ML19256F073

Affidavit Alleging That Westinghouse Has Been Bribed by Marcos Govt.Contends That Location of Reactor on Slope of Volcano Believed to Be Active Will Cause Harm to Us Military Personnel Located in Adjacent Areas

ML19256F073
Person / Time
Site:	05000574
Issue date:	10/19/1979
From:	Schirmer D FRIENDS OF THE FILIPINO PEOPLE
To:
Shared Package
ML19256F068	List: ML19256F067 ML19256F072 ML19256F073
References
NUDOCS 7911210084
Download: ML19256F073 (5)

Text

Appendix B AFFIDAVIT OF D. BOONE SCHIRMER (National Coordinator, Friends of the Filipino People) l / ?60 7911210

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AFFIDAVIT _OF

_ _D. BOOKE SCHIRMER I, the undersigned, D. Boone Schirmer, being first duly sworn do depose and say:

I am the National Coordinator of the Friends of the Filipino People. I have been on its Standing Committee since attending the organisetion's founding conference in 1973 The Friends of the Filipino People is a non-profit organization incorporated in Washington, D. C. Its purpose is to spread inform-ation about the Philippinas, and to bring such information to the attention of the people of this country so that they cay make en-lightened decisions affecting our government's relations uith the Philippines.

The Friends of the Filipino People h s chapters in twenty cities and towns and a national office located in the United Methodist Building, 100 Maryland Avenue, E. E., Washington, D. C. 20002, telephone 543-1093 The Friends of the Filipino People engages in a program of independent and non-partisan research on cuestions of the Philip-pines and U. S. - Philippine relations. It publishes a quarterly bulletin and numerous pieces of educational material in book, brochure, and leaflet form.

Representetives of the Friends of the Filipino People have testified on numerous occasions before Congressional coccittees.

I am authorized to testify regarding the Friends of the Filipino's position on the proposed ciestinghouse nuclecr reactor in the Philippines.

The Friends of the Filipino Feople is opposed to the grant of an export license to the iestinghouse nucleer reactor in the i

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Philippines: and urges the ..uclear Regulatory Commissicn to hold a public hearing on this issue and to deny such an export license.

Our opposition is based on the following major reasons, all of which are spelled out in more detail in the application to which this affidavit is appended.

1) We believe the Westinghouse nucleer reactor is unsafe as plan-ned since it is located on the slope of Mount Natib, a volcano authorities believe to be active, and on the site of a geological fault line presenting earthquakes of greater intensity than the plant is designed to withstand. Prevailing winds would tend to blow radioactive gases released by any accident at the reactor site to areas of very dense Filipino population and areas where U. S. military personnel are stationed. The problem of disposal of radioactive waste from the reactor has not been adequately provided for.

2) The Westinghouse reactor is planned even though there has been no adequate and free public discussion of the matter and possible dangers involved in the Philippines because of the repressive effect of the present Marcos cartial law governnent.

Despite this, however, large numbers of Filipinos heve indicated their opposition.

3) The absence of free public discussion is not the only cuestion-able political and social elecent in the plent 's pra: posed con-struction. fh ere is evidence that the plant contract was secured by ".'estinghouse corporation after the passage of a considerable sum of coney to a person closely connected to Fresident M:rcos and his wife, i. e., to the leaders of the certial law govern-ment. The proposed plant suffers froc the taint of corruption.

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4) Public~ opinion in the United States _is asking it increasingly difficult for corporations like Westinghouse to market unsafe nuclear technology in this country. We believe it is unwise, however, for the U. S. government to encourage such corporations to dump such unsafe technology on Third World countries Iike the Philippines where dictatorships exist and public opinion is repressed.

5) Ue do not believe that the U. S'. government should encourpge a U. S. corporation to distort Fhilippine national development by sponsoring a project that is unsafe, uneconomical, irrelevant to basic Philippine needs, and of extraordinary cost.

6) 'cihereas various political nersonalities, including thbse-in the Carter Administration may be inclined to favor the granting of the export license to Westinghouse in order to curry favor with an influential U. S. corporation as the elections of 1980 approach, we believe the Euclear Reguletory Commission as an independent body should rise above such considerations of supposed political advantage.

7) This ';estingcouse nuclear recctor is to be f.acnced 1rrgely by a loan to the Philippine government from the Export-Import Bank. This bank is largely financed by U. S. tax monies.

We believe that the financing of the Westinghouse reactor would be an inappropriate use of U. S. taxpayers ' coney, especially eecause in the long run it is possible that it 1i11 be a cause of bad feeling on the part of the Philiprine people towards the United 5tates.

All of the above najor reasons are more fully explained in

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4 the application to which this affidavit is appended.

/s/

D. roone denirser Subscribed and Sworn to before ce on this day of

, 1979.

Notary public My commission expires .

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