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Energy Bill: Fueling Corporations/Depleting Native Lands
Nagasaki at 60: The Bombers and the Bombed
Leading Cigarette Expert: “The Tobacco Industry Helped
Kill Peter Jennings”
Energy Bill: Fueling Corporations/Depleting Native
Lands
The recently signed energy bill means more benefits for
energy companies and a revival for the nuclear power industry.
Also included is a provision changing how energy development
decisions are made on Native American lands. We speak with
Karen Wayland with the Natural Resources Defense Council and
Clayton Thomas-Muller with the Indigenous Environmental Network.
Yesterday, President Bush signed a massive energy bill at
the Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Bush had traveled from his ranch in Crawford, Texas in order
to sign the $14.5 billion dollar bill which is the first major
overhaul of the nation's energy policies in 13 years.
- President Bush, "The bill will allow America to
make cleaner and more productive use of our domestic energy
resources including coal and nuclear power and oil and natural
gas. By using more of these reliable resources to supply
more of our own energy we'll reduce our reliance on energy
from foreign countries and that'll help our economy grow
so people can work."
Energy executives and industry lobbyists have been working
on variations of this bill for five years. In fact, the legislation
grew out of a task force led by Vice President Dick Cheney,
the former CEO of Halliburton. The Cheney Energy Task Force,
which was formed in 2001, was charged with developing a national
energy policy. Some documents released under court order showed
that the task force met exclusively with industry executives.
Supporters of yesterday's energy bill, which was passed with
bi-partisan support, claim that the new law will refocus the
country's energy priorities and promote cleaner and alternative
sources of energy. Critics however point out that the bill
gives huge tax breaks and subsidies to energy companies that
are already enjoying record-high profits. And as crude oil
prices reached a new high above $63 dollars a barrel yesterday,
they point out that the energy bill does nothing that would
impact today's energy prices or promote sustainable energy
by decreasing dependence on oil imports. The bill also revives
the nuclear power industry by giving loan guarantees for builders
of nuclear power plants. No new nuclear plants have been built
in the U.S since the 1970s, reflecting intense public skepticism
about the safety and costs of nuclear power.
The energy bill also has major implications for Native Americans
living on reservations. Some Indian leaders have praised the
law, which creates an Office of Indian Energy Policy &
Programs at the Department of Energy. The office is supposed
to increase the supply of electricity to reservation homes
and businesses. However, other leaders and activists denounce
the law for allowing further exploitation of Native energy
resources through provisions for sending nuclear waste to
reservations and renewing uranium mining on Indian land. The
Indigenous Environmental Network, a Native grassroots organization,
said the energy bill "poses threats to our lands, people
and culture." And on this 60th anniversary of the U.S.
bombing of Nagasaki, the first new nuclear power plants to
be built in 30 years will likely be sited on reservations
as well.
Title V Section of the bill deals directly with energy development
on Indian lands, including Alaska. Native activists condemn
Title V for the dramatic changes it brings to how energy development
decisions are made in Indian Country. The provision releases
the federal government of its traditional "trust responsibility"
to tribes in the negotiation and enforcement of energy development
agreements. Some tribal activists fear unfair deals will be
made between powerful energy corporations and tribal governments.
Nagasaki at 60: The Bombers and the Bombed
Sixty years ago today, the United States dropped an atomic
bomb on Nagasaki. We hear from a survivor of the bombing and
the men who flew the B-29 bomber that dropped the bomb. [includes
rush
transcript]
A ceremony in Nagasaki today marked the 60th anniversary
of the U.S. bombing of that city. The plutonium atomic bomb
caused the death of more than 80,000 people in Nagasaki, coming
just three days after an equally deadly uranium bomb devastated
Hiroshima.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi addressed approximately
six thousand people attending the ceremony. He said, "With
the firm decision not to ever let the tragedies of Nagasaki
and Hiroshima be repeated, we will adhere to a pacifist constitution
and uphold the three rules for non-nuclearization. We will
also take the lead in non-proliferation in the world and make
effort in the abandoning of nuclear weapons."
Nagasaki Mayor Iccho Itoh said at the ceremony, "The
United States has 10,000 nuclear weapons, has conducted sub-critical
nuclear tests and on top of that is pursuing the development
of miniature nuclear weapons. Do the American people really
think the policies of their country are going to bring about
peace? We know that most of you are actually really seeking
the abolition of nuclear weapons. We should all unite to bring
peace to the world." Mayor Itoh also addressed citizens
of the United States. He said "We understand your anger
and anxiety over the memories of the horror of the 9/11 terrorist
attacks. Yet, is your security enhanced by your government’s
policies of maintaining 10,000 nuclear weapons?"
- Excerpt from the documentary "Hiroshima Countdown"
produced by Andrew Phillips
- Sakue Shimohira, a survivor of the U.S. atomic bombing
of Nagasaki
Leading Cigarette Expert: “The Tobacco Industry
Helped Kill Peter Jennings”
Peter Jennings died of lung cancer over the weekend. He was
one of five million people globally who die each year of smoking-related
diseases. We speak with longtime tobacco industry critic Dr.
Stan Glantz and Anna White of Essential Action. Longtime ABC
news anchor Peter Jennings died this week of lung cancer.
89% of people with lung cancer smoke cigarettes. Peter Jennings
was a heavy smoker. He quit, but started smoking again after
9/11. We look at the industry behind Jennings' untimely death.
- Stan Glantz, professor medicine at the University of
California, San Francisco. He published the Cigarette Papers,
a collection of internal documents leaked to him from the
Brown and Williamson tobacco corporation.
- Anna White, coordinator of Global Partnerships for Tobacco
Control at Essential
Action
- Related Link:
The Legacy Tobacco
Documents Library at the University of California, San
Francisco contains 7 million documents related to advertising,
manufacturing, marketing, sales, and scientific research
of tobacco products.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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