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abolition-usa-digest      Tuesday, March 21 2000      Volume 01 : Number 273




----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 23:19:04 -0800
From: "David Crockett Williams" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) IMPORTANT Timely Personal Request [short]

Just in case you missed my very important longer post early today
"Presidential Campaign Miracle in The Making?",

Or maybe you have been too busy yet to spend 10minutes reading and
responding to it,

And perhaps it was a bit too long at 19-20K for you to feel comfortable yet
forwarding to your email contact lists, but PLEASE now take the 1-minute
to read this short post and forward this one widely ASAP.

Daily for the next three days I will be sending out press releases to large
national media lists and Thursday (Mar23) mid-day I leave for Phoenix trying
to get national media exposure for critical progressive issues during the
five days of Global Peace Walk 2000 events there starting 9AM Friday at
Senator John McCain's office and ending Sunday with my formal announcement
of the Williams-Peltier USCampaign Independent Candidacy for the United
States Presidency.

This is a bone fide serious campaign whose details are explained in my
earlier post which includes authorities and agreements citations, strategy,
etc, archived at <http://www.egroups.com/group/williams-peltier/3.html>

I need quick responses now with the names of those who agree to be
Electors for this campaign to "get to first base" on ballot access and
publicity.  If you already know what this means and entails you can now
email your Name and Address for this purpose, as they are listed on your
voter registration, to <[e-mail]>, with Subject Line starting
with your State abbreviation in brackets followed by a space and then your
name, eg, "[CA] John Buck Doe", or "[OH] John B. Doe" (without quotes)
depending on how your name is registered.

That's it.  That's all we need right now.  No time commitment.

For details see above archived post.  Excuse me if you already responded.

In each daily press release I want to mention numbers of Presidential
Elector
respondants to date.

Thanks very much for doing this now and forwarding this summary intro post
to your lists.

David Crockett Williams
<[e-mail]>
Special Address for USCampaign
A Global Emergency Alert Response
http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000


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 To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
 with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
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------------------------------

Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 10:51:29 -0500
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: Sign-on letter for Russian NGOs

>Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 18:44:24 -0500
>Subject: Sign-on letter for Russian NGOs
>Priority: non-urgent
>X-FC-MachineGenerated: true
>To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
>From: [e-mail] ([e-mail])
>
>PLEASE RESPOND TO [e-mail]
>
>Friends!
>Please add your signature to this appeal.  On March 23, the Russian
>government will review whether to authorize the importation of
>radioactive material into Russia from other countries.  Many
>organizations around the world have already agreed to unite with Russian
>NGOs and sign-on to this letter.  Now the letter has been translated
>into English and will be disseminated around the world.
>
>Aleksei Yablokov
>March 20, 2000
>
>Statement of non-governmental environmental organizations on the plan to
>export-import spent nuclear fuel
>
>At the present time, countries that have developed nuclear energy have
>run into the problem of storage and burial of spent nuclear fuel and
>radioactive waste.  Not wanting to use its territory for the repository
>of these dangerous materials, the governments and nuclear-energy
>companies of these countries are trying to transport them to other
>countries that are experiencing economic difficulties, in particular, to
>Russia.  Earlier attempts by industrial countries to establish
>international repositories for spent nuclear fuel in Australia, South
>Africa and Namibia were not successful.  Proposals by private companies
>to construct such a repository on one of the islands in the Pacific
>Ocean that belongs to the US caused a sharp negative reaction by the
>White House.
>
>Russian legislation forbids the import of foreign radioactive materials
>for storage and burial on Russian territory.  The Ministry of the
>Russian Federation on atomic energy (Minatom), which is counting on
>receiving the material into its custody and developing its potential, is
>lobbying to change this law and is making preparations for organizations
>of commercial storage and for the reprocessing of foreign radioactive
>waste and spent nuclear fuel in its facilities.  The Russian
>authorities, which are facing a continual budget deficit, are ready to
>change the law.
>
>The administration of the US, worried on the one hand about the security
>of fissile materials and the possible leaking of nuclear specialists
>from Russia, and on the other hand, not wanting to store spent nuclear
>fuel on its own territory from countries that use in their reactors
>nuclear fuel that was produced in the US, is giving in to the support of
>the commercial storage of foreign radioactive materials in Russia.
>
>The United States, in exchange for giving permission to Russia to import
>spent nuclear fuel from Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Switzerland,
>Germany, and other countries, requires that Russia stop reprocessing
>spent nuclear fuel and further accumulation of plutonium.  But the
>accepted conception in Russia of a closed fuel cycle envisages such
>reprocessing.  Minatom promises (under the conditions of constructing
>many new nuclear power plants) to curtail the production of plutonium
>for only 200 years.  Having at its disposal large stock of Russian spent
>nuclear fuel, Minatom is ready to agree with the US requirement to give
>up reprocessing of foreign spent nuclear fuel today in order to be able
>to use it in the future in its facilities, which are constructed with
>=93radioactive=94 money.
>
>Minatom maintains that the resources they receive from storing
>radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel will go first to remediate land
>that has been polluted by radionuclides during the Cold War.  However,
>it is clear that a primary part of the resources that are received in
>the waste business go into building new nuclear power plants, factories
>for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, and other environmentally and
>politically dangerous projects.
>
>The waste business, in which Minatom intends to earn money, will result
>in the deterioration of the environmental situation in Russia and create
>significant additional risks for the population during the transport of
>spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste and the management of dangerous
>wastes.
>
>It is disturbing to us that negotiations on the management of
>radioactive and nuclear materials, which affects the interests of the
>whole world, go on in secret from the public.  We hold that this leads
>to the weakening of international and national environmental legislation
>and undermines the foundations of civil society.
>
>We hold that countries, in which long-term radionuclides were obtained
>in reactors, should take full responsibility for their safe storage
>during the time it is necessary for full decay of all long-term
>radionuclides.
>
>We hold that the Russian and US governments and other nuclear countries
>should first take care of the safe storage of the large quantities of
>already manufactured plutonium.
>
>We categorically come out against the import and export of spent nuclear
>fuel and radioactive waste.  We are against earning =93dirty=94 money in=
 the
>morally unacceptable =93waste business,=94 which carries numerous
>misfortunes for current and future generations, we are against double
>standards.
>
>We hold that reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, which inevitably leads
>to the management of a large quantity of radioactive waste and to
>extraction of new quantities of plutonium, should be stopped in all
>countries.
>
>We are in favor of every future generation living in a less dangerous
>world.
>
>Signed,
>
>L. Popova =AD Center for nuclear ecology and energy policy, SEU
>A. Yablokov =AD Center for environmental policy in Russia
>E. Kriusanov =AD Program on nuclear and radioactive safety, SEU
> =20
Alice Slater
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE)
15 East 26th Street, Room 915
New York, NY 10010
tel:  [phone]
fax:  [phone]
email:  [e-mail]
http://www.gracelinks.org

GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network for the elimination
nuclear weapons. =20

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 To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
 with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
 For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send
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------------------------------

Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 11:52:50 -0500
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: Water Contamination at Nevada Test Site

>Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 07:47:27 -0500
>Subject: Water Contamination at Nevada Test Site
>Priority: non-urgent
>X-FC-MachineGenerated: true
>To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
>From: [e-mail] ([e-mail])
>
>   Note implications for Yucca Mountain toward the end of this lengthy
>article.
>
>
>       CONCERNS ARISE OVER AQUIFER NEAR NUCLEAR TEST SITE
>                         New York Times
>                         March 21, 2000
>                      by Martin Forstenzer
>
>    When the federal government conducted 828 underground nuclear tests
>at the Nevada Test Site from 1956 to 1992, its scientists knew that
>ground water beneath the site would become contaminated. They believed
>that the underground water barely moved, and that radioactive particles
>would be sealed into cavities by the blasts or else absorbed by
>underground rock.
>    But studies in recent years have found that radioactive particles
>like long-lived plutonium 239 can travel with water, and that water is
>flowing more rapidly beneath the site than was once believed. Scientists
>now agree that contaminated plumes have the potential to flow beyond the
>borders of the 1,573 square-mile test site in south-central Nevada,
>toward populated areas.
>    The trouble is that no one knows how big the plumes are, where they
>have already traveled or what exactly they contain. Scientists from the
>United States Geological Survey and the University of Nevada say that a
>witch's brew of radionuclides could take as little as a decade to reach
>well water in Beatty, a town of 1,500 people in the Oasis Valley about
>25 miles from the heavily contaminated northwest corner of the test
>site.
>    "Could it show up there in the next 10 years?" Randell Laczniak, a
>Geological Survey hydrologist and a co-author of a 1996 report on ground
>water at the test site, said in an interview.
>    "There's that possibility. Will it show up at a dangerous level? I
>don't know."
>    Spokesmen for the Department of Energy, which administers the test
>site, were more conservative.
>    Bob Bangerter, manager of the Energy Department's program handling
>the ground water issue, said that because some underground tests
>occurred near the test site's western boundary  at the heavily
>contaminated Pahute Mesa area and the water was moving toward the
>southwest, "there is a high potential that it  will move off of the test
>site toward the Oasis Valley." But he would not estimate when this might
>happen.
>    Another Energy Department official in Nevada, Carl Gertz, assistant
>manager for environmental management, said there was no evidence that
>the contamination had yet left the site and that it would not be likely
>to reach a populated area even 100 years from now.
>    The department has spent $176 million to evaluate the ground water
>problem at the test site, but some experts say the agency has gone about
>it the wrong way.
>    An early draft of a ground water model that tried to determine how
>far contaminants could travel at one section of the test site was
>heavily criticized last September by a review panel of ground water
>experts who said that the model lacked enough data to make it
>meaningful.
>    "It was severely data limited," said Dr. Lynn W. Gelhar, a ground
>water expert and professor of civil and environmental engineering at the
>Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who led the six-member peer
>review panel.
>    Another panel member, Dr. Dennis Weber, a physicist and ground water
>researcher at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, said the agency
>relied on one of its own previous ground water models in place of
>gathering real data about the problem. "They tried to do this without
>taking data," Dr. Weber said. "Your models are only as good as your
>data."
>    The model, which the agency is now revising, predicted that ground
>water at the Frenchman Flat area of the site could travel only about
>three-fifths of a mile in 1,000 years, but the panel said that it did
>not take into account the "plausible" possibility that the water could
>drop into a lower aquifer, where it could travel much more rapidly.
>    "The testing was not actually done down in the primary aquifer,
>which is a limestone-type aquifer, but in a zone above that," Dr. Gelhar
>said.
>    "The question is to what extent there is connection between the
>upper zone and this deeper, very permeable aquifer."
>    The Energy Department has already drilled dozens of monitoring wells
>both on and outside the test site and is installing eight wells
>northeast of Beatty. But agency critics say they are of limited value
>because they are not designed to find and define the contaminant plumes.
>    "They should design monitoring systems to intercept the contaminants
>from some of the critical larger detonations so that they learn more
>about the plumes, where they are going and how fast they are going," Dr.
>Weber said.
>    Mr. Gertz of the Energy Department, though, said new wells were not
>necessarily cost effective.
>    "Do you put a well every five miles?" Mr. Gertz asked. "Every six
>miles?" We have a site bigger than the state of Rhode Island. To go down
>to 6,000 feet, where we think you have to go in the northern part of our
>site, they're about $2 million a well.
>    What is the appropriate cost to taxpayers?"
>    Some scientists emphasize that even if ground water was to travel
>off the site, it does not mean that the radioactive contaminants would
>necessarily travel with it. It was once believed that plutonium 239
>could not travel in ground water, but in 1997, scientists from the Los
>Alamos National Laboratory concluded that plutonium 239 had traveled
>nearly a mile from the location of an underground blast by attaching
>itself to colloids, insoluble particles suspended in water.
>    It is still not known whether the element, which has a half-life of
>24,100 years, can move in ground water over distances of several miles
>in concentrations that would be harmful. But the finding increased
>concern among scientists about the potential health threat from the
>ground water.
>    The one radionuclide at the site that is known to travel freely with
>water is tritium, a hydrogen isotope that becomes part of water
>molecules.
>    Although it decays in only 12.3 years, tritium can remain dangerous
>to humans for hundreds of years when found in the kinds of large
>concentrations that the test site holds, Dr. Weber said. Other elements
>that contaminate the site include neptunium and americium, but little is
>known about their ability to travel in ground water.
>    Because Death Valley National Park is the end point of ground water
>flow for the region, scientists said that water from the test site would
>probably reach there eventually and could threaten the park, although
>most believe that it would take longer than a hundred years.
>    For residents near the test site, the focus on contaminated ground
>water has compounded fears about the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste
>repository, which the federal government plans to build near the western
>border of the Nevada Test Site not far from Beatty and other populated
>areas.
>    By making the idea of contaminated ground water less abstract, it
>has sharpened public worries about what might happen if radioactive
>material leaked from the site, which would hold tons of high-level
>radioactive waste from around the country.
>    There is no feasible way to clean the ground water of contaminants
>or divert it from flowing toward a particular place. But to prepare for
>the possibility that contaminants might someday reach a populated area,
>the Energy Department has studied a variety of costly, experimental
>plans, including trying to mine out contaminants at the test site, which
>would cost trillions of dollars and present serious health risks to
>workers, diverting the ground water back onto the test site, and piping
>or trucking water to affected communities.
>    In Beatty, the issue has been a leading topic of discussion. "I'm
>concerned for a lot of reasons," said LaRene Younghans, who owns a ranch
>just north of Beatty. "We wanted to stay here until we died, and we'll
>probably have to move."
>    Such worries spiked in late February when Nye County officials
>reported that a very high level of radiation was found in one monitoring
>well south of the Oasis Valley. The report prompted calls to the Energy
>Department from county residents and spurred emergency meetings of town
>and county officials, but it turned out to be a false alarm: the initial
>well analysis was faulty.
>    Some scientists who have studied the issue believe that the Energy
>Department has never really tried to learn much about the contaminated
>ground water in order to keep public pressure off the agency.
>    "They haven't drilled wells with the intention of finding the
>plumes," Dr. Weber said. "They didn't want to know."
>    A spokeswoman for the department, Nancy Harkess, responded: "We are
>looking and we do want to find it if it's moving. Our No. 1 priority is
>to protect the public."
>
Alice Slater
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE)
15 East 26th Street, Room 915
New York, NY 10010
tel:  [phone]
fax:  [phone]
email:  [e-mail]
http://www.gracelinks.org

GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network for the elimination
nuclear weapons.

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 To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
 with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
 For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send
 "help" to the same address.  Do not use quotes in your message.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 15:09:14 -0500
From: Ellen Thomas <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews 00/03/21:  Archives Posted 3/1-15; Rad Workers and Gulf War Syndrome hearings in DC 3/22, 4/4

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Time sensitive: =20
2. Ill workers will testify in Washington (on March 22)
3. Requests by veterans service organizations to present oral comments on=
 Gulf
War Syndrome due March 24; Written comments due March 30; Testimony April 4.
3. Today's Senate Committee Hearings (March 21, 2000

ALSO:  NucNews archives has been posted online through March 15, 2000 at
http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm. =20

- ------

(1)

Daybook, Washington Time, March 21, 2000
http://www.washtimes.com/national/daybook-2000321214023.htm

SENATE COMMITTEES=20

2 p.m. - Environment and Public Works Committee's Superfund, waste control=
 and
risk assessment subcommittee holds a hearing on the current status of=
 cleanup
activities under the Superfund program. Location: 406 Dirksen Senate Office
Building. Contact: 202/224-6176.

2:30 p.m. - Foreign Relations Committee holds hearing on "Proliferation=
 Threats
and the Formulation of Policy." George Tenet, CIA director, testifies.
Location: 419 Dirksen Senate Office Building. Contact: 202/224-4651.

- ----

(2)
Ill workers will testify in Washington (on March 22)

By Laura Frank / Staff Writer=20
http://www.tennessean.com/sii/00/03/16/testify16.shtml

Three nuclear weapons workers and an ill worker's daughter will carry the
plight of their ailing cohorts to Capitol Hill next week to testify before=
 one
of the most powerful Senate committees.

U.S. Sens. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, yesterday
released the list of people who will appear Wednesday before the=
 Governmental
Affairs committee, which is exploring how the federal government has handled
health and safety issues at nuclear weapons plants.

Thompson is chairman of the committee.

"This is something we've worked on for five years," said Ann Orick, an ill=
 Oak
Ridge worker who will testify. "This is probably our one and only=
 opportunity.
We've got to take advantage of it."

Meanwhile, a team of doctors hired in 1997 to determine whether some Oak=
 Ridge
workers' ailments are related to toxic exposure from the site announced they
will report their official findings at the end of next month.

Thompson and Voinovich announced the hearings last fall because, they said,=
 the
U.S. Department of Energy was not giving the sites in their states equal
attention to the weapons fuel plant in Paducah, Ky., where workers have=
 filed a
massive lawsuit.

Legislation is pending in Congress to compensate some ill nuclear weapons
workers: those with lung damage from the metal beryllium, those from the
Paducah site with certain cancers and a group of Oak Ridge workers. That=
 group
is expected to be determined at the end of April, when the DOE-hired doctors
announce findings of their three-year investigation.

Thompson said the March 22 hearing will focus on how best to compensate ill
workers.

Other people who will testify include:

Vikki Hatfield of Kingston, Tenn., whose father is a former Oak Ridge worker
now dying of kidney failure and berylliosis, a lung disease caused by the=
 metal
beryllium, which was used in atomic bombs.

