Warwick Women in Black participate in vigil outside of Indian Point

BUCHANAN — On Sunday, March 11, the first anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the subsequent meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, members of the Warwick Women in Black and scores of others from around the region joined the “No More Fukushimas Peace Walkers” to commemorate the disaster and to call for the closing of the Indian Point nuclear power plant.

The event was organized by the Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition.

Led by a contingent of Japanese monks, the Peace Walkers began their walk at the Oyster Creek reactor in New Jersey; after the stop at Indian Point, they will continue on to their final destination at Vermont Yankee in Vernon, Vt. Several dozen marchers joined them at Croton-on-Hudson, where the mayor read a proclamation of support for the closing of Indian Point. They walked the last seven miles to the gates of Indian Point .

The crowd listened to speakers who included Gary Null, a health correspondent for radio station WBAI, and Phillip Musegaas of the Riverkeeper organization. Manna JoGreene, environmental director of SloopClearwater, encouraged all who live within a 50 mile radius of Indian Point to speak with their towns’ first responders about their preparedness in the event of an incident.

Indian Point’s license for is up for renewal in 2013. Literature distributed at the event noted that 6 percent of the nation’s population, or 20 million people, live within 50 miles of Indian Point.

“We need to remember that Indian Point lies on the convergence of two fault lines, and has more high level radioactive waste than Fukushima,” said Emily Boardman, one of the Warwick Women in Black contingent said. “If a quake of sufficient magnitude hit us, it is very possible that a melt down like the one in Japan could occur here, putting millions of lives at risk.”

Added Alice McMechen, another of the Women in Black at the rally: “We need learn from the appalling suffering of the Japanese people and look to safe, renewable energy sources for our power needs,”

The vigil ended with a ceremony where paper origami peace cranes made by local school children were laid down at the gates of Entergy, the operating company of Indian Point.