On Thursday, February 20^th, Lindsay A. Lovejoy, Jr., the attorney for Honor Our Pueblo Existence and CCNS, will argue before the New Mexico Court of Appeals that the non-government organizations have standing to challenge the misregulation of the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility, a key facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).  The RLWTF treats liquid radioactive and hazardous waste generated at the Plutonium Facility from the fabrication of plutonium pits, or the cores, of nuclear weapons.  Those activities are ramping up under U.S. government plans to spend over $1 trillion dollars for new design weapons for use in a post-Cold War nuclear arms race.

Importantly, liquid radioactive and hazardous waste flows through underground pipes from the Plutonium Facility to the RLWTF for treatment.  After treatment, the liquids are discharged through an outlet called Outfall 051 into Effluent Canyon where it disappears into the ground and begins the journey through complex geology to the hexavalent chromium plume and on to the Rio Grande.

Regulatory oversight of the facility has come under scrutiny, highlighting the need for increased advocacy from the public, organizations, and Tribes to ensure appropriate regulation. In 2022, the New Mexico Environment Department, despite opposition from the two non-governmental organizations and others, issued a groundwater discharge permit, called DP-1132, to LANL allowing discharges through the outfall.

CCNS first raised concerns about the facility operations and the correct form of regulation in 1994 after which the New Mexico Environment Department and LANL began a 30-year convoluted groundwater-permitting scheme to permit the facility under the New Mexico Water Quality Act.

But the New Mexico Water Quality Act prohibits such permitting.  It states, “the [Water Quality Act] does not apply to any activity or condition subject to the authority of the Environmental Improvement Board pursuant to the Hazardous Waste Act.” Despite the prohibition, the Environment Department permitted the RLWTF under the Water Act.

LANL has acknowledged that the facility manages hazardous waste, which necessitates compliance with federal and New Mexico hazardous waste laws and regulations.  Nevertheless, LANL has done everything in its power to resist appropriate oversight in New Mexico.

Next week HOPE and CCNS will argue that they have standing to challenge the misregulation of the RLWTF.

The hearing will be held on Thursday, February 20^th at 10 am at the Albuquerque Court of Appeals Pamela B. Minzner Law Center, at 2211 Tucker North East, Albuquerque.  You are invited to attend.  https://coa.nmcourts.gov/

For more information, please see previous CCNS News Updates at:

https://nuclearactive.org/wqcc-denied-ccns-and-hope-standing-to-challenge-lanls-rlwtf-next-step-is-oral-argument-before-new-mexico-court-of-appeals/;

https://nuclearactive.org/wqcc-denies-ccns-and-hope-standing-to-challenge-dp-1132/;   https://nuclearactive.org/whats-at-stake-at-tuesdays-wqcc-hearing-on-hope-and-ccns-standing/;   and https://nuclearactive.org/whats-at-stake-at-tuesdays-wqcc-hearing-on-hope-and-ccns-standing/

1. Show Your Love! Join us on Friday, February 14^th from noon to 1 pm at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament.  Join the weekly peaceful protest with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners and join in the conversation for nuclear disarmament. 

2. Thursday, February 13^th from 5 to 8 pm at Fuller Lodge, Pajarito Room, in Los Alamos. NEW INFORMATION:  This public hearing is in-person AND virtual. Please note:  The first 30 minutes of the in-person hearing will be an open-house poster session.

NNSA has added a virtual option to the Thursday, Feb. 13, public hearing.
The virtual meeting is 5:30-8:00 p.m. 
Online access is as follows:
Access by Internet: https://tinyurl.com/LANLSWEIS3 
Meeting ID: 288 629 140 033
Access by Telephone: 719-283-1404
Phone ID: 833 182 563#

For more information: https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/nnsa-nepa-reading-room

3. Monday, February 17^th at noon – National Day of Protest – At the White House and/or your State Capitol/City Hall/Town Hall – To Resist Fascism!

4. If you need a break from the chaos – watch “Atomic Bamboozle: The False Promise of a Nuclear Renaissance” for FREE in February. Sponsored by the Oregon Conservancy Foundation about the people-powered shutdown of the Trojan nuclear power plant.  46-minute documentary.

