By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
Four years after the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, Hays resident Chuck Hindman remains alarmed about the consequences of radiation fallout in the United States, and he’s determined to convince the populace of the problems and to take action.
It was on March 11, 2011, that an earthquake and subsequent tsunami tore through coastal towns in northern Japan and set off meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Hindman is conducting a week-long “education event” next to the Northwest District Kansas Department of Health and Environment office in Hays, 2301 E. 13th.
“We have to do what’s right so our grandkids’ grandkids have a chance,” Hindman said. “We’ll be there from noon to 6 p.m. each day handing out information about radiation effects on human beings, animal life and, particularly here in the nation’s breadbasket, the damage to our soil, air and water. In a nutshell, it’s an environmental issue … Mother Nature is on life-support.”
Hindman believes the federal government, especially the Environmental Protection Agency and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, have downplayed the dangers, while also increasing allowable safety limits for human exposure to radiation.
“There are no safe limits,” Hindman said with conviction.
Hindman is owner of Mid America Land Restoration, which uses natural microbes to remediate environmentally damaged soil and ponds. Restoring a natural ecological balance is of paramount concern to Hindman, particularly in areas of the nation where food crops are grown.
“The high levels of radiation that are plaguing this country as well as the whole northern hemisphere. … This is an educational event about that to show the people — to educate the people — things we can be doing all the way around. If we don’t do anything with it, it takes hundreds of thousands of years to break this down in nature. When you simplify things: What is in nature that breaks this down? It is microbes,” Hindman explained.
Hindman has a Facebook page in which he posts information from around the world about nuclear fallout concerns, including the Feb. 14, 2014, accident at the WIPP plant near Carlsbad, N.M., the nation’s only dump for nuclear weapons waste.
Hindman said he has worked with 1st District Congressman Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., to bring national attention to the matter and he expects a “candidate for state office in Missouri” as well as 111th Dist. State Rep. Sue Boldra, R-Hays, to attend this week’s educational event in Hays.