Town Hall Meeting with Senator Jeff Sessions

Approximately 50 Jackson County citizens were present on this rainy Tuesday to attend a Jackson County Chamber of Commerce Sponsored Town Hall Meeting with the citizens of Jackson County, Alabama and U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions, R. at the Docks Restaurant in Scottsboro's beautiful Goose Pond Colony ( Link: http://www.goosepond.org/index.html ). Senator Sessions discussed several issues ranging from Federal Judges extreamist rulings to our energy crisis. This was an opportunity for citizens to address concerns and issues to Senator Sessions. (Link to wiki's bio on Senator Sessions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Sessions .)

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Senator Sessions conveyed 3 main points (**>) during his presentation: **>Federal Judges should refrain themselves from extreamist judgements and follow the law, not attempt to create law. The creation of Laws are under the purview of Congress. **>Senator John McCain is more qualified to be President. **>Energy was his main point of presentation, many secondary points on energy, Senator Sessions sits on the Energy oversight committee which is one of the committees with Congressional Oversight of the TVA. Quotes, >"Families are spending $105.00 more per month on fuel than last year." >"60% of our fuel is imported, much of it is from unfriendly countries. We need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. T. Boone Pickens is fundamentally correct," Sessions stated. ( T. Boone Pickens link. http://www.pickensplan.com/ ) "We need to open off shore drilling, open Alaskan Oil, convert coal to liquid and convert oil bearing shale to oil. Our greatest potential to reduce dependence on OPEC oil is plug in electric hybrids." {Absolutely Senator, advances in solar energy production may serve to charge batteries which power electric hybrids. gm}

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"Nuclear Power is the future. There are 106 Nuclear Plants in the U.S. France is producing 80% of its power from nuclear energy. (Note, the Senator skips between topics in his presentation.) Waste wood should be utilized for bio-mass conversion to bio-diesel fuel." {Just last night I was privileged to a conversation with a local Engineer for a major paper manufacturer. That conversation centered on avoiding the use of wood for fuel manufacture. "The use of wood products as a fuel source will drive up the costs of building lumber and pulp mill products."} Back to the Senator, "Expensive coal and fossil fuels are forcing power plants to utilize precious natural gas." >TVA Nuclear Energy. "Bellefonte is pushing for start up in 11 years, the TVA is still committed to the Nu-Start Coalition. Bellefonte will bring 1000 to 2000 new jobs.{Just not to current citizens. gm} Browns Ferry and Watts Barr are very economical." {Of course, since the TVA has the capability to issue bonds to fund their debt. gm}

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Citizen input was requested from Senator Sessions. I addressed the TVA's debt and failure to disclose financial construction costs at Bellefonte. TVA's Bond-debt/interest is in excess of $44.9 billion dollars, $14.9 billion dollars over the debt limit. Concern over this debt was expressed, the Senator acknowledged the debt is a problem for the TVA. I explained that the TVA has refused disclosure and citizen requests for accountability. The Senator agreed that the TVA is accountable to a citizens efforts to demonstrate accountability. A group of documents were presented to the Senator to include the refusal of the TVA to follow the NRC Administrative Law Judges Order to Disclose. These documents displays TVA mismanagement and reflects massive debt which may result in an insolvent TVA. (Related article link from this blog describing TVA debt to include comments by financial and energy experts concerning their debt. http://arklite.blogspot.com/2008/07/close-look-at-tva-debt-by-experts.html )

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Other issues addressed included the illegal entry of foreign nationals into the United States. Senator Sessions stated that he supports stopping illegals at the border.

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One citizen spoke up concerning geological concerns surrounding the area of Bellefonte, stating sink holes and earthquakes are a risk. The Senator stated, "I think the TVA is looking at this area and has addressed this issue. It was stated by another citizen that nuclear energy is a clean and safe form of energy. Senator Sessions agreed. I spoke up and stated, "nuclear energy is not safe and it is not clean." Senator Sessions stated that no one has been killed by nuclear energy. I spoke up and stated, " that is not true several have been killed." The Senator stated, "many have been killed in coal accidents." I did not get the chance to issue forth my next challenge. A slight discontented sound of mumbling rose from a few in the crowd. Senator Sessions interjected quickly by stating, "clean or safe nuclear power is a debatable issue." I asked the Senator if Congress has any plan for a hydrogen economy to replace the fossil fuel economy, his reply. The Senator shook his head in the affirmative, then stated. "There are problems in hydrogen fuel storage and production. Nuclear Energy would play a role in hydrogen fuel production." {Senator Sessions did not seem to be aware of advances in hydrogen fuel cell technology, nor did he indicate any type of a future plan for fuel or power production that involves hydrogen. gm} The meeting ended.

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I was left with the impression that Senator Sessions is not aware of the full scope of TVA's ever expanding debt, lack of debt management and appropriate accountability. His interests seem to be singularly oriented to nuclear expansion of the TVA without concern for mounting debt and the affects of inflation on citizens. He is oriented toward nuclear power but is concerned over TVA's debt and lack of disclosure. Senator Sessions did state, "clean and safe nuclear power is a debatable issue." But would argue on the side that nuclear energy is clean and safe.