Image of the Day

Hunger Strike Continues as Community Demands Transparency
of Petrochemical Giant
Residents of the Houston neighborhood of Manchester are
demanding today that the Valero refinery, which has been polluting the air
surrounding their homes for decades, reveal exactly what toxins it is
forcing residents to breathe. Community members were joined by Gulf
Coast activists Diane Wilson and Bob Lindsey Jr., who have committed to
an indefinite hunger strike until Valero agrees to divest from the Keystone
XL tar sands pipeline, which is linked to environmental destruction and
human rights abuses in Canada. Today marks the 29th day of their
sustained strike.
U.S. Navy sailors sue over exposure to Fukushima radiation
It was the American Way of humanitarianism when the U.S. Navy
dispatched some of its Pacific fleet toward the shores of Japan in March
2011, as news spread that a massive earthquake followed by a devastating
tsunami had struck the island nation. But what the crew members of the
U.S.S. Ronald Reagan could not have imagined was that the real danger
they would face would not be from the quake but from exposure to
radiation from a nuclear accident.
Indeed, officials had to reposition the massive aircraft carrier after it
passed under the massive plume of airborne radiation from the Fukushima
Nuclear Power Plant operated by Tokyo Electric, or TEPCO. A number of
sailors and other U.S. personnel were treated for exposure at the time:
Davis said the source of the radiation was a radioactive
plume emitted by the plant.
After the helicopters landed on the carrier, radioactive
contamination was found on the exterior surface of three
aircrafts.
Following decontamination protocols, the 17 crewmembers
aboard and the three helicopters were tested and found to have
been exposed to low levels of radiation.