When the economy imploded in 2008, how did the government respond?
Did it crack down on fraud? Force bankrupt companies to admit that their speculative gambling with our money had failed? Rein in the funny business?
Of course not!
The government just helped cover up how bad things were, used claims of national security to keep everything in the dark, and changed basic rules and definitions to allow the game to continue. See this, this, this and this.
When BP – through criminal negligence – blew out the Deepwater Horizon oil well, the government helped cover it up (the cover up is ongoing).
The government also changed the testing standards for seafood to pretend that higher levels of toxic PAHs in our food was business-as-usual.
So now that Japan is suffering the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl – if not of all time – is the government riding to the rescue to help fix the problem, or at least to provide accurate information to its citizens so they can make informed decisions?
Of course not!
The EPA is closing ranks with the nuclear power industry:
EPA officials, however, refused to answer questions or make staff members available to explain the exact location and number of monitors, or the levels of radiation, if any, being recorded at existing monitors in California. Margot Perez-Sullivan, a spokeswoman at the EPA’s regional headquarters in San Francisco, said the agency’s written statement would stand on its own.
Critics said the public needs more information.
“It’s disappointing,” said Bill Magavern, director of Sierra Club California. “I have a strong suspicion that EPA is being silenced by those in the federal government who don’t want anything to stand in the way of a nuclear power expansion in this country, heavily subsidized by taxpayer money.”
The EPA has pulled 8 of its 18 radiation monitors in California, Oregon and Washington because (by implication) they are giving readings which seem too high.
Remember, for the sake of context, that the government has covered up nuclear meltdowns for fifty years to protect the nuclear power industry.
And now, the EPA is considering drastically raising the amount of allowable radiation in food, water and the environment.
As Michael Kane writes:
In the wake of the continuing nuclear tragedy in Japan, the United States government is still moving quickly to increase the amounts of radiation the population can “safely” absorb by raising the safe zone for exposure to levels designed to protect the government and nuclear industry more than human life. It’s all about cutting costs now as the infinite-growth paradigm sputters and moves towards extinction. As has been demonstrated by government conduct in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of Deepwater Horizon and in Japan, life has taken a back seat to cost-cutting and public relations posturing.The game plan now appears to be to protect government and the nuclear industry from “excessive costs”… at any cost.
***
In 1992, the EPA produced a PAGs manual that answers many of these questions. But now an update to the 1992 manual is being planned, and if the “Dr. Strangelove” wing of the EPA has its way, here is what it means (brace yourself for these ludicrous increases):
- A nearly 1000-fold increase for exposure to strontium-90;
- A 3000 to 100,000-fold hike for exposure to iodine-131; and
- An almost 25,000 rise for exposure to radioactive nickel-63.
The new radiation guidelines would also allow long-term cleanup thresholds thousands of times more lax than anything EPA has ever judged safe in the past.
And see this.
Indeed, some government scientists and media shills are now “reexamining” old studies that show that radioactive substances like plutonium cause cancer to argue that prevent cancer.
It is not just bubbleheads like Ann Coulter saying this. Government scientists from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratories and pro-nuclear hacks like Lawrence Solomon are saying this.
In other words, this is a concerted propaganda campaign to cover up the severity of a major nuclear accident by raising acceptable levels of radiation and saying that a little radiation is good for us.
Submitted by George Washington on 03/29/2011 14:17 -0400
Source: ZeroHedge
See also:
– GREENPEACE Measures EXTREME RADIATION 35KM From Fukushima: Maximum Annual Dose In Just 4 Days!
– Japan: Blue Flashing Light Seen Over Fukushima Plant (FOX News)
– Nuclear Expert: Suicide Crews ‘Facing 100-Year Battle’ At Fukushima
– Radioactive Iodine-131 In Rainwater Near San Francisco 18,100% Above Federal Drinking Water Standard
– Pennsylvania: Radioactive Iodine-131 In Rainwater 3300% Above Federal Drinking Water Standard
– Dangerous Levels of Radioactive Cesuim 137 Found 25 Miles From Fukushima Plant
– TEPCO’s Totally Insane Disaster Plan At Fukushima Nuclear Plant
– TEPCO Chairman Admits Battle To Safe Fukushima Plant Lost, Reactors To Be Entombed
– US Government Admits Radiation Found In Milk from Washington State
– EU Erhöht Grenzwerte Drastisch! EU Raises ‘Safe Level’ of Cesium in Japanese Food By 20 Times!
– Dr. Michio Kaku: Three Raging Nuclear Meltdowns In Progress!
– Greenpeace Radiology Experts Find High Levels Of Radiation Beyond No-Go Zone
– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: ‘Fukushima Plutonium Leak Comparable To Chernobyl Disaster’ (RT)
– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: Fatal Radiation Detected Outside Damaged Reactor No. 2
– US, Europe: Radiation and Jetstream FORECAST UPDATE (March 27, 2011)
– Updating Japan’s Nuclear Disaster
– Japan’s Government Asks Water Treatment Plants Not To Take In Radioactive Rainwater
– Japan Nuclear Crisis: Engineers Toil To Pump Radioactive Nuclear Plant Water Into The Ocean
–Japan Nuclear Crisis: Close-Up Aerial Video of Wrecked Reactors at Fukushima (25.03.2011)
– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: High Levels of Radiation Leaking From Reactor No. 3
– Japan Nuclear Crisis: High-Radiation Leaks In Fukushima Reactors No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3
– Japan Nuclear Crisis: Fukushima Nuclear Plant Emitted A Neutron Beam 13 Separate Times
– Dr. Chris Busby: Fukushima Now 72,000 Times Hiroshima Radiation
– Japan Officials Say HIGH SEAWATER RADIATION LEVELS Are NO Cause For Alarm
– Japan’s Science Ministry: Radiation Now Exceeds 400 Times Normal 40 km From Fukushima
– Germany Keeps Radiation Measurements Secret Since Japan Nuclear Disaster
– WHO On Japan Food Radiation: ‘It’s A Lot More Serious Than Anybody Thought’
– Japan Nuclear Crisis: Emergency Evacuation Of Workers Ordered After Reactor No. 3 Emits Black Smoke
– Japan’s Health Ministry Tells Villagers Not To Drink Radioactive Tap Water
– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: Partially Accurate MSM Reporting Now Reduced To Lies And Propaganda
– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: Total Information Blackout On Fukushima Unit 4 Reactor
– Japan Finds Radioactive Food Up To 90 Miles From Fukushima Nuclear Site
– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: Multiple Times Worse than Chernobyl
– Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant In Japan: A Dirty Bomb Waiting To Go Off
– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: Radiation Levels 6,600 Times Normal 20km Away from Fukushima Nuclear Plant
– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: It’s Much, Much Worse Than It Looks (Thanks To The Stupidity of Nuclear Engineers!) (MUST-READ!)