Sam Ray of Lucasville, Ohio, who retired in 1995 from the Portsmouth Gaseous
Diffusion plant near Piketon, Ohio, after 41 years. He suffers from
chondrosarcoma, a cancer of the cartilage in his throat.

Jeff Walburn of Greenup, Ky., a security guard at the Portsmouth site for 23
years, who suffers respiratory problems after a 1994 accident at the site.

Dr. Steven Markowitz of the City University of New York Medical School, who=
 is
leading a study of former nuclear fuel production workers at Oak Ridge,
Portsmouth and Paducah.

David Michaels, assistant U.S. energy secretary for environment, safety and
health.

"I realize the gravity of this," Walburn said of his upcoming testimony and=
 the
fact he will speak for dozens of other workers who will not have a chance to
testify.

During the past three years, The Tennessean has interviewed more than 400
atomic weapons site workers and neighbors who suffer a host of mysterious
illnesses. Many of the ailments are immune, neurological and respiratory
problems. Others are more difficult to define, such as severe fatigue,=
 rashes
and pain.

Last July, President Clinton ordered a review of whether evidence existed=
 that
nuclear workers' health had been harmed.=20

- -------

(2)

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Office of the Secretary=20

Meeting to Discuss the Future of the Office of the Special Assistant for=
 Gulf
War Illnesses (OSAGWI)

AGENCY: Special Oversight Board for Department of Defense Investigations of
Gulf War Chemical and Biological Incidents, Department of Defense

ACTION: Notice

SUMMARY: The Board will conduct a public meeting to obtain information from
veterans service organizations and the Departments of Defense, Veterans
Affairs, and Health and Human Services regarding the design of a successor
organization to OSAGWI. The meeting will begin at 9:00 a.m. EDT.

DATE: April 4, 2000
ADDRESS: Truman Room, White House Conference=20
Center, 726 Jackson Place, NW,=20
Washington, DC 20503

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Contact Mr. David Edman,=20
Special Oversight Board, 1401 Wilson Blvd,=20
Suite 401, Arlington, VA 22209,=20
phone [phone], fax [phone],=20
or via Email at [e-mail].=20

Requests to present oral comments regarding an OSAGWI successor organization
must be sent to Mr. Edman and received no later than noon Friday, March 24,
2000 for consideration. Written comments must be received no later than noon
Thursday, March 30, 2000 to ensure their availability to board members prior=
 to

the hearing. Copies of the draft meeting agenda can be obtained by=
 contacting
Ms. Sandra Simpson at [phone] or at the above fax number or above=
 email.


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Seating in the Truman Room is limited, and spaces
will be reserved only for scheduled speakers. The remaining seats will be
available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 8:30 a.m. No
teleconference lines will be available. The Special Oversight Board expects
that statements presented at this meeting will deal only with the design of=
 a
successor organization to OSAGWI and its affiliation, if any, with the
Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Health and Human Services. In
general, each individual or group making an oral presentation will be=
 limited
to a total time of five minutes. Written comments will be provided to Board
members if at least 10 copies are received in the Special Oversight Board=
 Staff
Office no later than noon March 30, 2000. Written comments received after=
 that
date will be mailed to Board members after the adjournment of the April 2000
meeting and will also be included in the official records of that meeting.=
 The
White House Conference Center, 726 Jackson, Place, NW, is located on the=
 west
side of Lafayette Park. Lafayette Park is on the north side of the White=
 House
and bounded by Pennsylvania Avenue on the south, H Street on the north and
centered at 16th Street. Lafayette Park is within easy walking distance of=
 the
Farragut West (two city blocks) or McPherson Square (three city blocks)
MetroRail subway stops (Blue and Orange lines). There is no vehicular access=
 to
Jackson Place. Taxicabs should be directed to the Decatur House, 1600 H=
 Street,
NW.

- ---

SPECIAL OVERSIGHT BOARD PUBLIC HEARING
White House Conference Center=20
Truman Room=20
726 Jackson Place NW=20
Washington, DC 20503
April 4, 2000 9:00 AM =AD 4:00 PM

DRAFT AGENDA

9:00 Call to Order - Mr. Setti Warren=20
Roll Call of Board - Designated Federal Officer

9:03-9:15 Purpose of the Meeting;=20
Moment of Silence for Senator Rudman and Board=20
ADM Zumwalt; Introduction of all Board Members,=20
Remarks

9:15-9:45 DoD Low-Level Chemical Agent Research=20
LTC Ross, ODASD for (Five-year plan)=20
Chem/Bio Defense

