WCRS Podcast - consciousvoices

Since the chemical spill weeks ago that poisoned the water supply for some 300,000 West Virginians the national media attention has subsided, but, in the 9 affected counties, a warning is still in effect advising pregnant women not to drink the water. There are also new revelations about the type and amount of chemicals that were spilled, and about the company that spilled them.

This is a re-broadcast of last year's MLK mspecial featuring the speech Beyond Viet Nam . It includers a new Coal Report from this week

the Coalition for Responsive Government filed petitions to place a campaign finance reform initiative on the ballot, and last week a formal objection was filed against the proposal, questioning both its legality, on procedural grounds, and its potential effectiveness. Its opponents claim there may be loopholes in the proposal that would render it less meaningful than its drafter intend. In this edition we speak with Jonathan Beard, principle architect of the proposal, and with Brian Rothenberg, who filed the objection.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing a rule change that may leaad to quick approvals of license renewals for nuclear power plants, many of which are nearly 40 years old, despite the fact that no new technologies have been developed to handle the storage of radioactive waste. A series of hearings is taking place across the country until Dec 20. We hear from two of the people who presented testimony at one of those hearings, as well as a few of the 3-minute testimonies themselves.