It is with sad hearts we share the news that Carrie Dann, a leader in the defense of Western Shoshone land, lifeways, and treaty rights, passed on to the Spirit World on January 2. Carrie, along with her sister, Mary Dann (1923-2005), winners of the "Alternative Nobel Prize" Right Livelihood Award, fought their entire lives against many threats, including nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site, and high-level radioactive waste dumping at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

Carrie also spoke out against MRS (Monitored Retrievable Storage), now called CIS (Consolidated Interim Storage), whether targeted at Yucca Mountain, or at scores of Native American reservations across the U.S., such as the Skull Valley Goshutes Indian Reservation in Utah.

On December 23, we reported the outrage of Congress giving away so much federal taxpayer money to the already very heavily subsidized, filthy rich nuclear power industry. But what are the details, what were the individual ornaments attached to the Xmas tree, and industry wish list gifts stuffed in the stockings? They include nuclear energy subsidies for: Advanced Fuel; Research, Development, Demonstration (RD&D), and Commercial Application; Fuel Cycle R&D; Science and Engineering Support; Graduate Traineeship; University Leadership; Research Infrastructure; Advanced Reactor Demo.; Fusion RD&D. Contact your U.S. Rep. and Sens. At a time of pandemic and economic crisis, urge them to prioritize the vital needs of Americans, not the dirty, dangerous and expensive nuclear power industry!

Thanks to the grassroots democracy work of Georgia's BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) community advocates, the state has elected its first Black and Jewish U.S. Senators. Democrats have thus attained a united federal government, by the narrowest of margins. What this will mean, however, regarding nuclear power and nuclear weapons policies, remains to be seen. Concerned citizens will still need to counter the power of the nuclear industry lobby, in both the incoming Biden administration, and in Congress. However, Republican incumbent Bubba McDonald defeated progressive Black Democrat Daniel Blackman for the open GA Public Service Commission seat. This raises concern that billions of dollars more of ratepayer funds will be rubber-stamped for the Vogtle 3 & 4 new reactors.

Now that nuclear weapons are outlawed, it’s time to take action! On Friday, January 22, 2021, people around the world will celebrate the day that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) enters into force (EIF Day), which the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) describes so eloquently as “the beginning of the end of nuclear weapons”. Please join us—the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance (OREPA), Nukewatch, the Nuclear Resister and the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA)—to help maximize the global impact of this historic event with a wide variety of public actions across the U.S. on that day and beyond. There are many creative ways to help celebrate this hopeful, major global achievement!