MEDIA ADVISORY
For Immediate release
Contacts: Benjamin Shepard 917.586.7952, press@times-up.org
Barbara Ross, 917.494.8164
WHAT: “Shut Down Indian Point” Bike Ride & Sail Action from Manhattan to Nuclear Power Plant
WHEN & WHERE: Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Manhattan:
7:45 am – 8:45 am – “Shut Down Before the Meltdown” bike ride starting from downtown, ending at 8:15 am at Grand Central Station information booth for a quick action dramatizing the impossibility of an evacuation in the event of a nuclear meltdown
**Best photo op at Grand Central Station information booth at 8:15am.
Verplanck (upstate NY):
11:00 am – 2:00 pm – Participants from Manhattan & towns surrounding Indian Point board the Clearwater Sloop, docked at King Marine at 270 6th St, then make the 3-hr sail around the Nuclear Power Plant
**CLICK HERE for a more detailed schedule of the action
NEW YORK, NY (August 4, 2011) – The environmental groups, Clearwater and Time’s Up! team up for an August 9th action including a 3-hr sail on the Hudson on the Clearwater Sloop to Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, with 50ft banners reading: “No Fukushima on the Hudson” and “Shut Down Indian Point Now!” to call for the permanent closure of the aging power plant. Cyclists from Time’s Up! will start the journey at 7:45am from 156 Rivington Street, with a theatrical “Shut Down Before the Meltdown” bike ride, carrying windmills and signs highlighting the need for safe energy alternatives including wind and solar power. The August 9th action will also draw attention to Indian Point’s many safety violations, including the lack of a workable evacuation plan.
Twenty million people live within the 50-mile “peak injury” zone of Indian Point nuclear power plant. A large radioactive release triggered by terrorism, natural disaster or accident at the facility could have devastating health and economic consequences, rendering much of the Hudson River Valley, including New York City, uninhabitable.
“New York City is only 25 miles from Indian Point. Can you imagine over 8 million people trying to evacuate New York City in a nuclear meltdown?” said Time’s Up! spokesperson Barbara Ross.
”Due to the plant’s vulnerability to a terrorist attack, a laundry list of safety problems, the storage of 1,500 tons of radioactive waste onsite, and the lack of a workable evacuation, we are urging Governor Cuomo to deny the plant’s owner, Entergy Corporation, a 20-year license extension and shut down Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant now,” says Ben Shepard, organizer of the August 9th action. “A relicensing hearing is upcoming later this year and we are urging the public to attend.”
“The best way to commemorate victims of the Fukushima disaster is to abolish all the nuclear plants on the planet”, says Yuko Tonohira, who will be joining the action for her parents and close friends who live in Japan.
The call for closure is supported by over 400 elected officials, including 11 members of Congress, and a broad-based alliance of environmental, health, public policy, and civic groups united under the Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition.
Click here for more information on the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant
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TIME’S UP! is a non-profit environmental group that has been using educational outreach and direct action for over 20 years to promote a more sustainable, less toxic city.
CLEARWATER is a non-profit environmental group. The mission of Clearwater is to preserve and protect the Hudson River for the benefit of its eco-system and human communities while creating new environmental leaders for a sustainable future.
