As anti-nuclear activists celebrate victory in the closing of the aging Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant Station in Plymouth in 2019, a larger and potentially more important battle has begun to take shape over what to do with the spent nuclear material that now sits at Pilgrim and other nuclear facilities around the country. During the past few decades, the absence of a cohesive national approach to the issue has forced many power plants, including Pilgrim, to stockpile spent fuel rods and other radioactive materials on site, creating a situation as dangerous as it is foolish. Pilgrim and other nuclear power stations in the U.S. have become de facto nuclear waste dumps. — Fuel for fear: Spent nuclear materials need permanent home
You would think the financial industry would be too embarrassed to object to the idea that advisers should act in their clients’ best interests when giving advice and selling investments for retirement accounts. But last week industry groups filed two federal lawsuits against new rules that say just that. A best-interest standard, also known as a fiduciary duty, would end the common industry practice of steering clients into high-priced strategies and products, even when comparable lower-cost options are available. Such steering generates an estimated $17 billion a year in excessive fees and inflated commissions, a bundle the industry is desperate to preserve. — Investor Protections in the Cross Hairs
Company Apologizes for Oil Train Disaster It Acknowledges Was Inevitable “We’re playing Russian roulette. I think the industry is perfectly willing to put a gun to our heads and risk our lives for the sake of making money. It is abundantly clear this enterprise is unsafe, unsustainable and they don’t know how to manage it.” By Jon QueallyBlack Liberation/Civil Rights:
Healthcare and HealthCare for Profit
A Trip to the Grocery Store
Quotes of the Day:
Two Detroits: Fantasy Island and the Streets by Shea Howell
Environment:
On World Environment Day, Profiting from Death, Devastation and Destruction is the Norm By Colin Todhunter
The Science: “If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from [current levels] to at most 350 ppm.”
Ongoing/Big Energy Disasters!:
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
World:
Health, Education, and Welfare:
The Families That Can’t Afford Summer by Kj Dell’Antonia