BY MARILYN ELIE

COMMENTARY

Brattleboro, March 24, 2012

Three miles is just a warm up if you are a Peace Walker on the last leg of your journey from Oyster Creek, New Jersey to the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor in Vernon. For the other thousand of us slogging along under the remarkably hot March sun it was a bit more than that. A long single file line of determined Vermonters and friends snaked down the road from an energetic rally in Brattleboro Commons, heading towards Entergy headquarters three miles away. The local library and elementary schools in the neighboring town of Vernon were under lockdown , while local residents fearing disruption and Occupy Wall Street like activities cordoned off driveways and lawns with stakes, string and posted signs.

Walkers carried signs too: Entergy, A Bad Apple for Vermont, No More Fukushimas, Radiation An Invisible Poison and one that was especially welcome to this visitor from Westchester, a Shut Down Indian Point sign. It was carried by a Vermonter in solidarity with those of us in the Indian Point reactor community. Both reactors are owned by the same corporation, Entergy. Some in the procession carried orange papers that were eviction notices for the corporation, notices that they were determined to deliver personally.

As the march in Vermont proceeded, drama unfolded in both New Orleans and White Plains. In a brilliant tactical move SAGE Alliance members brought home the reality that when something happens at one reactor, it affects the entire company and all of the other reactor communities as well. The Green Mountain Natural Guard showed up in New York Wednesday night and slept on the floor of a supporter in Tarrytown.

They “dressed the part” looking very corporate before they visited Entergy headquarters on Hamilton Avenue in White Plains on Thursday morning to try to talk their way into the Entergy headquarters. The plan was to deliver a list of demands to a top Entergy official. Members of the Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition were holding a vigil in solidarity with the Vermont action in front of the office and the guard came out of the lobby to talk to them. The Vermonters slipped past him and ran up 12 flights of stairs. They actually made it to the Entergy offices and began reading their demands. Of course the police were immediately called. They responded with six police cruisers, a fire truck and a water cannon. When the five Vermonters refused to leave they were arrested, taken out of the building in handcuffs and booked.

Their arrest was announced with great fanfare in Vermont where scores of people had reached the end of the walk and many were meeting with their affinity groups to make last minute preparations for their forthcoming well publicized and carefully orchestrated arrests. Another cheer went up from the crowd in Vermont when it announced that eight had been arrested in New Orleans as well. That affinity group actually made it into the outer office of the CEO, Wayne Leonard, and put up crime scene tape before they were carted off.

Back in Vermont the pre arrest rally was stirring and purposeful. We were welcomed by an Entergy stock holder who commended us for their efforts to shut down “his” reactor. He spoke of dissension in the ranks of the stock holders and suggested that others think about buying stock in order to change the company from within. (IPSEC’s Judy Allen came to the same conclusion long ago.) Two of us from other reactors, Oyster Creek and Indian Point were asked to speak briefly. What I had to say was simple: You close Vermont Yankee and we’ll close Indian Point. Together we will send this company back down South where it came from. The Raging Grannies sang and we all sang along, Bread and Puppets did their famous piece The Foot which ends exhorting people to rise up in protest and not bow down to corporate control. Local musicians and performers sang and did funny skits. And the music, ah, the music: “I remember those before and I know I’m not alone, I will organize for justice, I will raise my voice in song so our children will be free to lead the world and carry on…” “Like a tree standing by the water, we shall not be moved…” “Ain’t no corporation gonna turn me around, turn me around…” Songs of protest and solidarity wove themselves throughout the day, mingling with the beat of the prayer drums and the chant of the Peace Walkers, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, energizing and uplifting the mood and purpose of the day. It was just like being home.

Forty minutes later we all walked back up to the big brick building Entergy owns in Vermont and packed the street across from the police lines a thousand strong. As the first affinity group came down the middle of the street, heads held high proudly carry their banner and signs a great cheer went up from the crowd. It grew into a full throated roar as they stepped through the barricades and under the rope that was the boundary of company property. It grew even stronger and drowned out the police captain as he read them their rights through a bull horn and asked them to leave. Some in the group turned, waved their signs and led the crowd in a chant. As they were led away, the next group stepped forward. And so it went, one after another for the rest of the afternoon. There were over a dozen groups, each one markedly different in size, attitude, and costume. All were following their conscious and taking a stand for their community and the land they love. It was an extraordinarily powerful and moving spectacle. The crowd stayed until the last lone protester crossed the line and then waited some more to find out how the 123 who were arrested would fare and when they would be released.

The day sent a powerful signal that it is not gong to be business as usual in Vermont, even after the legal setbacks handed down by the state court. Entergy got their license renewal two days after Fukushima and surely thought that their problems were over in that regard. A demonstration this size which is supported by a sympathetic Governor is a powerful signal that it just ain’t so. Time will tell how this all shakes out, who notices, and who takes action as a result. There will undoubtedly be a stock holder reaction along the lines of “What is this world coming to? We got the relicensing from the NRC, have a judge on our side, a favorable court decision and still these people won’t quite. When will this be over? Will it ever be over? “ Moody’s, the stock rating company takes hostile business environments into account when they rate companies and will do so again with Entergy, especially since their stock has already lost value. At the very least, Entergy will have to up the security at all of their offices. Every additional expense they have to shell out is an annoyance and a reminder that it can no longer be business as usual. I would not want to be the one to have to explain to CEO Leonard how his outer office was penetrated and decorated with crime scene tape. Or how the Times Picayune knew about it before corporate did. Or how the Green Mountain Natural Guard made it up to the 12th floor office in White Plains. After all, the company spends a lot of money to keep abreast of these things. Entergy has internal questions that will be discussed at length in many, many corporate meetings down the road. There will be serious discussions about how this happened and what to do so it does not happen again. Followed by the nagging uncertainty that something has changed and maybe, just maybe, life can no longer be dictated on corporate terms. It sure does make the bland business as usual statement issued by the company on March 24th ring hollow.

Our base is energized, strong and ready for what comes next. This day told the Governor Shumlin what he wanted to hear: he has popular public support for closing Vermont Yankee. You can be sure that Governor Cuomo read the headlines. After all, it is the same for both, closing Vermont Yankee and Indian Point requires people and their political leaders to be united and that is exactly what is happening. In Japan 52 out of 54 reactors have been closed. Surely we can close one in Vernon and two in Buchanan. Given truth, people will find the way.