·GREEN DELAWARE NEWS: 2000·

Port Penn, DE, September 5, 2000.  The Green Delaware News features 
background information about environmental and public health issues, and 
about Green Delaware itself.  It's different from the Alerts, which usually 
focus on a single immediate concern..  As always, we appreciate feedback 
and contributions.  And, we hope you will ACT in some way, even if it's 
only sending a quick email, or making a phone call.

Incinerator industry burned in Delaware

Senate Bill 280, passed April 6th,  makes it very difficult to build any 
more large incinerators anywhere in Delaware.  This bill was a follow-on to 
Senate Bill 88, banning incinerators in Delaware's Coastal Zone.  It was 
the culmination of years of work against the Delaware Solid Waste 
Authority, Foster-Wheeler Corporation, Conectiv, Philpower, and Gov.  Tom 
Carper.  There are lots of lessons to be learned from this, and we will be 
writing about more of them.  Above all, for this writer, it showed that in 
Delaware, as influenced by special interests as we are, there is a 
democratic process that can, with determination, be made to work for the 
people.  Everyone in Delaware owes a debt of gratitude to the members of 
the General Assembly for rising to the occasion and passing SB 
280.  (Senator Dave McBride, the Senate force behind the bill, probably did 
not get the recognition he deserves.)

Getting the sewage out of the rivers

We think the people will win again, with a bill to clean up the Wilmington 
sewers.  Years of talking with Wilmington Mayor Sills and State 
environmental regulators accomplished little. Things began to change when 
House Bill 671, setting a deadline of Jan 1, 2008 for eliminating "Combined 
Sewer Overflows," was presented to the General Assembly.  The key part of 
the bill requires that the overflows be completely eliminated.  Many 
legislators signed on as co-sponsors, and Rep. Dick Cathcart moved the bill 
through the committee process in the House of Representatives.  HB 671 was 
on the agenda for a vote on the last day of the 140th General Assembly, but 
didn't come up.  Strong opposition came from Democratic Senator Patti 
Blevins, who had chaired an ineffectual "CSO Task Force."  Blevins 
apparently used her position as chair of the powerful Bond Bill Committee 
to pressure other legislators not to support HB 671.  Here are the official 
co-sponsors:  Reps. Spence, Boulden, Buckworth, Capano, Carey, Caulk, 
Cloutier, D. Ennis, Maier, Miro, Mulrooney, Quillen, Reynolds, Ulbrich, 
Valihura, Brady, B. Ennis, Price, Scott, Viola, and West; Sens.  Amick, 
Connor, and Simpson.   Not being on this list doesn't mean someone doesn't 
support the bill; in some cases a legislator may not have yet been formally 
asked.  Still, please make a point of thanking these legislators, and 
urging others, and non-incumbent candidates, to sign-on.  The 141st General 
Assembly convenes in January.  (The bill will be re-introduced with a 
different number).

The "No-flush" Corporate Responsibility Campaign

Major employers in Wilmington have added thousands of jobs during the 
administration of Mayor Jim Sills, who seems beholden to the "corporate 
community."  In the last 3 years alone, Sills has run up a surplus of 32 
million dollars, while diverting about 6 million dollars/year from his 
Water and Sewer Fund to operating expenses..  Meanwhile, the City refuses 
to modernize its sewer system, basically unchanged since 1952.  So, the 
shiny new office buildings pour raw sewage into the rivers during rainy 
weather.  Green Delaware is asking Wilmington's major employers, one at a 
time, to use their enormous influence to help get SB 671 passed when the 
state legislature convenes in January.  In the meanwhile, we are asking 
them to lock bathrooms in rainy weather and put in portable toilets, or 
sewage holding tanks.  Targets of the campaign include DuPont, MBNA, State 
of Del., Wilmington Trust, Amtrak, 1st USA, the Community Services 
Building, Delaware Tech, and others.  Every Wednesday at noon we leaflet a 
Wilmington site (next: September 6th, the Community Services Building at 
100 W. 10th St.). Response has been favorable, and coverage by Wilmington 
radio stations has been good..  WHYY Channel 12 ("obscenity in public 
broadcasting") has blacked out the campaign.

