An oldie, but a goodie brought back by a Tribune story that covers the issue today
I’m not kidding either. While El Geraldo has been tramping around the world getting married to genocidal dicator’s daughters, it appears he’s been letting things slip around the District.
Exelon is seeking a renewal from the NRC for Dresden II and III reactors near Morris. In 2004 the Radiation Public Health Project pointed out evidence that Grundy County had seen increases in the incidence of child cancer rates in the mid to late 1990s and several people in the community approached their legislative leaders for help. The Tribune reported on the issue in a brief article in January of 2004.
Constituents approached Weller about the issue in an attempt to figure out the cause of the increases and try to determine if Exelon was at fault. Weller and staff ignored them.
So they kept trying to find help and it turns out Ed Markey of Massachusetts helped them out with a series of inquiries to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. I’m trying to get ahold of his correspondence now, but Weller was absent.
The story turns more problematic today when we now know that Exelon had several tritium leaks that were never reported to state authorities and only informally reported to the NRC. The information we have now from Exelon indicates the tritium in the groundwater isn’t at unsafe levels though it is above typical levels for the area, but the information surrounding the tritium leaks is scarce.
These sorts of cases are very difficult to sort out–environmental exposure to cancer causing agents is fraught with difficulties. I’d say it is safe to say there isn’t enough evidence to determine the cause of the increased incidence in childhood cancers for the period, but it sure would be nice to have had someone looking into it–especially since Exelon wasn’t being forthecoming to the public. However, given the elevated incidence was known two years ago and constituents were asking for help, where was Jerry?
And why the hell did Ed Markey, a Congressman from Massachusetts have to go to bat for Jerry Weller’s constituents?
But don’t worry, now that it’s a big deal, Jerry’s on the scene. He’s now demanding action from Exelon to pay for the costs from the leaks.
Two years later after it made the news. Not only that, but Obama was ahead of him on the issue after he found out about it–and he wasn’t even in office in 2004. More later–I’m working on getting the Markey correspondence.
Here was the Markey correspondence
Markey is known for his work on some issues and was the guy who took the lead pointing out the President’s genius move of abbrogating the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty by sharing nuclear technology with a non-signatory country — India.