If this had been an actual emergency ...

Eric Epstein is best known these days as a citizen activist and founder of RockTheCapital.org, a grassroots organization working to expose wrongdoing and institute reforms in state government.

Before he made a name for himself as coordinator of RockTheCapital, Epstein was best known as a watchdog over the nuclear power plant industry. Epstein was a co-founder of Three Mile Island-Alert, an activist group that continues to monitor radiation levels in the area of the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history.

This recent op-ed piece by Epstein raises some good questions about Pennsylvania's ability to handle emergencies.

If you can't get a few hundred people off an interstate highway during a snowstorm, how will Pennsylvania handle millions of residents fleeing a nuclear disaster or a terrorist attack in a major population center?

I don't know about you, but I have zero confidence that an Ed Rendell administration can deal with a major crisis.

Here's Epstein's article:

As we thaw out from winter's icy grip, it has become apparent how much work needs to be done to prepare for sudden disasters.

What happened recently on I-78 was the latest example of how ill prepared Pennsylvania is to handle an unannounced emergency. People were stranded for more than 24 hours in sub-freezing temperatures. How could Pennsylvania have been caught so off guard? Where was the governor? Where was PEMA? Where was the Lt. Governor who chairs the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Council?

The state has had 28 years to prepare for emergencies since pre-school children and pregnant women were evacuated from the Three Mile Island-area on March 30, 1979. While improvements have been made, these kids remain unaccounted for in the event of another meltdown.

Katrina, this summer's flooding, and the most recent snow emergency demonstrate that we are ill equipped to evacuate large populations in the event of a radiological emergency. If we can’t get people off a highway for more than 24 hours due to snow and ice, how are we going to evacuate an entire population living in the 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone around a nuclear power plant?

After 9/11, TMI-Alert reviewed Pennsylvania’s emergency plan and found day care centers and nursery schools had been left out even though a 1984 federal law required their inclusion. TMIA filed suit at the NRC. The author of the 1984 NRC law agreed with TMIA, and filed a formal complaint. This 40-year nuclear veteran recommended that the NRC compel the Commonwealth to include preschool children and nursery schoolers in the nuclear emergency plan, or risk losing their license.

The NRC denied TMIA's request that the NRC enforce its own law. Gov. Rendell, PEMA, and the nuclear industry continue to argue that it is not their responsibility to help these kids get out of harm's way. Playing a nuclear shell game with children is not emergency planning.

ERIC EPSTEIN
Chairman, TMI-Alert

Three Mile Island Alert Inc. is a safe-energy organization based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and founded in 1977. TMIA monitors Peach Bottom, Susquehanna and Three Mile Island nuclear generating stations.