Politics is where it's at

Environment and health concerns get attention when the political process is 
used effectively, and people do grassroots organizing--and don't waste all 
their time arguing with in-the-bag regulatory agencies.  Attention is 
surely needed in Delaware, one of the most unhealthy places in the US to 
live.  Aside from the incinerator and sewer issues, not much environmental 
advocacy has recently been visible in Dover.  One partial exception is the 
Open Space Coalition, lead by the Delaware "Nature" Society.  This effort 
was a failure: appropriations for "open space" and farmland preservation 
were only about half of those last year (details coming up).  We asked a 
representative of the "Nature" Society whether it supported HB 671.  The 
answer: "No, we would never do anything that might offend the Bond Bill 
Committee."  (The Nature Society was given $42,000 in Senate Bill 421, the 
"grant in aid bill.")

Help elect friends of Green Delaware

If you are registered as a Republican or Democrat, you can and should vote 
in a primary on Saturday, September 9th, from 7 AM to 8 PM.  For more 
information try http://www.state.de.us/election/index.htm.  (There are 
other parties in Delaware, and we will report on them in the next 
News.  Remarkably, the Department of Elections website seems to know about 
only the Republican and Democratic candidates.)  Below, we mention only a 
few candidates involved in the primary.  We will have more to say before 
the general election in November.

Democrat Martha Denison is running for President of New Castle County 
Council.  Denison is a founder of the 7 & 40 Alliance, probably the 
strongest of the "civic umbrella groups."  She and spouse Rod have been 
leaders in the fight against incinerators, and strong supporters of HB 671.  Marty has spoken at meeting after meeting, and lobbied in Dover for 
HB 671.  She has a long track record of civic activism in the New Castle 
and Route 40 areas.  Her opponents are Chris Coons, associated with the 
Gore family and company, Vince Deanna, longtime Biden staffer and recently 
a member of the New Castle County Planning Board, where he voted to oppose 
preservation of a farm near Odessa, and Dwight L.  Davis, about whom we 
don't know much. 

Democrat Susan Regis Collins, candidate for District 7 of the Wilmington 
City Council,  heads the Wilmington River-City Committee and has been a 
strong supporter of the sewer clean-up and the fight against 
incinerators.  She's in a primary race against incumbent Gerard W.  Kelly, 
who chairs the Health committee of the City Council.

Democrat Charles Potter, Jr., is a candidate for 1st District, Wilmington 
City Council.  Potter is also connected with the River-City Committee and 
has strongly opposed incinerators and supported river cleanup, and 
environmental justice.

Democrat Samuel L. Guy is an incumbent candidate for Wilmington City 
Council at large.  Probably one of the most intelligent officeholders in 
Delaware, Guy has been a good friend to Green Delaware and for many years 
has spoken out for racial and economic justice.  He has often been 
ridiculed in the News Journal, an honor he shares with Green Delaware.

Denison and Collins, especially, can be seen as "peoples" candidates, 
saying the right things in no-frills campaigns, but lacking establishment 
support.  They need money, volunteers, and above all, votes.