9:45-10:15 Research Working Group Update=20
Dr. Feussner and staff

10:15-12:00 OSAGWI Follow-on Organization=20
NSC Representative plus JCS; OSAGWI; MVHCB;=20
VA; HHS; OASD(HA)

12:00-1:00 Lunch

1:00-1:30 Health Problems in Canadian Forces=20
in Croatia Ministry of Defence

1:30-2:00 Veterans Service Organization Panel 1=20
American Legion; AMVETS American GI Forum

2:00-2:30 Veterans Service Organization Panel 2=20
Disabled American Veterans; Jewish War Veterans; NCOA

2:30-3:00 Veterans Service Organization Panel 3=20
VFW; Vietnam Veterans of America

3:00-4:00 Board Discussion and Final Remarks=20
Senator Rudman and Board

4:00 Adjourn=20
Designated Federal Officer

- -------------------=20


________________________________________________________________

  * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! *

Don't Forget! Online Petition -
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/prop1/petition.html
________________________________________________________________=20
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<html>
Time sensitive:  <br>
2. Ill workers will testify in Washington (on March 22)<br>
3. Requests by veterans service organizations to present oral comments on
Gulf War Syndrome due March 24; Written comments due March 30; Testimony
April 4.<br>
3. Today's Senate Committee Hearings (March 21, 2000<br>
<br>
ALSO:  NucNews archives has been posted online through March 15,
2000 at
<a href=3D"http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm" eudora=3D"autourl">http://=
prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm</a>.
<br>
<br>
- ------<br>
<br>
(1)<br>
<br>
Daybook, Washington Time, March 21, 2000<br>
<a href=3D"http://www.washtimes.com/national/daybook-2000321214023.htm"=
 eudora=3D"autourl">http://www.washtimes.com/national/daybook-2000321214023.=
htm</a><br>
<br>
SENATE COMMITTEES <br>
<br>
2 p.m. - Environment and Public Works Committee's Superfund, waste
control and risk assessment subcommittee holds a hearing on the current
status of cleanup activities under the Superfund program. Location: 406
Dirksen Senate Office Building. Contact: 202/224-6176.<br>
<br>
2:30 p.m. - Foreign Relations Committee holds hearing on
"Proliferation Threats and the Formulation of Policy." George
Tenet, CIA director, testifies. Location: 419 Dirksen Senate Office
Building. Contact: 202/224-4651.<br>
<br>
- ----<br>
<br>
(2)<br>
Ill workers will testify in Washington (on March 22)<br>
<br>
By Laura Frank / Staff Writer <br>
<a href=3D"http://www.tennessean.com/sii/00/03/16/testify16.shtml"=
 eudora=3D"autourl">http://www.tennessean.com/sii/00/03/16/testify16.shtml</=
a><br>
<br>
Three nuclear weapons workers and an ill worker's daughter will carry the
plight of their ailing cohorts to Capitol Hill next week to testify
before one of the most powerful Senate committees.<br>
<br>
U.S. Sens. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., and George Voinovich, R-Ohio,
yesterday released the list of people who will appear Wednesday before
the Governmental Affairs committee, which is exploring how the federal
government has handled health and safety issues at nuclear weapons
plants.<br>
<br>
Thompson is chairman of the committee.<br>
<br>
"This is something we've worked on for five years," said Ann
Orick, an ill Oak Ridge worker who will testify. "This is probably
our one and only opportunity. We've got to take advantage of
it."<br>
<br>
Meanwhile, a team of doctors hired in 1997 to determine whether some Oak
Ridge workers' ailments are related to toxic exposure from the site
announced they will report their official findings at the end of next
month.<br>
<br>
Thompson and Voinovich announced the hearings last fall because, they
said, the U.S. Department of Energy was not giving the sites in their
states equal attention to the weapons fuel plant in Paducah, Ky., where
workers have filed a massive lawsuit.<br>
<br>
Legislation is pending in Congress to compensate some ill nuclear weapons
workers: those with lung damage from the metal beryllium, those from the
Paducah site with certain cancers and a group of Oak Ridge workers. That
group is expected to be determined at the end of April, when the
DOE-hired doctors announce findings of their three-year
investigation.<br>
<br>
Thompson said the March 22 hearing will focus on how best to compensate
ill workers.<br>
<br>
Other people who will testify include:<br>
<br>
Vikki Hatfield of Kingston, Tenn., whose father is a former Oak Ridge
worker now dying of kidney failure and berylliosis, a lung disease caused
by the metal beryllium, which was used in atomic bombs.<br>
<br>
Sam Ray of Lucasville, Ohio, who retired in 1995 from the Portsmouth
Gaseous Diffusion plant near Piketon, Ohio, after 41 years. He suffers
from chondrosarcoma, a cancer of the cartilage in his throat.<br>
<br>
Jeff Walburn of Greenup, Ky., a security guard at the Portsmouth site for
23 years, who suffers respiratory problems after a 1994 accident at the
site.<br>
<br>
Dr. Steven Markowitz of the City University of New York Medical School,
who is leading a study of former nuclear fuel production workers at Oak
Ridge, Portsmouth and Paducah.<br>
<br>
David Michaels, assistant U.S. energy secretary for environment, safety
and health.<br>
<br>
"I realize the gravity of this," Walburn said of his upcoming
testimony and the fact he will speak for dozens of other workers who will
not have a chance to testify.<br>
<br>
