EiJ Global Record: Eastern North Carolina, USA
The eastern Piedmont and southeastern lowlands of North Carolina are the “birthplace” of the environmental justice movement (EJ) in the United States.
EiJ Hazards
Digital collection focused on environmental injustice hazards.
pece_annotation_1473086559
Jacob NelsonAnnotation of
Emergency response is addressed in a broad sense of the major risk factors associated with a natural disaster and epidemics. The main points they make are that preparedness, with a focus on availability of safe water and primary healthcare services, along with surveillance for the beginnings of an epidemic, are necessessay for a strong response to a disaster situation
pece_annotation_1473100093
Jacob NelsonAnnotation of
In response to
The National Regulatory Commission: Government agency responsible for public safety with regards to nuclear reactors and nuclear energy
Entergy: An integrated energy company that primarily deals with electric power production. Operators of the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant
Disaster Accountability Project: Nonprofit organization that monitors disaster-response programs and acts as a watchdog for disaster response and preperation
pece_annotation_1472966223
Jacob NelsonAnnotation of
In response to
The main methods that the authors appear to use are reported data from disasters that have happened around the globe, including numbers and types of infections, displacement and crowding data, and knowledge of the disaster incidents examined
pece_annotation_1473099535
Jacob NelsonAnnotation of
The main point of the article is to report a conflict of opinions between the NRC and the Disaster Accountability Project on the safety of the communities surrounding the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant. The NRC and the company running the plant, Entergy, state that those communities within a 10 mile radius are required to have emergency evacuation plans in place should a nuclear emergency occur; those outside this radius, however, are not at as large of risk. The nonprofit, however, cites the NRC's report on the Fukushima disaster, where it recommended the US citizens within 50 miles of the plant should evacuate the area, and suggests that communities within a 50 mile radius of Indian Point have specific nuclear emergency plans at hand and prepared for use. Entergy says that the radius "provides a robust safety margin", and the NRC replies to the Disaster Accountability Project's statement by saying that the incident at Fukushima is not comparable to any nuclear power cite in the US, due to the size and number of reactors in the Fukushima plant.
pece_annotation_1472965625
Jacob NelsonAnnotation of
"The risk for commuicable disease transmission after disasters is associated primarily with the size and characteristics of the population displaced, specifically the proximity of safe water adn functioning latrines, the nutritional status of the displaced population, the level of immunuty to vaccine-preventable diseases..., and the access to healthcare services"
"...natural disasters (regardless of type) that do not result in population displacement are rarely associated with outbreaks"
"When death is directly due to the natural disaster, human remains do not pose a rise for outbreaks"
pece_annotation_1473098749
Jacob NelsonAnnotation of
In response to
The author contacted both the NRC and the nonprofit Disaster Accountability Project for statements and information on the safety of the plant and if emergency plans were in place. The NRC gave statements and information on their discussions with the Disaster Accountability Project, and the nonprofit described their process of sending freedom-of-information requests to 20 jurisdictions in NY, NJ, and CT located up to 50 miles from Indian Point, in order to determine if they had emergency plans related to the power plant and what they might be
pece_annotation_1472964963
Jacob NelsonAnnotation of
In response to
1: Crowding is shown to be common in displaced populations, and local overpopulation/crowding often facillitates the transmittion of disease
2: Natural disasters that do not cause a displacement of a population are rarely associated with disease outbreaks
3: There is little or no evidence that dead bodies, as some believe, pose a epidemic risk for a population of survivors after a disaster has struck
pece_annotation_1473097759
Jacob NelsonAnnotation of
"The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires communities located within 10 miles of nuclear power plants to develop emergency plans. In New York, the four counties within 10 miles of Indian Point—Westchester, Rockland, Putnam and Orange—have taken such measures. But the Disaster Accountability Project, a nonprofit organization that monitors disaster response programs and the author of the report, cited the commission’s response to the 2011 nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan, in which it recommended that U.S. citizens within 50 miles evacuate."
"NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said the Fukushima site isn’t comparable to any in the U.S. 'Quite frankly, we don’t have any nuclear plant complexes where you have so many reactors packed so closely together.'"
"Those communities are exempt from the NRC’s emergency planning zones, so most haven’t developed such plans or conducted studies. According to several of them, they couldn’t without help from the federal government."