S.C. Governor Sends Troopers to Borders to Stop Government Shipments of Plutonium

Atlanta Journal Constitution ^ | 6/15/02 | Associated Press

[DoveTurnedHawk]

Gov. Jim Hodges ordered state troopers and other authorities to South Carolina's borders Friday to stop government shipments of plutonium that could begin arriving from Colorado as early as this weekend.

[snip]

But Hodges has said he fears the government will end up leaving the plutonium permanently in South Carolina, making the state a tempting target for terrorists.

Hodges, a Democrat who is up for re-election in the fall, has been threatening for weeks to use state troopers to block roads into the Savananna River Site and has vowed to lie down in the road if necessary to stop the plutonium-carrying trucks.

[TN4Liberty]

Extensive research has shown the increase in numbers of cancers, and birth defects, as well as, a myriad of other health problems associated with the processing, transportation, and storage of radio active materials.

Source? I know cold war workers who had close and constant exposure had problems, but the general public?

[ChadGore]

Re:"I suggest you get a new database program to get your urban myths properly organized." <=== CLASSIC ! rofl.

[proud to be breathing]

I think all these people bashing Hodges should answer two questions. First, if he was a conservative republican would they still be upset with him? And second, would they welcome those spent fuel rods to their own neighborhood? As for dixy lee ray, I grew up quite close to her, and knew her family a bit. She was a Zoologist, whose main scientific research was the study of marine worms. She was a very colorfull gov, but mangaged to alienate just about everybody with her style. As for her book, it is woefully outdated. It is not footnoted, has no scientific research to back up her claims that acid rain does no harm, that pesticides are not harmful, and that radiation is actually good for you. It was mostly written by Lou Guzzo, a local journalist, and another character, as we say, but somone whose knowledge of science could be comfortably held in a thimble.

[Politically Correct]

Fallon is on my FUSRAP list which I acquired by going directly to DOE Headquarters and having it mailed to me. At the time I became interested, didn't have the technology to retrieve it from the internet. Maybe you have a revised list, mine is the original.

Sorry for making fun of you.
You're right it was on an original list.
Although levels of radioactivity were so low as to not be significant and a quick clean up removed it from the list.

To claim that these levels of radioactivity (below background) caused leukemia in children is bogus.
Those kids are getting more radiation from the altitude they're living at than they'll get from some stuff left around a DOE site that's not in town.

Gimme a break. If you want to see contamination go to Hanford in WA.....now there's a disaster in progress.

[stylin_geek]

Dixie Lee Ray's credentials are every bit as good as the sources Green Peace, the Sierra Club, etc use. As for the Govenor, I would not care if he claimed he was conservative or liberal, political grandstanding is still grandstanding. Calling out State Troopers in this instance is a ridiculous ploy. As for the plutonium, I would have no problem with the stuff being transported to a nuclear recycling place that I lived next door to. In fact, I would gladly live within spitting distance of a nuclear power plant. However, I certainly would not say the same for a coal or fuel oil power plant.

[Arkinsaw]

I think all these people bashing Hodges should answer two questions. First, if he was a conservative republican would they still be upset with him? And second, would they welcome those spent fuel rods to their own neighborhood?

I am no fan of Hodges, but the guy is attempting to make the Federal government stand to account for its behavior within his State. I don't know what his personal reasons for it are, nor do I care, but as a State action I am glad to see it.

He is asking for the timetable, he is asking for the government to follow its own rules via Environmental Impact statements. Both are good things. The Federal government does not want to do these things and thinks it can do whatever it wants in any of its constituent members with impunity. It believes it can ignore the desires of the people of South Carolina because the rest of us only care about our rights as semi-sovereign States when it is WE who are targeted as a dump site, or a Federal reserve.

It is a good thing for the Federal government to be reminded that it is indeed a 'federal' government and that its constituent sovereignties are not mere provinces. Its a good thing that it be reminded from time to time that it is not the only judge of the extent of its own powers. A little modern Virginia and Kentucky Resolution or South Carolina/Nevada Resolution might not be a bad thing.