During the past three years, The Tennessean has interviewed more than 400
atomic weapons site workers and neighbors who suffer a host of mysterious
illnesses. Many of the ailments are immune, neurological and respiratory
problems. Others are more difficult to define, such as severe fatigue,
rashes and pain.<br>
<br>
Last July, President Clinton ordered a review of whether evidence existed
that nuclear workers' health had been harmed. <br>
<br>
- -------<br>
<br>
(2)<br>
<br>
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE<br>
Office of the Secretary <br>
<br>
Meeting to Discuss the Future of the Office of the Special Assistant for
Gulf War Illnesses (OSAGWI)<br>
<br>
AGENCY: Special Oversight Board for Department of Defense Investigations
of Gulf War Chemical and Biological Incidents, Department of=20
Defense<br>
<br>
ACTION: Notice<br>
<br>
SUMMARY: The Board will conduct a public meeting to obtain information
from veterans service organizations and the Departments of Defense,
Veterans Affairs, and Health and Human Services regarding the design of a
successor organization to OSAGWI. The meeting will begin at 9:00 a.m.
EDT.<br>
<br>
DATE: April 4, 2000<br>
ADDRESS: Truman Room, White House Conference <br>
Center, 726 Jackson Place, NW, <br>
Washington, DC 20503<br>
<br>
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Contact Mr. David Edman, <br>
Special Oversight Board, 1401 Wilson Blvd, <br>
Suite 401, Arlington, VA 22209, <br>
phone [phone], fax [phone], <br>
or via Email at
<font color=3D"#0000FF"><u>[e-mail]</font></u>. <br>
<br>
Requests to present oral comments regarding an OSAGWI successor
organization must be sent to Mr. Edman and received no later than noon
Friday, March 24, 2000 for consideration. Written comments must be
received no later than noon Thursday, March 30, 2000 to ensure their
availability to board members prior to <br>
the hearing. Copies of the draft meeting agenda can be obtained by
contacting Ms. Sandra Simpson at [phone] or at the above fax
number or above email. <br>
<br>
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Seating in the Truman Room is limited, and
spaces will be reserved only for scheduled speakers. The remaining seats
will be available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 8:30
a.m. No teleconference lines will be available. The Special Oversight
Board expects that statements presented at this meeting will deal only
with the design of a successor organization to OSAGWI and its
affiliation, if any, with the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs,
and Health and Human Services. In general, each individual or group
making an oral presentation will be limited to a total time of five
minutes. Written comments will be provided to Board members if at least
10 copies are received in the Special Oversight Board Staff Office no
later than noon March 30, 2000. Written comments received after that date
will be mailed to Board members after the adjournment of the April 2000
meeting and will also be included in the official records of that
meeting. The White House Conference Center, 726 Jackson, Place, NW, is
located on the west side of Lafayette Park. Lafayette Park is on the
north side of the White House and bounded by Pennsylvania Avenue on the
south, H Street on the north and centered at 16th Street. Lafayette Park
is within easy walking distance of the Farragut West (two city blocks) or
McPherson Square (three city blocks) MetroRail subway stops (Blue and
Orange lines). There is no vehicular access to Jackson Place. Taxicabs
should be directed to the Decatur House, 1600 H Street, NW.<br>
<br>
- ---<br>
<br>
SPECIAL OVERSIGHT BOARD PUBLIC HEARING<br>
White House Conference Center <br>
Truman Room <br>
726 Jackson Place NW <br>
Washington, DC 20503<br>
April 4, 2000 9:00 AM =AD 4:00 PM<br>
<br>
DRAFT AGENDA<br>
<br>
9:00 Call to Order - Mr. Setti Warren <br>
Roll Call of Board - Designated Federal Officer<br>
<br>
9:03-9:15 Purpose of the Meeting; <br>
Moment of Silence for Senator Rudman and Board <br>
ADM Zumwalt; Introduction of all Board Members, <br>
Remarks<br>
<br>
9:15-9:45 DoD Low-Level Chemical Agent Research <br>
LTC Ross, ODASD for (Five-year plan) <br>
Chem/Bio Defense<br>
<br>
9:45-10:15 Research Working Group Update <br>
Dr. Feussner and staff<br>
<br>
10:15-12:00 OSAGWI Follow-on Organization <br>
NSC Representative plus JCS; OSAGWI; MVHCB; <br>
VA; HHS; OASD(HA)<br>
<br>
12:00-1:00 Lunch<br>
<br>
1:00-1:30 Health Problems in Canadian Forces <br>
in Croatia Ministry of Defence<br>
<br>
1:30-2:00 Veterans Service Organization Panel 1 <br>
American Legion; AMVETS American GI Forum<br>
<br>
2:00-2:30 Veterans Service Organization Panel 2 <br>
Disabled American Veterans; Jewish War Veterans; NCOA<br>
<br>
2:30-3:00 Veterans Service Organization Panel 3 <br>
VFW; Vietnam Veterans of America<br>
<br>
3:00-4:00 Board Discussion and Final Remarks <br>
Senator Rudman and Board<br>
<br>
4:00 Adjourn <br>
Designated Federal Officer<br>
<br>
- ------------------- <br>
<br>
<br>
<div>________________________________________________________________</div>
<br>
<div>  * Peace Through Reason -
<a href=3D"http://prop1.org/" EUDORA=3DAUTOURL>http://prop1.org</a> - Conver=
t
the War Machines! *</div>
<br>
<div>Don't Forget! Online Petition -
<a href=3D"http://www.petitiononline.com/prop1/petition.html"=
 EUDORA=3DAUTOURL>http://www.PetitionOnline.com/prop1/petition.html</a></div=
>
________________________________________________________________
</html>

