Letters

...Although Quigg and I have different views about the nuclear industry, we share a concern for the environment and for the health of future generations...

...4) Virtually all the European facilities are publicly owned...

...Janet Marinelli Gail Robinson Washington, D.C...

...Catherine Thiel Quigg Barrington, Illinois Plunder Down Under Hugh Saddler's "The Plunder under Down Under" (January issue), describing Australia as a "continent for sale," convinced me to turn to the stock exchange pages of the Boston Globe, where I read that one share of Alcoa common is just over $25 and one share of Reynolds common is just over $47...

...Beierle headed a firm which became part of our corporation in 1970, after which he became an employe of this company until he left in 1975...

...A complete reply to the article would take a very long letter...

...Labor's strength and experience could unite the many single-issue movements into an informal alliance like that of Solidarity Day, but one geared for permanent political action...

...However, there are a few points I feel should be made: 1) The examples of American failures in energy recovery were of highly innovative technologies...

...To date, that fund totals about $6.5 million...

...Meanwhile, the money invested with compound interest and compound inflation helps to build and fuel the great throwaway, non-returnable wishing well and war machine...

...Everything that can be recycled should be, and small modular mass burners can then take care of whatever is left...

...What a pleasant veil before its withoutness...

...Stevens weaves cloth...

...But concerning the scab tires during the rubber workers' strike, I could turn Lerner's question around: If there were no tires, what did the auto workers put on the cars that were being produced and sold...

...There are differences between European and American garbage...

...cities—although their product was American-made, listeners were forced to buy the small-label albums in an import bin at an inflated price to enjoy the privilege of their local record store carrying the albums at all...

...Michael Pierick Madison, Wisconsin Heavy Lifting In Sidney Lens's "Heavy Lifting" (January issue), he offered the following examples of ways unions could be more militant and effective: "Clothing workers could have added pressure on J. P. Stevens and perhaps forced the company to yield by refusing to weave its cloth...

...February issue), was uplifting after the pessimistic presence of what he called "the edging-toward-war group of pieces in the front of the book...

...Clothing workers could not have refused to weave J.P...

...The solidarity and militancy I talk about is something thousands of us practiced in the real world— perhaps before Lerner had become part of it...

...In its November 19,1975, report to the SEC, Beierle is listed as a former director and employe of the company...

...Perhaps some were warehoused tires, but they were union-made, and the unionists who made them were on strike...

...Fred Beierle was never an officer of this company and has had no influence on our operation since his departure...

...Bruce W. Johnson Bellevue, Washington The author replies...

...Apparently, Senator Jeremiah Denton, Arnaud de Borchgrave, Senator James A. McClure, and the Senate Republican Conference subscribe to the same formula...

...This does not mean, however, that other plants have been trouble-free...

...They also lead the world in recovering materials from waste...

...The present state of FM rock radio is nothing short of a Goebbels-style plan for managing the airwaves...

...It's too late when the established parties have filled up our ballots with the friends of big business...

...However, he should not underestimate the cartel's resources for maintaining control of the music industry...

...Both are operated by the public sector...

...We have achieved our reputation as a responsible company because our neighbors and those who regulate us know they can depend on us...

...We have operated the Barnwell site for the last ten years to the satisfaction of the state and Federal officials and the surrounding community...

...An IRA even guarantees a return, albeit a diminished one...

...In the late 1970s, they went further by buying out retail record chains, while at the same time exerting their influence over wholesale record distributors in several regional markets...

...Lyman Rudmin Chong Rumney, New Hampshire Payola Thanks for providing the space for Steve Coil's long overdue analysis of the return to payola and other nasties in the popular music industry ("Again, Payola," January issue...

...Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reveal that Chem-Nuclear Systems, Inc., began as Chem-Nuclear Services, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Great Columbia Corporation of Bellevue, Washington—a company-headed by Fred Beierle...

...It's high time for the people to challenge corporate domination of both established parties...

...In New Hampshire, we've been doing this at Public Service Company stockholder meetings, introducing stockholder proposals to cancel the Seabrook nuclear plant and save the company from ruin...

...As for radio, though, the ironic truth is that the record companies think the airwaves are too homogenized, because constricted FM formats make it difficult for them to introduce new or lesser-known artists to the mainstream audience...

...These wastes contain pluto-nium-239, which is toxic to the environment and humans for at least 240,000 years, and plu-tonium-241, which decays to americium-241 and is toxic for a minimum of 4,580 years...

...They can be profitable, but in every case I have ever heard of they require subsidies for the first three years of operation...

...Not in my name...

...Wirbel Tucson, Arizona The author replies...

...But criticisms come easily, actions and answers require commitment...

...And we must start long before the primaries, by selecting responsible candidates to represent the people's needs...

...But yes, in my name, too...

...As I mentioned in my article, most low-level radioactive waste—in terms of toxicity—consists of solidified spent resins, evaporator bottoms, and filter sludges from nuclear plant cleanup operations...

...No...

...American plants using mass burning technologies have had no serious technical problems...