 Click here to watch for free! (enter promo code ocf25 )

Please watch and share with your friends. Now is a critical time to fight against false solutions to the climate crisis.

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), operated by the Department of Energy, plays a critical role in maintaining the safety and reliability of the nation’s nuclear stockpile. Central to this mission is the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility (RLWTF), which was constructed in the early 1960s to treat, store, and dispose of radioactive and hazardous liquids.

For decades, the RLWTF has released “treated” water through an outlet called Outfall 051 into Effluent Canyon, which flows into Mortandad Canyon and toward the Río Grande.

The facility is currently misregulated under the New Mexico Water Quality Act. Instead, the RLWTF should be regulated under the New Mexico Hazardous Waste Act to ensure proper oversight, safety, and the health of the environment and waters.

Regulatory oversight of the facility has come under scrutiny, highlighting the need for increased advocacy from the public, organizations, and Tribes to ensure appropriate regulation. Since 1994, local community organizations such as Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS) and Honor Our Pueblo Existence (HOPE) have raised concerns about its regulation, arguing that it should fall under the state’s Hazardous Waste Act rather than the WQA, which lacks sufficient public oversight and safety measures.  https://shuffle.do/projects/honor-our-pueblo-existance-h-o-p-e  

According to the New Mexico Water Quality Act (WQA), “the WQA does not apply to any activity or condition subject to the authority of the Environmental Improvement Board pursuant to the Hazardous Waste Act.” Despite the prohibition, the Environment Department has permitted the RLWTF under the WQA.

While LANL acknowledges that the facility manages hazardous waste, which necessitates compliance with federal hazardous waste regulations, LANL has done everything in its power to resist appropriate oversight in NM.

In 2022 and 2023, CCNS and HOPE challenged the misregulation before the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission.  During the challenges, the community groups discovered the Commission’s chair had secretly and successfully applied for a position with LANL while she was leading the Commission. After a series of hearings, the Commission ignored the chair’s conflict of interest and stated that CCNS and HOPE did not have standing to challenge the discharge permit.  https://nuclearactive.org/wqcc-denies-ccns-and-hope-standing-to-challenge-dp-1132/; https://nuclearactive.org/whats-at-stake-at-tuesdays-wqcc-hearing-on-hope-and-ccns-standing/; and https://nuclearactive.org/whats-at-stake-at-tuesdays-wqcc-hearing-on-hope-and-ccns-standing/

Nearly two years later, CCNS and HOPE will have their day in the New Mexico Court of Appeal to argue that they have standing to challenge the RLWTF misregulation.  The hearing will be held on Thursday, February 20^th at 10 am at the Albuquerque Court of Appeals Pamela B. Minzner Law Center, at 2211 Tucker North East, Albuquerque.  You are invited to attend.  https://coa.nmcourts.gov/

1. Join us on Friday, February 7^th from noon to 1 pm at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament. Join the weekly peaceful protest with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners and join in the conversation for nuclear disarmament. 

2. Tuesday, February 11^th from 1 to 4 pm and 5 to 9 pm at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center, Sweeney Room – virtual and in person draft LANL SWEIS public hearing. Please note:  The first 30 minutes of the in-person hearing will be an open-house poster session.

Online Public Meeting: 1:30-4 p.m.; Access by Internet: https://tinyurl.com/LANLSWEIS1,  Meeting ID:  246 608 386 25
Access by Telephone: 719.283.1404, Phone ID:  409 573 1#

Online Public Meeting: 5:30-8 p.m.;  Access by Internet: https://tinyurl.com/LANLSWEIS2, Meeting ID: 285 648 444 285
Access by Telephone: 719.283.1404, Phone ID: 818 405 462#

For more information:  https://www.energy.gov/nepa/doeeis-0552-site-wide-environmental-impact-statement-continued-operation-los-alamos-national-0

3. Wednesday, February 12^th from 5 to 8 pm at Mision y Convento in Española. This public hearing is in person ONLY.  It remains unclear why this public hearing is not available virtually.  Please note:  The first 30 minutes of the in-person hearing will be an open-house poster session.

For more information:  https://www.energy.gov/nepa/doeeis-0552-site-wide-environmental-impact-statement-continued-operation-los-alamos-national-0

4. Thursday, February 13^th from 5 to 8 pm at Fuller Lodge, Pajarito Room, in Los Alamos. This public hearing is in-person ONLY.  It remains unclear why this public hearing is not available virtually.  Please note:  The first 30 minutes of the in-person hearing will be an open-house poster session.

For more information:  https://www.energy.gov/nepa/doeeis-0552-site-wide-environmental-impact-statement-continued-operation-los-alamos-national-0

5. If you need a break from the chaos – watch “Atomic Bamboozle: The False Promise of a Nuclear Renaissance” for FREE in February. Sponsored by the Oregon Conservancy Foundation about the people-powered shutdown of the Trojan nuclear power plant.  46-minute documentary.
   

Click here to watch for free! (enter promo code ocf25)

Please watch and share with your friends. Now is a critical time to fight against false solutions to the climate crisis.

You are invited to participate in a virtual Nuclear Watch New Mexico workshop about the draft Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement (SWEIS) for the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) on Thursday, February 6^th from 5:30 pm to 7 pm Mountain Time.  Zoom in at:  https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87823838942

With LANL expanding its nuclear weapons programs—despite a long history of environmental contamination and nuclear safety issues—the draft SWEIS represents a vital opportunity for the public to demand transparency, accountability and environmental justice.

Public hearings will begin on Tuesday, February 11^th in Santa Fe, followed by a Wednesday, February 12^th hearing in Española, and a Thursday, February 13^th hearing in Los Alamos.  For more information, please visit:  https://nuclearactive.org/draft-lanl-site-wide-environmental-impact-statement-to-be-released-on-friday-january-10th/

The draft SWEIS is required by the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA.  It provides for public review and comment of the potential environmental impacts of continuing operations of LANL for the next 15 years.  Now is the time to get involved and have your voice heard!

During the workshop, Nuclear Watch will present about the following five key LANL issues:

• Expanded Plutonium “Pit” Bomb Core Production: LANL’s role in expanded nuclear weapons production conflicts with global disarmament efforts and pushes us deeper into the new, increasingly dangerous nuclear arms race.
• Proposed BioSafety Level-3 Facility:  LANL’s plans for a facility to handle dangerous pathogens, like anthrax, raise serious safety and transparency concerns.
• Proposed Tritium Releases:  LANL’s controversial proposal to release up to 100,000 curies of gaseous tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, poses significant environmental and public health risks.
• New Transmission Line Across Caja del Rio:  A proposed electrical transmission line for LANL’s growing Artificial Intelligence work would cross the environmentally and culturally sensitive Caja del Rio.
• Nuclear Waste Cleanup:  LANL plans to “cap and cover” and leave some 800,000 cubic yards of radioactive, hazardous and toxic wastes permanently buried in unlined pits and shafts is a long-term threat to the Española Sole Source Drinking Water Aquifer. The public must demand comprehensive cleanup.

This workshop will include opening remarks by Santa Fe Archbishop John Wester on the need for global nuclear disarmament. Dylan Spaulding, a Senior Scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, will follow the Archbishop.  Spaulding will address how expanded plutonium “pit” production is not to maintain the safety and reliability of the existing stockpile but is instead for new-design nuclear weapons.

The presentations on these issues and more will be followed by ample time for Q&A.

See the draft LANL SWEIS here:  https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/articles/nnsa-publishes-draft-site-wide-environmental-impact-statement-los-alamos-national or https://www.energy.gov/nepa/articles/doeeis-0552-draft-environmental-impact-statement

Comments on the draft LANL SWEIS may be submitted:

• by email to:  LANLSWEIS@nnsa.doe.gov.    ***Mark emails as:  SWEIS Comments***
• in writing to:

Mr. Stephen Hoffman, LANL SWEIS Document Manager

DOE/NNSA

3747 West Jemez Road

Los Alamos, NM 87544

***Mark envelopes as:  SWEIS Comments***

• verbally at one of the public hearings
• in written form at one of the public hearings

Comments must be received/postmarked by Tuesday, March 11, 2025.

It is with heavy hearts that we share the passing of our dear friend and colleague Kenneth Mayers, Presenté. Ken co-founded the Santa Fe chapter of Veterans for Peace, a global organization that relies on the voices and experiences of military veterans to advocate for peaceful solutions to conflicts. He believed that working together we could build a world beyond war.  Ken Mayers said that apart from family, his social activism was the most inherently satisfying part of his life….”going to the streets to support causes I believe in is where it’s at.”  He could be seen on the corner of Cerrillos and St Francis, and Alameda and Sandoval, with CCNS and other peace activists waving banners calling for the end of war and nuclear weapons. There will always be a place for you there Ken, as well as in our hearts.

1. Join us on Friday, January 31^st from noon to 1 pm at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament and Kenneth Mayers, Presenté. Join the weekly peaceful protest with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners and join in the conversation for nuclear disarmament.

2. Tuesday, February 11^th from 1 to 4 pm and 5 to 9 pm at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center, Sweeney Room – virtual and in person draft LANL SWEIS public hearing.

 There will be a virtual option for these two meeting. Virtual hearing access instructions (e.g., website link or phone number) will be announced at least 15 days before the hearing and will be published in local newspapers, noticed to the GovDelivery mailing list, and available on the following websites: /nnsa/nnsa-nepa-reading-room and /nepa/public-comment-opportunities.

3. Wednesday, February 12^th from 5 to 8 pm at Mision y Convento in Española. This public hearing is in person ONLY.  It remains unclear why this public hearing is not available virtually.

4. Thursday, February 13^th from 5 to 8 pm at Fuller Lodge, Pajarito Room, in Los Alamos. This public hearing is in-person ONLY.  It remains unclear why this public hearing is not available virtually.

In its nearly 80-year history, the Clock has never been this close to striking midnight.  

In the Doomsday Clock statement, the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board reported that humanity edged ever closer to catastrophe in 2024 and that “blindly continuing on the current path is a form of madness.” The world-renowned leaders on the board shared crucial developments in 2024 that contributed to the Clock’s setting:  

• The countries that possess nuclear weapons are increasing the size and role of their arsenals, investing hundreds of billions of dollars in weapons that can destroy civilization. 

• The long-term prognosis for the world’s attempts to deal with climate change remains poor, as most governments fail to enact the financing and policy initiatives necessary to halt global warming. 

• Emerging and re-emerging diseases continue to threaten the economy, society, and security of the world. 

• An array of disruptive technologies in fields such as artificial intelligence and space flight advanced last year in ways that make the world more dangerous.  

• The dangers listed above are greatly exacerbated by a potent threat multiplier: the spread of misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories that degrade the communication ecosystem and increasingly blur the line between truth and falsehood.
  

The board’s suggestion for correcting this abysmal reality is for the leaders of the United States, China, and Russia to commence good-faith discussions on global threats. These countries’ citizens play a pivotal role in whether or not that happens.

With the Doomsday Clock at 89 seconds to midnight, CCNS’s work to protect all living beings and the environment from the effects of radioactive and other hazardous materials is absolutely necessary.  

At CCNS, we believe that humanity deserves freedom and safety from all nuclear threats, both now and in the future. 

Learn more about, and support, our work by reading our weekly updates here on our website, following us on Facebook, Twitter (X), and Instagram, and subscribing to our weekly newsletter.

Let’s set the clock back, together!

Join us to pivot from Doom to Peace and disarm the world from nuclear weapons. Sign the Manifesto!

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, with the advice of Albert Einstein and other scientists from the Manhattan Project who developed the atomic bomb, established a Doomsday Clock, in 1947, to illustrate the annihilating danger the earth is facing since the creation of the diabolical nuclear bomb. At that time, the clock was set at 7 minutes to midnight, their estimate of how much time we had left before nuclear war would wreak catastrophic devastation on our planet and all living things in existence.

Over the years, the hands of the clock have been reset, forward and backward, as scientists and policy makers estimated how immediate the nuclear danger loomed, based on the perils faced by other countries obtaining nuclear weapons as well as new arms control measures, weapons limitations, and agreements, particularly between the US and Russia for disarmament measures. At its most optimistic, the Doomsday hands were moved to 17 minutes to midnight in 1991 when the US and USSR announced the complete cessation of nuclear testing.

Shockingly, despite years of nuclear arms control measures, resulting in arsenals down from a high of 70,000 bombs at the peak of the world’s nuclear insanity, to about 12,000 today, 11,000 of which are in the US and Russia with nearly 4,000 poised and ready to go, with another 1000 held by the six other nuclear weapons states—UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea– the clock has never been set closer to Doomsday than it is today—At 89 seconds to midnight!

