Dear Readers,
The letter shown below was sent, along with copies of my new book, to members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. All of the members of the Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality were sent a copy, and I will try to send copies to the rest of the Energy and Commerce Committee soon. If you have an representative on the committee, please contact them and ask them to read my book -- and thank you in advance!
I have also been sending copies to various activist's organizations around the world, as time and money permits. In the next few weeks I plan to send copies to every state governor in the nation.
Sincerely,
Ace Hoffman
Carlsbad, CA
===========================================================
Letter to House Energy and Commerce Committee members:
===========================================================
To: Energy and Commerce Committee members and staff
Subject: A reference book on nuclear issues, published Fall 2008
December 3rd, 2008
Dear Congressperson ,
America cannot move forward with a logical energy policy as long as our leaders make statements such as:
"Italy should keep its nuclear waste and not send it to Utah because any country that is smart enough to develop nuclear power should be able to deal with its waste problem."
That quote (approximately) is from Jim Matheson's web site. It's true enough, as far as it goes, but what he doesn't say is that America isn't smart enough to solve the waste problem, either. And it's not that we haven't tried. And it's not that we're not smart. It's that the problem is "intractable."
No container can be built which can withstand a radioactive decay. (See page 9 of my book for the necessary energy comparisons.) No microbe will be genetically modified to "digest radioactive waste" and thereby render it harmless. No spot of land on earth -- let alone, in relatively tiny Italy -- is going to be secure enough for the required eons. (See page 18 of my book, for a rare (and very shocking) 1976 diagram showing how long various components of nuclear waste are hazardous.)
Another member of the Energy and Commerce Committee wrote on their web page that nuclear waste need not be sent to Yucca Mountain because: "it can be safely stored on site." To make such a claim ignores not only the nature of radioactive decay discussed in the previous paragraph, but also how radiation spreads after an accident (see page 17).
Other committee members write about "safe nuclear power" which is the ultimate oxymoron, or merely toss it into the mix when talking about "non-carbon-emitting sources of energy" as in the phrase, "more solar, wind, hydro, biomass, conservation, and nuclear power, so we can combat global warming." It's nice to hear a concern for the planet, but "nuclear power" does not solve global warming. How can it, with so many energy-intensive steps (as shown on page 12 of my book)? How can it, with so many medical consequences -- the costs of which MUST be charged to the proper source?
Even if the courts won't allow reparations for deaths and injuries caused by most nuclear fallout or nuclear waste, that does not mean there is no link -- and it doesn't even mean a statistically significant relationship was not established. When such "weak links" are calculated for entire populations instead of for individuals, they can (and often do) represent a terrible cost to society. Indeed, that is one of the main reasons we have local, state, and national laws to prevent dumping of industrial waste, or even just pouring your used car oil down the drain. Because it all adds up (see page 30 for a discussion of the costs of nuclear power).
It is my hope that the enclosed book will be shared with ALL your staff members. These issues are vital to all Americans, and every member of each of your staffs is, in essence, a senior team member for America's energy policy. Citizens have nowhere else to turn.
Scores of activists have already read this book. Hundreds have downloaded it from my personal home page ( www.acehoffman.org ). Even though it has only been available for a few weeks, many highly-qualified medical doctors and scientists have also read it. The information is VERY accurate. Of course it still has embarrassing typos -- and I apologize for any mistakes, take full blame, and promise to continue to perfect and correct the document, as needed.
However, the facts presented in this book should lead you to an overwhelming conclusion, and I cannot foresee how any slight error could ever change that.
We were the nation that took the wrong first steps into the nuclear age. If it can be said at all that The Bomb ended one war, it just as surely must be said that it started another one, which was at least as devastating, and which has not yet ended. And which wasn't COLD, any more than "Cold Pasteurization" is cold (it's not; it's a radioactive process, which, by any reasonable definition, is HOT).
To minimize the effect of human error, terrorism, so-called "acts of God" or anything else, we have no choice but to turn away from nuclear energy and nuclear weapons. Not to do so is to ignore logic, science, and past experience.
Sincerely,
Ace Hoffman
Carlsbad, CA
===========================================================
###
===========================================================
Ace Hoffman
Author, The Code Killers
Carlsbad, CA
www.acehoffman.org
Email: ace@acehoffman.org
-------------------------------------------------------