...I'll probably open an IRA when I get to those "rolling foothills of middle age...

...Corporations that manufacture heavily packaged products— and that charge consumers for the packaging—have supported resource recovery because it allows them to continue to charge consumers for packaging and provides a solution of sorts to the garbage problem...

...these plants did not produce scab tires, so how could the auto workers refuse to put on a scab product...

...The same clarity, however, is conspicuously absent from her comments about my firm, Chem-Nuclear Systems, Inc...

...If the nation's nuclear power industry came to a halt, Quigg would probably rejoice, but there would still be tons of low-level radioactive waste in need of proper care and untold amounts would continue to be generated by medical and research institutions...

...The best recovery rate for a municipal recycling program in America is 25 per cent of the waste recovered for recycling...

...We support the Federal Government's effort to develop regional disposal sites, from the standpoints of fairness and economics...

...if we ignore it now it will only get worse...

...The Securities and Exchange Commission has rulings covering such proposals...

...It is time to nix this kind of Nixonism...

...The next-best program is less than half that...

...Lerner's comment about Progressive writers who are "far removed . -. from the real day-to-day working world" is a cheap shot...

...Steve Coll Los Angeles, California...

...Recycling programs can make an impact on the amount of waste, but they cannot eliminate waste...

...Half of the American facilities are publicly owned and operated and another quarter are publicly owned and privately operated...

...The large record companies were not satisfied merely to gain complete control of radio playlists...

...2) The Europeans, using mass burning, lead the world in recovering energy from waste...

...A new party could influence Government decisions immediately—even mid-term—by encouraging targeted incumbents to defy the political machine...

...In 1972, Chem-Nuclear Services changed its name to Chem-Nuclear Systems, Inc...

...Environmental issues concern us all...

...Apparently, Great Columbia Corporation was dissolved at that time...

...The decommissioning and long-term security and maintenance of the site after it closes, sometime after the turn of the century, is provided for by a fee collected by the state of South Carolina for every cubic foot of waste we receive...

...Chaz Miller Washington, D. C. The authors reply: The most spectacular resource recovery failures have been with innovative technologies such as pyrolysis...

...As a result, several smaller domestic labels were forced to engage in the "import scam" in many U.S...

...This is what a party is all about...

...If we want candidates worth voting for we must nominate them ourselves, hundreds of them, to outvote the Democratic/Republican machine...

...I do not wish to argue semantics or point out the other inaccurate statements and implications made by Quigg...

...Solidarity Day was a prom- . ising beginning...

...It is always easy to espouse greater labor solidarity and militancy...

...Stevens cloth because they have never woven cloth...

...We're not stuck with the System unless we think we are...

...But I fear a compact with self-destruction is being made in our names...

...By encouraging the rise and proliferation of companies that market homogenized formats to FM rock radio stations, the Columbia-Warners cartel accomplished two aims: They guaranteed continuous repetition of songs by their top artists where there once had been a relatively free-form playlist, and they effectively shut out smaller bands on independent labels from receiving any airplay at all...

...Never...

...Americans use far more plastic and far more packaging...

...Then write stockholder proposals to put to the vote at the next stockholders' meetings, requiring that offending companies cease their environmentally damaging plundering in Australia...

...We strive to maintain the most effective treatment and disposal techniques, meeting and often exceeding applicable regulations...

...It is true that Chem-Nuclear's growth could be affected by the acquisition and development of additional sites...

...Sidney Lens Chicago, Illinois Disinformation Istrongly urge you to explore legal means of combatting the vicious smear campaign of the Senate Republican Conference against several alternative journals, including The Progressive (Memo from the Editor, January issue...

...In its November 1974 report to the SEC, Chem-Nuclear Systems lists Beierle as a member of its board of directors, describing him as an engineer, assistant to the president of the company, and officer of its predecessor company prior to 1972...

...They could have greatly improved their accuracy level...

...Let the press know what you are doing before and when you go to the meeting, and shame the two companies...

...Find out the process...

...Some, as our article stated, have had a hard time getting enough garbage to produce cost-efficient energy, and others have had a difficult time finding a buyer for the energy they produce...

...n Catherine Thiel Quigg's article, "The Trash that Glows" (December issue), the author's opinion of the nuclear waste disposal industry is absolutely clear...

...LoringD...

...Especially striking was his note that "a compact with self-destruction has been made in our names...

...Madison is one of the few cities in the country that have both a source separation program (newspapers) and an energy recovery program...

...I only wish that the authors had spent some time with us at the EPA Resource Recovery Branch before they wrote their article...

...Wherever one travels in the United States today, FM rock stations invariably play an identical menu of "Sunday Night Specials...

...Coll is justified in his optimism in that several small labels, most notably those specializing in women's music, have broken the power of the record cartel in recent months...

...But the January issue of The Progressive gives us several articles that show how thousands of labor union locals—some already cooperating actively with consumer groups—could build a grass-roots political base as a backbone for a different kind of political party...