Bill Lee and John Burris both want the Republican nomination for 
Governor.  Burris' recent history is as Executive Director of the Delaware 
State Chamber of Commerce, the "Big Guys' Club" that does more than any 
other single organization to keep Delaware's political system in the hands 
of special interests.  It often operates through a bogus front organization 
called the Delaware Public Policy Institute.  The Chamber works with 
relentless effectiveness to weaken environmental protections and keep the 
development bulldozer charging ahead.  Burris himself is openly the 
candidate of MBNA and other big businesses.  The funding available to his 
campaign is illustrated by the thousands of his signs littering 
Delaware.  For what it's worth, Burris has been more courteous and 
responsive to Green Delaware than Democratic candidate Ruth Ann 
Minner.  Lee became well know for his role as the judge in the Tom Capano 
murder trial.  After that trial, Lee sought a special pension deal from the 
General Assembly (which he got), resigned from the judiciary, and went 
after the Republican nomination.  Lee isn't well known to us, but his 
positions on environmental issues are better than Burris,' and he shows 
some genuine concern.   Lee "absolutely" supports HB 671, to clean up the 
sewers, saying "the State should not only not be contributing to the 
problem, the state should be leading the way to cleaning up the 
problem."  Amen.

Burris in the Governor's office, even more than Carper, would be the fox 
invited into the henhouse.  Lee at least has possibilities.

Democrat James H.  Sills, Wilmington's first Black mayor, is seeking an 
unusual 3rd term.  He's opposed by Jim Baker, City Council President for at 
least 16 years.  We've met with Sills several times about the sewage 
dumping.  He's courteous, but his administration has stonewalled.  Sills 
recently claimed that "not enough sewage is going into the rivers to cause 
any health hazards."  Later, Sills admitted that the City's Long Term 
Control Plan is "inadequate," but his administration apparently has no 
plans to offer a better one.  Baker, has been mildly supportive of HB 671 
and we think he would be more responsive to our concerns.

Radiation Health Forum at Salem (NJ) Quaker Meetinghouse, 
September 8th, 7:00 PM.

Dr. Janette Sherman and Raymond Shadis will be the featured speakers at a 
Forum on Radiation and Your Health, to be held on Friday, September 8th, at 
7:00 PM at the Salem Quaker Meetinghouse, Route 49, in Salem NJ.  Sherman 
will talk about the radiation dangers from Salem and Hope Creek and how 
radiation is involved as a cause of breast and other cancers. Ray Shadis 
will talk about how to go about closing a nuke plant down, and the 
decommissioning issues that follow.

Dr Janette Sherman specializes in internal medicine and toxicology and is 
the author of the newly released book: Life's Delicate Balance, Causes and 
Prevention of Breast Cancer. This new book is a followup to her previous 
book Chemical Exposure and Disease. Dr. Sherman has practiced since 1970 
and  is also an adjunct professor at Western Michigan University.  She has 
authored over 70 articles on toxics, chemicals and radiation. Dr. Sherman 
will have copies of her new book for purchase and for signing.  Her 
presentations are compelling and well worth the trip.  Shadis, the other 
Forum speaker, is the Staff Technical Advisor for the New England Coalition 
on Nuclear Pollution, and Founder of Maine's Friends of the Coast, the 
group that led the successful effort to shut down the Maine Yankee Nuclear 
Plant.  Directions: Cross Delaware Memorial Bridge, take first right (Rte 
49).  Follow 49 through Pennsville to Salem.  The meetinghouse is just past 
the traffic light in the center of Salem City.  CONTACT: Norm Cohen 
609.601.8583

Labor Day

The Labor Day article by Ralph Nader was well received, but Muller's 
introductory paragraph was not.  Some comments received:

--"Are we attacking the unions for Labor Day? Good grief!";
--"... are you proposing that the 'progressive' (i.e. doublespeak for 
Socialist) government solve all our problems?";
--"...may I say that I believe it is important to distinguish between labor 
organizations, as corrupted as most other American institutions, and labor 
as individuals constituting the largest class of our society and 
increasingly alienated from it.";
--"I would have to disagree with your characterization of Delaware as "a 
strongly anti-union state", at least by current standards;"
--"some of your assertions are not factual."

Mea culpa.  Our only intent was to suggest that labor, to move towards 
Nader's vision, has to reach out to a broader audience.

Green Delaware Wish List

Things we need:  Storage building (shed), contributions for our electric car project, more 
solar panels for office power, volunteers to help with fund raising and mailings and everything else.