Press conference in Croton and vigil at Indian Point focus on Fukushima fallout
The Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition, the Indian Point Convergence, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater and other grassroots and environmental groups are bringing former U.S. Navy navigators Jaime Plym and Maurice Enis to Westchester to tell their story on the effects of radiation exposure from Fukushima when they served on the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. Exposure to radiation from an unexpected release of radiation has long been a concern of people living within the 50-mile radius of Indian Point Energy Center, just south of Peekskill.
At a press conference at noon on Saturday, March 9, Plym and Enis will tell their story at the Croton Harmon Train Station, Upper Parking Lot, 1 Croton Point Ave., Croton-on-Hudson. They will be joined by Peace Walkers on the 12th Annual Walk for a New Spring.
The walkers will continue from Croton to Indian Point, the intersection of Bleakley and Broadway in Buchanan, N.Y., for a vigil at the gates of Indian Point at approximately 3:30 p.m. Led by Buddhist nun Yasuda Jun (who passes through Cold Spring on March 6 with a potluck dinner at St. Mary’s 6:30 p.m.), the walkers typically beat their prayer drums, chant and then make an offering of peace cranes, which are a Japanese symbol for peace and a long life. All are invited to make and bring their own peace cranes for the ceremony. Those who gather at Indian Point are asked to offer rides back to the Croton train station to those who walked.
On Sunday, March 10, 2 p.m., Plym and Enis will be joined by former Westchester County Executive Andy Spano; Kevin Kamp, radioactive waste specialist of Beyond Nuclear; and Cold Spring’s Roberto Muller of the Indian Point Convergence, to present on “Fukushima Fallout” at Stony Point Conference Center, 17 Crickettown Road in Stony Point, N.Y.
The program will be followed by a potluck dinner for the Peace Walkers when they arrive from Indian Point and a showing of Cold Shutdown, a 32-minute documentary by Hunter College Professor Martin Lucas, which he shot in Fukushima last year. Registration for this free event is requested at stonypointcenter.org.
More information, including the Peace Walk’s complete schedule, is available at newenglandpeacepagoda.org.