Even though the rest of us are not directly involved in the Plutonium issue and may not agree with the Plutonium issue or care about it. We are still concerned with our State's ability to defend itself against a tyranny of the majority within our federal republic. For this reason it might be worthwhile for the rest of our States, particularly small rural ones, to give political backing for the people of South Carolina's freedom to have their say in what goes on within their borders.

Otherwise, the Nevadas and South Carolinas will continue to have their roads closed, their irrigation channels closed, their land seized by corrupt administrations for park lands, or designated as poison dumps by larger States who need one.

[TiaS]

Regarding Hanford -- Amen.

[TiaS]

One more comment, the school I researched in New York State is located at about 900 feet above sea level and was built on a toxic site that housed a former industry whose CEO, sometime after the end of WWII, was none other than the good General Groves, of the Manhattan Project. Before the war this company had been involved in weapons production.

[cyberaxe]

.....Our Guv is a Gubber.....

.....I live here (SC).....

.....We call the Aiken site,.....

.....the "Bomb Plant".....

.....for all I know.....

.....this is where allot of the stuff came from in the first place.....

.....Hodges is a little Clinton.....

.....says one thing.....

.....does just the opposite.....

[rmvh]

"...... let's dump the stuff a few miles from your house in "the country's best interests."

My duty is not to lead the people for the general wellfare...Hodge's duty is.

If the courts ruled infavor of dumping it ON my house for the welfare of the majority I would be FORCED as an individual to accept it and move. Thats the way Democracy works.

But this Governor is placing his election wellbeing over his duty to the people as widely noted. Big difference!And thats what makes him so discpicable.

[cyberaxe]

let's dump the stuff a few miles from your house in "the country's best interests."

.....been to the bomb plant to hunt deer.....

.....aint no houses anywhere round there.....

.....just lotso deer that need harvesting.....

[doosee]

If the courts ruled infavor of dumping it ON my house for the welfare of the majority I would be FORCED as an individual to accept it and move. Thats the way Democracy works.

FYI - Federal Judge Cameron Currie is the one who ruled on this. She is the same judge that mandated the creation of an unconstitutional quota high school in Darlington County SC. She mandated 50-50 black and white about 5 years ago to settle an NAACP lawsuit. The new high school was forced on a county with already too many high schools and as a magnet school it has drained talent from the other high schools.
You are correct that we have to follow the rule of law but the Federal government has not followed the law in SC on the nuclear waste issue. YOu need to learn the details of how this has been imposed on SC without precedent.

[rmvh]

The Judge you deride is, in my view, a puppet of the governor.

But you say ... the Federal government has not followed the law in SC on the nuclear waste issue.

Specifically which State or Federal laws were abrogated or ignored by the federal Government in either nuclear fuels reprocessing, transport, or disposal?

Answer, zero when reviewing completed court dicisions.

[proud to be breathing]

Very well put, I agree completely.

[proud to be breathing]

You didn't address any of the substance of my remarks. So you feel that the feds have the right to foist this off on any locale, regardless of the wishes of the locals? As far as your stand on plutonium transport, I think your'e going to real lonely on that one. Lets put it all in the basement of the White House then. Saying that Dixie's sources are as good as Greenpeaces is very faint praise indeed. Her problem is that she didn't source, or footnote her many claims. She made a number of claims in that book that were immediately shown to be false. The book is frankly a piece of crap, that felt good at the time, but I don't think you'll find anyone running for office from any party saying that pesticides and plutonium are really harmless, except in overwhelming amounts, as she did. She also of course said that there was no change in climate taking place. This just came out, and as I have worked in Alaska on and off for over 30 years,there is nothing in this article I can disagree with. The melting of Alaska

[Arkinsaw]

I would be FORCED as an individual to accept it and move. Thats the way Democracy works.

It's the way democracy (with a small D) works, but unfortunately its not how a federal republic was intended to work, which is what we are supposed to be.

[snopercod]

Good. That'll keep the SC Troopers tied up so I won't have to worry about getting a speeding ticket on I-95 or I-26.

[snopercod]

I would gladly live within spitting distance of a nuclear power plant. However, I certainly would not say the same for a coal or fuel oil power plant.

As you probably know, coal-fired plants emit more radiation in normal operation than nuclear plants (radon).