...At Chem-Nuclear we have demonstrated such a commitment...

...The IRA is a great way to invest in inflation, one of the few remaining sure bets...

...It is the silliest story on resource recovery that I have seen in my five years working in resource recovery (both source separation and energy recovery) for the Environmental Protection Agency...

...j Jocelyn Tyler Pacific Grove, California Withoutness Lawrence Walsh's Last Word column, "What Avail Withitness...

...Finally, in preparing our article we spoke to people at the Environmental Protection Agency as well as individuals in local government, business, and citizens' groups who are both for and against high-technology solutions to the garbage problem...

...Getting Americans to recycle more will require a change in personal habits...

...Supporters of large-scale resource recovery in the United States generally want to convert the cellulose in the waste stream to energy...

...Iagree that the tendencies toward monopoly in the entertainment industry are greater than was suggested in my treatment of the payola problem...

...If the two "paths" are incompatible, why have the Europeans been so successful in both...

...Few consumers are aware that everything from video games to Steinway pianos is manufactured and marketed by a handful of worldwide corporations...

...it is much harder to design a program that will work in the real world...

...I think it can safely be assumed that the Columbia-Warners cartel ensured a return to corruption by tightening the music market in the 1970s by gaining control of radio format planners and record distribution chains, both wholesale and retail...

...Stephen Lerner Charlotte, North Carolina The author replies: Stephen Lerner is correct on one point, but his argument is with the overzealous editor at The Progressive who changed my word fabricate to weave...

...The rubber strike shut down all the union tire plants involved...

...It is also true—but not LETTERS to the Editor sinister—that we are aggressively seeking several expansion opportunities, both in radioactive waste management and in unrelated fields...

...I spent four decades in the labor movement, as close to the grass roots as it is possible to get...

...I wanted to yell...

...Documents on file at the U.S...

...Get friends to do it also...

...When I divide Chem-Nuclear's fund of $6.5 million by 240,000 years, I get only $25 per year—not much for decommissioning, monitoring, security, and surveillance of a 200-acre radioactive waste dumpsite...

...5) The Progressive's offices in Madison are powered in part by energy produced by burning RDF with coal in the local utilities' boilers...

...Bob Hayes Martin, Tennessee Garbage The December cover story on garbage ("No Room at the Bin," by Janet Marinelli and Gail Robinson) was strewn with half truths, marvel-ously misleading statements, and soft-headed analysis...

...In addition, we have no intention of purchasing the Carey salt mine...

...Both of these statements lose some of their luster when looked at closely...

...But the corporate involvement goes beyond the plant itself...

...Hitler said that if you tell a lie long enough, make it big enough, and say it loud enough, a lot of people will believe you...

...Chem-Nuclear is dedicated to managing these wastes properly...

...It is not unusual for a European country to have a paper recycling rate of more than 50 per cent...

...I should think you, and Catherine Thiel Quigg, would take some comfort knowing that a firm like Chem-Nuclear is in this business...

...We support mass burning only as a last resort...

...As chief executive officer of Chem-Nuclear since its first operations, I was particularly disturbed to read Quigg's comments about Fred Beierle's relationship with this company...

...Since I am low-income— need yet this winter to buy more firewood, pay town tax, ready car for inspection, feed self and children, etc.—I am going to beg that someone out there with money buy one or more shares of Reynolds and Alcoa...

...In searching for a Goebbels-style conspiracy of the airwaves, one should instead look at the patterns of corporate ownership in the broadcasting industry, where the three major networks and such corporations as General Electric, Cox Broadcasting, and Westinghouse General own dozens of identically-formatted radio stations in major markets around the country...

...Mass burning is the most proven of the resource recovery technologies, but it requires that there be a nearby customer for the steam...

...Isn't this labor's problem, too...

...Auto workers could have helped the rubber workers to victory during the tire strike a few years ago by refusing to put scab tires on new cars...

...Beierle's biography, furnished to the SEC by Chem-Nuclear Systems, Inc., states i he was president and chairman of the board of Chem-Nuclear Services, Inc., from October 1968 to 1972—when Bruce W. Johnson became president...

...3) Recycling programs are prone to the same economic woes as energy recovery facilities, except that for recycling programs the losses are smaller...

...To call energy recovery a plot of the corporate sector is ludicrous...

...But we think that, because of the resources as well as the garbage problem, recycling is worth the money and time...

...Perhaps the headline for the column could have been, "What a Veil: Financial Withitness...

...Keep up the good work...

...We would have to agree that there have been problems with recycling programs...

...Resource recovery plants are built by private companies...

...Our Barnwell site is designed to contain safely the waste received there for many times its radioactive lifetime, which, incidentally, is about 300 years for the longest-lived isotopes we handle, not the 1,000 years alluded to in the article...

...I hope we can derail their little disinformation campaign...

...Unfortunately, though, Coll didn't go far enough in tracing the origins of the new wave of graft in the American recording industry...

...I point out these minor errors because they show how far removed some Progressive writers seem from the real day-to-day working world and labor movement...