Petition could shut down Richland nuclear power plant via Tri-City Herald

Not many people in southwestern Washington state know that some of the electricity that keeps the lights on in their homes comes from the nuclear power plant near Richland, said Mimi German of No Nukes Northwest.

She’s been gathering signatures in Vancouver, Wash., for a legislative initiative aimed at shutting down Energy Northwest’s Columbia Generating Station near Richland.

Just one person in 10 she approaches, at most, is aware of the nuclear plant, she said. It is the only commercial nuclear power plant in the Northwest.

Gathering the nearly 246,400 signatures needed to qualify the initiative may not be a realistic goal for the Portland-based organization by the end-of-the-year deadline. The initiative is filed under the name of a Washington state resident with the group.

The group is using only volunteers to gather the names, rather than hiring workers to stand outside stores with petitions.

[…]

No Nukes Northwest is pursuing an initiative to the Legislature rather than an initiative that would go straight to Washington voters.

If enough signatures are gathered, the Legislature can adopt the initiative as law; reject or not act on the initiative, send it to a statewide vote; or propose a different measure, with both measures put to a statewide vote.

To read the full initiative, go to www.radcast.org and click on “WA Initiatives to Shut Down CGS.”

This entry was posted in *English and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply