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the very soul of the American people. Once again it can be said that the options to protect ourselves and our fellow citizens here in Orange County and across the state of North Carolina are in human hands, your hands, the people who are here tonight — not in the laps of gods. The events of that fateful day in September has brought the possibility of horrific death and destruction from the world of Hollywood to the real world that you and I wake up to each and every morning. The highly improbable is no longer that, and all that is possible with the rules of civilized warfare, whatever that means, no longer apply. The disclosures made to citizens in the post-September 11 days that foreign terrorists back in the mid-1990's were planning to fly high- jacked planes into the Eiffel Tower and nuclear power plants raised our concerns to even greater heights. Our destiny and our lives lie in human hands, your hands — not in the laps of gods. To simply sit back and assume that someone else is going to do it for us is sheer folly. Citizens must get concerned and insist that government officials—federal, state, and local — get involved and plan for any eventuality. Death and destruction can come from the sky, or from the ground, or from the sea. They know no boundaries, they do not discriminate. The threat to the Shearon Harris nuclear facility in Wake County and the threat to trains carrying nuclear waste material are very real. It was recently discovered that two work-release prisoners got aboard a train right here in North Carolina two weeks ago; a train that was hauling nuclear waste to the Shearon Harris facility. They saw the armed guards and then some event took place where they jumped off the train and took off. This information was not obtained via normal channels; it had to be obtained through other channels. But it is now being reported on local news. U. S. citizens have a right to know. The threat to rail cars and trucks carrying other deadly products and waste products are very real and tempting targets to those whose mission is death and destruction on innocent people —all of us innocent people who represent a part of the earth's civilization that these terrorists are determined to destroy. Shearon Harris is close to the Raleigh/Durham airport and Shearon Harris is close to significant public water supplies. Shearon Harris is close to a population cluster of over one million people, and this spent nuclear fuel storage facility poses an inviting target to evildoers. Rail transportation and truck transport pose serious safety issues in their own right even without terrorists, and the need for regional planning is obvious. Our panel of experts this evening is here to help us understand the consequences of chemical, biological, or nuclear terrorist attack on our North Carolina home. Don't let my accent fool you, I came here in 1967 to graduate school, and I have stayed, and this is my home. Please be sure and read the handout entitled, "News from Ed Markey", a Massachusetts congressman who was concerned about security gaps at nuclear facilities across the United States. Please study the maps provided showing school locations out to the 50-mile radius line, railroad lines, water supplies, and towns and cities in close proximity to the Shearon Harris facility. Please be sure and place a push pin to show where you live and what circle you are in —the 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50-mile zone. Do you really believe that a 10-mile planning area is truly realistic and the winds will never blow in your direction? This program is designed to help all of us achieve a greater understanding of the issues involved, and how we need to plan on a regional basis to respond in a meaningful manner, and mitigation efforts we can take and ask for to lessen the risks of all involved. All of our citizens, even those who aren't here this evening deserve that consideration. An invitation to participate in this forum was extended to CP&L officials, and they declined, and I'm sorry that they did. An invitation was extended to the state office of Emergency Management, by our Emergency Management Director Nick Waters, and they also declined (booing). The Orange County Commissioners have sent two resolutions to the Governor asking him to follow the lead of other Governors in the United States and station National Guard troops around all nuclear power facilities. We did not ask for anti-aircraft missile batteries to be placed around such facilities as they have done in France. Several months have elapsed and we have yet to receive a reply from our Governor, and I'm sorry to have to report that, but that's the way it is. Everyone else in the program, these distinguished people up here, have accepted the invitation and thus, they are here. I thank all of