{news} Burton's group gets environmental grant

[David Bedell]

Burton's group gets environmental grant

The Redding Pilot, April 20, 2006

A local citizens group, Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone, organized
by Reddingite Nancy Burton, has won a New England Grassroots Environment
Fund (NEGEF) grant.

The coalition is among four community groups in Connecticut to receive a
grant from the fund at its recent Grantmaking Committee Meeting.  These
funds support a variety of local initiatives to improve environmental
quality across the state.  The Connecticut groups received a total of
$5,500.

Ms. Burton's group received $1,500 to help fund the "Katie the Goat
Strontium Awareness Project" by which the goat's milk, produced near the
Millstone Nuclear Plant, is being tested for strontium-90.

"It's great news," said Ms. Burton.  "This grant is a wonderful way of
recognizing the critical and special role that Katie the goat is playing to
raise public awareness about little known dangers of nuclear power plants,"
she said.

Ms. Burton said exposure to strontium-90 can cause diseases like bone cancer
and leukemia.

The project tests goats' milk, because goats have an extra stomach and are
able to concentrate strontium-90 in their milk.  "It's a reliable measure of
testing for strontium-90," she said.

The New England Grassroots Environment Fund is a nonprofit grant program
designed to foster a broad range of local environmental initiatives in
Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
Grants, ranging from $500 to $2,500, are made three times a year in March,
June and November.  To receive a copy of the guidelines, application form or
a list of grant recipients, contact NEGEF at P.O. Box 1057, Montpelier, VT
05601, call 802-223-4622, e-mail at info at grassrootsfund.org, or visit
NEGEF's Web site at www.grassrootsfund.org.

For more information on the Katie the Goat project, visit
www.mothballmillstone.org.