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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 27, 1978)
While protestors rally in Salem Disobedience workshops cap week Story and Photo By TODD ADAMS Of the Emerald SALEM — People concerned about the development and use of nuclear power, including mem bers of the Trojan Decommission ing Alliance (TDA) of Eugene, climaxed a week of anti-nuclear activity here Saturday by holding civil disobedience workshops and taping letters to the office door of Gov. Bob Straub. About 200 anti-nudear protes tors gathered in Salem Friday for a two-day rally at the State Capitol Building, and about 60 of the pro testors stayed overnight for Saturday workshops in prepara tion for a planned August 6 occu pation of the Trojan Nuclear Plant site near Rainier, Ore. Members of the rally, which in duded people from several anti nuclear groups, attempted to con tact Gov. Straub and Department of Energy head, Fred Miller, Fri day afternoon, but neither Straub nor Miller addressed the protes tors. Straub apparently was in Pend leton, Ore., until late Friday and, although the rally members said they left messages with the governor’s'secretary, no contact was made with the rally members late Friday or Saturday. The Governor’s office was closed Saturday, and in lieu of personally meeting with Straub, the 60 or so rally members wrote More than 60 anti-nuclear protestors prepared for an August 6 occupation of the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant near Portland, with civil disobedience work shops in Salem Saturday. “We insist that everyone have non-violent training," a TDA spokesperson said. letters to the governor and taped them to the outer office door on the second floor of the Capitol Building. Joe Balestreri, one of two rally representatives who tried to reach Straub, said he thought the gov ernor would be more willing to talk with him and other members of the Columbia Environmental Council, an anti-nuclear group based in Columbia County. “We wrote a letter to him be cause we didn’t think they (Straub or Miller) wanted to talk to the TDA,” said Balestreri, of Clats kanie. “We thought they would talk to us because we live right there (Rainier is located in Col umbia County).” Although unable to reach Straub or Miller, the rally members did hear speeches Friday from Lon Topaz, the former head of Oregon’s Department of Energy, and Susan Garrett, a Citizen In tervenor in the Nuclear Regula tory Commission’s spent fuel hearings. Late Friday night, after a break for dinner, the rally gathering formed a candlelight procession back to the Capitol. Saturday’s workshops centered on practicing non-violent, civil dis obedience techniques to be used during the planned occupation of the Trojan plant. Last November 25, 123 protestors were ap prehended during a previous oc cupation held at Trojan. “We insist that everyone have non-violent training,” said a TDA spokesman, Skeeter Duke of Eugene, “I think we had about 20 new people participating in the training this weekend.” Trainees are members of “affin ity groups,” units consisting of 7-15 people, eliminating the need for centralized authority and mak ing communication easier and more efficient during occupation. “This is our way of preventing „ violent actions," said Duke. “It is difficult for any member to be come a provocator when all deci sions in the group are made by consensus of the full groups.” Saturday’s rally ended about 4 p.m. when members held a brief celebration, sang a song and then turned their backs to the Capitol building to show displeasure at not having been received by gov ernment officials. The rally marked the end of “Knock Nukes Week,” six days designed to educate Oregonians about nuclear power dangers. The TDA distributed leaflets dur ing the week and held an open house last Tuesday night at TDA headquarters, 348 W. 8th Ave., Eugene. Several TDA members began their march to the Salem rally Wednesday, departing on bikes from the Eugene Water and Elec tric Company parking lot at 830 a.m. A scheduled public forum spon sored by the TDA failed to gener ate public attendance Wednesday evening, but TDA members Chuck Johnson and Olive Bow ers, along with guest speaker Tony Lemay, still outlined their opposition to nuclear power. Johnson reported that 39,000 signatures had been collected on a petition to stop utilities from charging customers for construc tion work in progress. The “CWIP” petition needs 46,000 signatures by July 7 to have a measure placed on the November election ballot. Trojan owners petition nuke commission By CATHERINE SIEGNER Of the Emerald Portland General Electric Co., Pacific Power & Light, and the Eugene Water & Electric Board, owners of the Trojan Nuclear power plant, have petitioned the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Com f ■ ■■ mission (NRC), asking that the plant be allowed to operate during public hearings on planned mod ifications to the control building. The petition is also supported by Governor Straub, Oregon's Department of Energy (DOE), and the Bonneville Power Administra tion (BPA). The control building, which houses the systems that would be relied upon in case of an accident, was found to be structurally defi cient during examination by Bech tel Corporation of San Francisco. The building’s walls are scheduled to be reinforced to meet design specifications for Some things to remember... T-Shirts Oregon T-shirts are available to keep you cool this summer, in a variety of colors, sizes, styles and prices. Oregon Memorabilia Pennants, decals, mugs, cards, rugs, stadium blankets and much more are here. Come in and see our variety! uo BOOKSTORE 13th & Kincaid 686-4331 Open: Mon-Fri 8:15-5:30 We will be closed Tomorrow and Thursday June 28 & 29 for inventory. withstanding earthquakes. After Trojan’s annual refueling and maintenance in March, the NRC ordered the plant to remain closed until June 26 in order for inierested parties to request pub lic hearings, and may order that it stay closed until those hearings are over. “The NRC position is unlike other positions it has taken in simi lar situations,” says Don Godard of Oregon’s Department of Energy. The DOE reviewed a draft of the Governor’s support letter to the NRC and agreed with cost es timated based on the expense of acquiring replacement power should Trojan remain shut down for the rest of 1978. Portland General Electric Co., the principal owner of the plant, would have to fire up its oil com bustion turbines to make up for the loss of Trojan power, which would mean an estimated cost to the company of $3 million in July, 1978, and $5 million in August. Currently, there is enough sur plus hydropower from spring runoffs to offset the loss, but this surplus will run out by mid-July, according to EWEB and the DOE. “The NRC's decision to keep the plant dosed until June 26 was not protested because this sur plus, though imerruptible, was a vailable,” says Tom Santee, public information officer for the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB). “But the power will be needed soon.” The 30 percent of the plant owned by EWEB is “net billed" to the BPA —that is, EWEB has cpn (Continued on Page 8)
