at the Y-12 Plant ultimately fueled the "Little Boy" bomb, which was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, near the end of World War II in 1945.

========

Comments:

Most of this groups actions are directed toward DOE goals of dismantlement support, and for these stop the bomb arrest protests that the DOE writes off.

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Message: 11
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 17:43:07 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Tests may pack a punch
Livermore lab's plutonium blasts may blow out their own containers

August 06, 2000
By Glenn Roberts Jr. STAFF WRITER
http://search.newschoice.com/GPC_StoryDisplay.asp?story=d:\index\newsarchives\anghe\loc\20000806\379151_m1bs206.txt&searchtext=nuclear

Lawrence Livermore Laboratory's next set of plutonium tests planned in the Nevada desert will be more powerful than its current round of experiments, according to a report in a lab magazine.

Too powerful, in fact, to be contained by inch-thick steel containers.

A July-August 2000 edition of Science and Technology Review, a lab-produced science magazine, states that the planned tests, dubbed "Piano," may blast open containers that were designed to withstand the current "Oboe" series of explosive tests.

Since September 1997, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory has exploded pieces of plutonium in underground chambers at the Nevada Test Site, 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas, to test nuclear weapons explosive components.

Conventional explosives and the plutonium pieces are packaged together in a "cube," and sensors record the split-second effect of the explosives on the plutonium.

Plutonium acts as an explosive trigger for the fusion-based hydrogen bombs deployed in the nation's arsenal.

The first round of tests was called Holog, followed by Bagpipe and Clarinet. Oboe is the current performer, and the next up is Piano, which is expected to produce a big show.

These experiments, called subcritical tests because the plutonium is in quantities too small to achieve a nuclear fission reaction, assist scientists with nuclear weapons research in an era without actual nuclear bomb explosions.

By testing plutonium from aging weapons and freshly-minted plutonium, scientists can better gauge whether the effects of aging and radioactive decay pose a risk to the effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

The recent Oboe experiments performed by Livermore Lab weapons researchers are the first subcritical tests to be carried out in steel casks that are designed to contain plutonium debris following the explosions.

Former experiments blasted plutonium into underground alcoves that were later filled with concrete. Oboe's vessels extend the life of its chambers from two to four years, saving $20 million in mining costs.

According to the lab's Science and Technology Review magazine, the first planned Piano test, which will follow the expected 12 Oboe experiments, "is possibly too powerful to be confined within a vessel."

That test is expected to be the last test conducted in the Oboe alcove, after which the alcove will be sealed to prevent plutonium particles from escaping the area.

The lab magazine also states that workers are mining a new area to add to the tunneled complex. This area will accommodate "experiments planned for the middle part of the decade. Those experiments will also be named after musical instruments."

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Message: 12
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 17:45:38 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Nuclear Energy Seen as Means to Produce Hydrogen

EarthVision Environmental News
http://www.earthvision.net/ColdFusion/News_Page1.cfm?NewsID=11739&start=1

ARGONNE, IL, August 7, 2000 - The US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory will spearhead development of an economical nuclear-based energy supply system for use in industrialized and developing nations after 2020.

"The basic concept is to use clean nuclear energy as the heat source for manufacturing hydrogen, a clean chemical fuel that burns without releasing carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming," said Dave Wade, director of Argonne's Reactor Analysis Division.

According to the research proposal (see below), the system is based on a modular-sized fast reactor, passively safe, and cooled with heavy liquid metal which supplies high temperature heat to an integrated gas turbine power/process heat chemical plant to generate dual energy carriers - electricity and hydrogen. It is also capable of generating potable water from brackish or saltwater desalinization.

Working with Argonne are Texas A&M University, General Electric, and research institutes from Japan and Italy. The three-year project will receive about $465,000 for the first year's work under DOE's Nuclear Energy Research Initiative.

Associated Link: Research Proposal

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Message: 13
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 17:49:40 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Nuclear plant protests mark Hiroshima Day

Aug. 6, 2000
By FRANK MUNGER
Scripps Howard News Service
http://www.stlnet.com/postnet/news/wires.nsf/National/44F811341C7C939F862569340007498B?OpenDocument

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. -- It was a day of war and peace, protest and counterprotest, culminating with the arrest of 22 people for trespassing at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant.

The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance staged its annual march and rally on Hiroshima Day -- the anniversary of the first A-bomb dropped on Japan during World War II -- and Sunday's activities were amplified by a counterprotest of war veterans and their supporters.

In fact, the blaring of ``Reveille,'' ``Anchors Aweigh,'' and other patriotic tunes, including ``Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition,'' often drowned out the folk songs, anti-nuclear speeches and drum chants by Buddhists monks.

There was a clash of cultures, to be sure, but there were few confrontations as the two sides voiced their feelings outside the gates to Y-12.

