Below is my testimony for today’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s public hearing regarding the potential re-licensing of the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant:<\/p>\n
My name is Dan Rutt.\u00a0 So, what are my credentials for being here tonight?\u00a0 I live in the kill zone of Davis-Besse.\u00a0 I have lived in the kill zone of nuclear plants almost my entire life.\u00a0 I suspect few could argue against the mournful reality that way too many people share these credentials.<\/p>\n
I do have a B.S. in Biology.\u00a0 Though, I must confess, my B.S. pales in comparison to the B.S. of the nuclear industry and the NRC.<\/p>\n
I also have a masters degree in public health.\u00a0 But I am not here to debate technical minutiae, nor to discuss the arrangement of deck chairs, the lack of lifeboats, nor the alleged unsinkability of the titanic nuclear industry.<\/p>\n
Today, I am here as a poet and an activist.\u00a0 I am here as a child of mother earth and as a planetary citizen.\u00a0 Most importantly, I am here today as a prophet.\u00a0 And let it be said: nothing today will truer be said than that the nuclear industry and the NRC listen to profits!<\/p>\n
I am here to do the impossible.\u00a0 I am here to topple a multi-billion dollar corporate empire with a mere wisp of democracy — approximately 3 minutes worth.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the NRC’s plan to protect itself from democracy is much stronger than it’s plans to protect us from nuclear disasters.<\/p>\n
When the NRC circus comes to town, their death-defying prestidigitations may very well make you gasp.\u00a0 Still, we will be safely confined to grandstanding.\u00a0 This dog and pony show might allow us to bitch until we are hoarse.\u00a0 But, at the end of the day, the elephant in the middle of the big, flimsy tent, will do its thing, and the little people of this world will be left with the mess.\u00a0 And the NRC circus will skip town, to continue their tour de farce.<\/p>\n
So, I am here to do the impossible.\u00a0 I am here to speak for a thousand generations in 3 minutes.\u00a0\u00a0 Usually such hope and possibility requires the venue of something like American Idol.\u00a0 Well, my friends, we have an American idol: the nuclear industry.\u00a0 This American idol has reigned for 70 years.\u00a0 This American idol has rained nuclear waste across this great land.\u00a0 And today, 70 years later, as the waste of the nuclear fat cats grows larger, they offer a 600-page tome as their litter.\u00a0 And who dares wade through this litter box?\u00a0 Who dares to think inside this box?\u00a0 Who of us will not be pooped out?\u00a0 Can anyone venturing into this 600-page tomb view it as anything but a deathly undertaking?\u00a0 What box can possibly hold such eternally reigning transgressions?\u00a0 Do you have a staff member called Pandora by any chance?!\u00a0 There is only one sane solution: let’s idle this idol!\u00a0 The solution is simple: we must end nuclear generations to end nuclear generations.<\/p>\n
The ultimate question for today is: In our call to shut Davis-Besse down, will we be heard?<\/p>\n
Sure, NRC staff will herd our comments into another neatly formatted tome.\u00a0 But will we be heard?\u00a0 Sure, the decision-makers have ears, and stenographers, and word processors.\u00a0 But will we be heard?<\/p>\n
Will the people affected by nuclear power generation be heard?\u00a0 They call this a public hearing.\u00a0 But the reality is that it is physically and metaphysically impossible for over 99% of those affected by Davis-Besse’s nuclear waste to be here — for the simple fact that they have not even been born yet.\u00a0 Will we weigh the testimony today to account for their interests, the interests of future generations?<\/p>\n
Can you hear our great grandchildren cry out into the not-so-great ears of today’s nuclear executives: Why did you poison our world for a few kilowatts?<\/p>\n
Can you hear our great, great grandchildren cry out into the not-so-great ears of today’s First Energy shareholders:\u00a0 Why did you rob our future for a few profits today?<\/p>\n
Can you hear our great, great, great grandchildren cry out into the not-so-great ears of today’s parade of crooning cronies, sometimes called politicians:\u00a0 Why did you sell out your communities for a little patronage?<\/p>\n
But…what if we are truly heard today?\u00a0 Then we might just hear:<\/p>\n
The gentle whispers of our great, great, great, great, great grandchildren saying “good job” to the employees in the former nuclear industry — and by “good job” they don’t mean thanks for taking that decent paying job, but rather, holding out and demanding good jobs, jobs friendly to both working families and our environment.<\/p>\n
If we are truly heard today, then we might just hear: the gentle whispers of our great, great, great, great, great, great grandchildren thanking the nameless thousands across this great land who worked for neither wages nor shareholder profits, but rather, worked freely for a world where it doesn’t pay to destroy our environment.<\/p>\n
We must listen to our future generations.\u00a0 If not us, who?\u00a0 If not now, when?<\/p>\n
As for me, in this generation, I will gladly live without Davis-Besse.\u00a0 I will gladly trade the sliver of energy produced during my lifetime to spare thousands of generations the poison of nuclear waste.\u00a0 Though make no mistake, even if the problem of nuclear waste disposal was somehow miraculously solved, I would still gladly trade this energy source simply to avoid the probability of a nuclear catastrophe from the safety disaster that Davis-Besse has so proven.\u00a0\u00a0 Shut it down!<\/p>\n
Please listen to the prophets who seek the good of all, not the profits which only enrich the few, at the expense of the 99%.\u00a0 THANK YOU!<\/p>\n
Good Job<\/strong><\/span> It was early Monday mourning<\/span> Below is my testimony for today’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s public hearing regarding the potential re-licensing of the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant: My name is Dan Rutt.\u00a0 So, what are my credentials for being here tonight?\u00a0 I live in the kill … Continue reading
\nby Dan Rutt, alias “Top Pun” (it’s just, my pun name)<\/em><\/p>\n
\nWhen the Davis-Besse nuclear plant<\/span>
\nFinally ruptured<\/span>
\nAt the base of Lake Eerie<\/span>
\nWeeping poison<\/span>
\nFrom the once-great lakes<\/span>
\nNow a watery grave for both sellers<\/span>
\nAnd consumers<\/span>
\nOf atomic drivel<\/span>
\nFor what human remains<\/span>
\nThe event became known<\/span>
\nSimply as “The rupture”<\/span>
\nLeaving sleepy millions<\/span>
\nIn its wake<\/span>
\nSucked into a glowing sky<\/span>
\nFor who knows watt<\/span>
\nFeudal to press release<\/span>
\nFore their heavenly reword<\/span>
\nA paradise rolled<\/span>
\nEntranced buy snake eyes<\/span>
\nIn charge of all that meters<\/span>
\nRelegating us to hoarse power<\/span>
\nSilent partners<\/span>
\nDealt a roil flush<\/span>
\nIn a conniving casino<\/span>
\nPain only in skullduggery<\/span>
\nForging height reason<\/span>
\nAnd absolute faith in stonewall<\/span>
\nAs a bet<\/span>
\nA dark wager<\/span>
\nEchoing in the empty halls<\/span>
\nOf unions and congress<\/span>
\n“Good job”<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"