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------------------------------

Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 13:36:23 -0800
From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) We can't stop now!

There are now 1773 municipalities and organizations who endorse Abolition
2000.  Let's keep the momentum going!  There are only 34 days left until
the NPT begins. We still need 227 more endorsers to reach our goal of 2000.
Please commit to enrolling an organization this week.

The following organizations endorsed the Abolition 2000 Statement during
the week of 15 March to 21 March:

Civic Alliance of Serbia (political party), Belgrade/Yugoslavia
Children of the Manhattan Project, San Francisco/California
Indigenous Environmental Network, Bemidji/Minnesota
Nuclear-Free Future Award, Munich/Germany
KIN (Korean International Network), Seoul/ Republic of Korea
National Campaign for the Eradication of Crime by US Troops in
Korea , Seoul/ Republic of Korea
ANBM (Alliance for National Buddhist Movement), Seoul/ Republic of Korea
The Participatory Autonomy Forum for 21st Century, Kwangju/Republic of Korea
SOFA Action (People's Action for Reform of the Unjust ROK-US SOFA
Agreement), Seoul/ Republic of Korea
The Victoria Peace Project, Ontario/Canada
Llanymddyfri Peace Group, Cynghordy/Llanymddyfri
 Korean Dentists' Association for Healthy Society, Seoul/ Republic of Korea
Sauk Prairie Area Peace Council, Sauk City/Wisconsin
Utah Navaho Downwinders, Montezuma Creek/Utah
Bekere Keresok (Peace Tax Payers), Budapest/Hungary
League of Women Voters of Beaver County, Aliquippa/Pennsylvania
Beaver Valley National Organization for Women, Aliquippa/Pennsylvania
Beaver County Peace Links, Aliquippa/Pennsylvania
Project EDNA, Brooklyn/New York
ADMAN Enterprises, Jacksonville/Florida
Centre for Community Development & Environment Research, Kathmandu/Nepal.

Thank you for your continued support!

In Peace and Solidarity,
Carah


Carah Lynn Ong
Coordinator, Abolition 2000
1187 Coast Village Road PMB 121, Suite 1
Santa Barbara CA 93108

Phone [phone]  FAX[phone]
Email: [e-mail]
Website http://www.abolition2000.org


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To subscribe to the Abolition Global Caucus, please do one of the following:

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End of abolition-usa-digest V1 #273
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