In the Bay Area we are paying enormously inflated utility
bills due to the "crisis" in power supply. Officials
insist we need new power plants but never talk about the devastating
effects such plants can have on our health.
In the mid-90s, electricity generation caused 70% of sulfur
dioxide emissions, 33% of nitrogen oxide emissions, 23% of mercury
emissions, and 23% of direct emissions of fine airborne particles.
Most of this pollution came from coal-fired power plants. Two
years ago, the city of San Francisco reached an agreement with
Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) to shut down the
Bayview-Hunters Point power plant because it contributes to high
asthma rates in the surrounding low-income neighborhood of color.
But it continues to operate to this day, until another alternative
comes on line.
Governor Gray Davis's plan for expedited applications will put more power plants in low-income communities of color, whose neighborhoods are already disproportionately targeted for power-plant development. When Davis first issued an order allowing "peaker" plants to be built quickly, among the seven proposed projects was the PG&E substation next to the Midway Village housing project in Daly City. Residents there are already dying of cancer and other illnesses possibly linked to ground poisoning from PG&E. The area is so polluted that it has been named a state Superfund site.
Nuclear power
The nuclear industry has stepped forward with an offer to
"help" California's "energy crisis," and legislation
has been introduced by NM Sen. Pete Domenici to promote new plant
construction. In the meantime, there are plans afoot to put back
on line plants closed because they are unsafe. The Browns Ferry
plant in Tennessee is one such plant. Others include the two Calvert
Cliffs reactors.
Exposure to even very small amounts of ionizing radiation is dangerous
to health. It is the one absolutely uncontested environmental
cause of cancer; there is no safe level of exposure.
All 103 nuclear power plants operating in the US leak cesium-137,
for instance, and would do so even with 99.9% perfect containment.
Over time, and without the occurrence of any "accident,"
these existing plants can deposit enough of this radioactive isotope
into our environment to equal that of several Chernobyl explosions.
All nuclear power plants produce nuclear waste, some of which
will remain dangerous for 250,000 years. Utility companies (e.g.,
PG&E) operating nuclear plants have been recklessly transporting
this unstable waste over our highways and railroad tracks to inadequate
storage facilities located in communities of color. Meantime,
more of this deadly waste continues to pile up and become increasingly
hazardous.
From Diablo Canyon to Humboldt Bay, PG&E has spent the last
half-century squandering billions of our dollars with this faulty
technology that seriously threatens our lives.
Fossil fuels
Generating electricity through the combustion of fossil fuels
damages our air, our land, and our health. It leads to global
warming, acid rain and smog, and land degradation (from mining).
The pollutants it emits include sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide,
carbon dioxide, mercury, and fine airborne particles. These pollutants
cause disease and premature death for many thousands of Americans,
producing $20 billion in health care costs annually.
Global warming
This phenomenon is already upon us, increasing the occurrence
and intensity of heat waves, causing a rise in sea levels and
severity of ocean storms, and creating ideal conditions for disease-carrying
mosquitoes and rodents. The increase in CO2 emissions (now guaranteed
by Pres. Bush's recent reneging on his promise to cut such emissions,
using the power "crisis" to justify his decision) will
further deplete our atmosphere's protective ozone layer, exposing
us to increased amounts of the sun's radiation. Melanoma, a deadly
skin cancer caused primarily by exposure to ultraviolet rays from
the sun, has already increased by 426% in the last 50 years.
Ozone
Even when inhaled at very low levels, ozone - a main ingredient
of smog - can cause severe respiratory problems and impair the
body's immune system. Asthma has increased 75% in the last 20
years, and most of that increase is among children. Although children
are only 25% of the population, they comprise 40% of asthma cases.
Particulate matter
A serious air pollution problem, particulate matter (microscopic
particles) produced by combustion of fossil fuels can be inhaled
deeply into the lungs and settle in areas where the body's natural
clearance mechanisms can't remove them. The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) reported in 1998 that 100% of the air in the continental
US contained eight cancer-causing industrial chemicals in amounts
exceeding their "safe" level. This has led to a continued
increase in lung cancers despite the decline in smoking.
Mercury
This is a very powerful neurotoxin that can cause kidney problems,
brain damage, and learning disorders. Even a small amount ingested
by a pregnant woman can impair development in her unborn child.
Today pregnant women are advised not to consume some popular fish
(e.g., swordfish, shark, and most types of tuna), which now contain
more methylmercury than is considered "safe" by the
EPA. Power-plant emissions into the air are another source of
mercury contamination.
(Source: Environmental Defense)
What you can do now
Stop Cancer Where It Starts!
The Toxic Links Coalition, founded in 1994, works to stop the
proliferation of chemical and radioactive industrial carcinogens
that threaten human health and the health of the planet. We support
community struggles for health and environmental justice, and
we demand accountability from industrial polluters.
In 2000, TLC scored a major victory against the pharmaceutical
industry when it persuaded the cities of San Francisco and Berkeley,
as well as the County of Marin, to pass resolutions naming October
"Stop Cancer Where it Starts Month." The resolutions
were in response to the industry-supported public relations scam
naming October "Breast Cancer Awareness Month" (BCAM).
BCAM's main sponsor is a giant pharmaceutical and chemical corporation
that produces the top-selling breast cancer treatment drug tamoxifen,
while also manufacturing cancer-causing pesticides and owning
a chain of cancer-care centers!
Every October, TLC organizes the "Cancer Industry Awareness
Tour of San Francisco," a walking tour and protest through
the heart of San Francisco's financial district. We stop and make
noise at the corporate offices of polluters, government agencies,
public relations firms, and the American Cancer Society. We invite
you to participate this October 30th in our 8th annual
tour. Our theme this year is "Unmask Corporate Greed: Human
Health Before Profits."
Toxic Links needs your financial help to produce the Cancer Industry Tour. We are a coalition of volunteers. Please send donations (checks made to "Toxic Links Coalition") to:
Toxic Links Coalition
c/o Women's Cancer Resource Center
3023 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94705
Partial list of event participants
Breast Cancer Action (http://www.bcaction.org/)
Center for Environmental Health (http://www.cehca.org/)
Clean Water Action (http://cleanwateraction.org)
Communities for a Better Environment (http://www.cbecal.org/)
East Bay Pesticide Alert/Don't Spray
California (http://www.eastbaypesticidealert.org)
Endometriosis Association, San Francisco
Bay Area (http://www.sfendo.org)
Greenaction (http://www.greenaction.org/)
Marin Breast Cancer Watch (http://www.breastcancerwatch.org/)
Women's Cancer Resource Center (http://www.wcrc.org/)
JOIN US! Come to our meetings, held on the second Tuesday of most months from 7 to 9 PM. Our next meeting will take place Tuesday, September 10 at the Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) office, 1611 Telegraph Avenue, #450, Oakland.
Directions from the 12th Street BART station:
Exit on the 14th Street side of Frank Ogawa Plaza and walk straight through the plaza to 16th Street. Go right to 16th Street (1/2 block). CBE is in the Latham Building at the corner of 16th and Telegraph.
Please check this site for new meeting dates, or call Communities for a Better Environment at 510-302-0430, ext. 215.
For more information:
Women's Cancer Resource Center:
510/ 601-4040, x302
Communities for a Better Environment:
510/ 302-0430, x305
Greenaction: 415/ 252-0822
Center for Environmental Health:
510/ 594-9864