About 150 people participated in the peace protest, with many of them marching to Y-12 after a park rally. About a dozen counterprotesters set up camp early in the day, raised the American Flag and stayed until the peace activists crossed the Y-12 boundary and were taken into custody by city police.

Signs were everywhere. Messages ranged from ``Cat Lover Against The Bomb'' and ``Radiate Truth, Not People'' to ``If There Had Not Been A Pearl Harbor, There Would Not Have Been A Hiroshima.''

In late afternoon, protesters gathered on the road leading into Y-12. Some tried to read citations proclaiming that plant officials were violating international law by the continued production of nuclear warheads. Three groups of protesters were arrested at different intervals.

There could be a controversy brewing because Oak Ridge police planned to charge the protesters with criminal trespassing under a state statute, rather than under a city ordinance. In the past, Anderson County Attorney General Jim Ramsey has refused to prosecute protesters on trespassing charges.

Frank Clouse, a World War II veteran and retired Oak Ridge worker, said, ``If it hadn't been for the bomb, I wouldn't be here today.'' He said he left behind many friends in Europe, casualties of the war.

Clouse, 76, said it's about time that veterans began showing up to counter the Oak Ridge protests.

Y-12 has a special connection to the Aug. 6, 1945, bombing of Hiroshima, Japan. The Oak Ridge plant produced the enriched uranium used in the ``Little Boy'' bomb. Frank Munger can be reached at 865-482-

Contact Frank Munger of The Knoxville News-Sentinel in Tennessee at http://www.knoxnews.com.

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Message: 14
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 00:04:19 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Nuke Sites May Not Rid Contaminants

By H. JOSEF HEBERT
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - More than two-thirds of the government sites involved in decades of nuclear bomb production will never be completely cleaned of contamination, according to a study by the National Academy of Sciences.

``Long-term stewardship will be required for over 100 of the 144 waste sites,'' said the report released Monday by a special panel examining government plans to deal with this legacy of the Cold War years.

And the scientific panel warned that any plan for managing long-term isolation of contaminated sites should anticipate problems because the likelihood of the containment ``measures failing ... is relatively high.''

The sites are in 27 states and range from the massive Hanford reservation in Washington state, where government reactors made plutonium for the first nuclear bombs, to portions of the nation's federal research labs such as Argonne in Illinois and Sandia in New Mexico.

The time for remediation of the sites, contaminated with radiation and dangerous chemicals, range from several years to nearly 50 years. And for decades after that continued stewardship of many of these sites will be required, the scientists said.

Furthermore any plan for dealing with these sites must be flexible with continued involvement by the federal government because ``the likelihood that institutional management measure will fail at some point is relatively high,'' said the report.

The report was requested by the Energy Department as it develops long-term strategies cleaning up materials that in some cases are expected to remain dangerously radioactive for thousands of years.

``The Academy did a good job at pointing out the many things we have to look at,'' said Gerald Boyd, the department's deputy assistant secretary for science and technology.

Boyd said the department agrees that many of these sites cannot be abandoned even after the contamination is clearly contained.

``We can't walk away from these sites. We can't turn our backs to them. That's what they (the Academy) are recommending to us and that's what we're planning to do.''

While some areas likely will never be clean enough to be used, other areas - or parts of facilities - are expected to be cleaned sufficiently of contamination for restricted uses, the scientists said.

The DOE strategy involves two stages: first containment of the contamination and remediation, a process already underway. Secondly, long-term ``stewardship'' of sites where residual contamination will be left for the foreseeable future, perhaps always.

But such long-term management is full of uncertainties, the report said.

``At many sites future risk from residual wastes cannot be predicted with any confidence because numerous underlying factors that influence the character, extent and severity of long-term risks are not well understood,'' said the report.

Thomas Leschine of the University of Washington, chairman of the committee that wrote the report, said that as a result the government model for long-term stewardship of these sites must be flexible and anticipate failure.

``Understanding this and developing a highly reliable organizational model that anticipates failure while taking advantage of new opportunities for further remediation and isolation of contaminants remains a significant challenge for DOE,'' said Leschine.

Mary English, a researcher at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and the committee's vice chair, said that any plans for these sites ``will need to be periodically revisited'' because of changing conditions and new technological developments.

The Energy Department must ``acknowledge gaps'' in its technical capabilities today as they would be used to contain and isolate radioactive wastes hundreds of years into the future, the study said.

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Message: 15
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 00:51:35 -0400 (EDT)
From: smirnowb@ix.netcom.com

MORE EVIDENCE OF NRC's BALATANT SIDING WITH INDUSTRY & CONTEMPT FOR PUBLIC WELL BEING/DEMOCRACY/CONGRESS

Please dissemenate widely.

http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/nrccongress.html
Documented By Public Citizen

http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/violations.html

http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/stewart.html
New URL: Alice Stewart "Low-Level" Rad Study

MOTHERSALERT HOMEPAGE: http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert

-Bill Smirnow