It’s time to transform the clock and change the conversation! Dire warnings about Doomsday have done little to increase our world’s safety these 77 years. It’s time to pivot our focus from doom to the many small necessary steps we each need to engage in to create peace. The fear of doom encourages compromise with those who are only interested in building Empire and the war economy. This never brings us to our goal of peace. We must stop giving our blessing and consent to endless steps to “control” arms that lead to ever more danger as illustrated by the aging Doomsday clock.

Instead, we must demand their abolition, as we move to a nuclear free world at peace unthreatened by catastrophic annihilation and the ultimate climate change; a nuclear winter.

Let us deemphasize procedural steps that keep up stuck, which scholars have already named: ‘anti-preneurism’ steps towards illusory progress.

We are at a turning point in history. It is time to change the conversation with bold new proposals. Proposals that are guaranteed to bring us a respite from the growing terror. Proposals that will bring a shift in planetary consciousness allowing us to respond cooperatively to the impending cataclysmic climate disaster down the road! Proposals that will usher in a rising dawn and change our focus from Doom to Peace. Mother Earth grows impatient with the folly of humankind.

We will take steps that lead to peace on earth and mobilize, expose and render powerless the MICIMATT (Military, Industrial, Congressional, Intelligence, Media, Academic Think Tank complex) in our work for peace. Bringing about:

• US acceptance of Russian and Chinese proposals for treaties to ban weapons in space and cyberwar
• The reinstatement of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia and removal of US missiles from Romania and Poland
• Removal of US nuclear weapons from five NATO states in a deal for Russia removing its recently placed nuclear weapons in Belarus
• All nuclear weapons off high alert and separate the warheads from their delivery systems as China does – following the wisdom of the East
• The dissolution of NATO and respect of a reformed United Nations empowering global democracy, where all countries have decision-making power, not just imperial powers.
• US, China, Russia, India, Pakistan, UK, France, North Korea, and Israel completely disarm.

Russia and China have offered to be willing partners in these initiatives. They have been proposing them to the United States and voting on them in the UN for more than ten years. Let us together make this real for the people and the planet.

SIGN THE TREATY – https://www.codepink.org/pcmanifesto

This Update relates to historic and important resources that can be useful for your participation in the public hearings about draft Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and its proposed operations in the next 15 years or so.  Public hearings under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) will begin on Tuesday, February 11th in Santa Fe, followed by a Wednesday, February 12th hearing in Española, and a Thursday, February 13th hearing in Los Alamos.  For more information, please visit:  https://nuclearactive.org/draft-lanl-site-wide-environmental-impact-statement-to-be-released-on-friday-january-10th/

On Thursday, January 16th, a settlement agreement between Savannah River Watch, The Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) was filed in the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, Aiken Division.  It is the successful result of a NEPA lawsuit against DOE for its failure to complete a programmatic environmental impact statement for proposed fabrication of plutonium “pit” bomb cores.  The court found that DOE failed to properly consider alternatives before proceeding with their plan to annually fabricate 30 plutonium pits at LANL and 50 at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. View PDF here:  https://nukewatch.org/settlement-agreement-and-exhibits

This is not the first time DOE failed to comply with NEPA.  Historical court rulings are attached to the Settlement Agreement as exhibits to the Declaration of Jay Coghlan, of Nuclear Watch New Mexico.  Declaration begins on p. 30 of the pdf, Exhibits begin on p. 37 of the pdf.

Coghlan provides three court rulings similar to the Savannah River Site case from federal and New Mexico court cases where the courts determined DOE violated NEPA.  They are a 1990 case about DOE’s national plans to modernize the nuclear weapons production complex and lack of plans to clean up its sites; a 1998 continuation of that case because DOE did not analyze the cleanup portion; and a 1995 case about DOE’s Stockpile Stewardship and Management Program and specifically, LANL’s Dual-Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test facility, or DARHT.  The decisions provide a history lesson about DOE’s patterns and practices to avoid NEPA compliance and how important it is for non-governmental organizations to bring lawsuits to compel compliance.

Dylan Spaulding, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist in the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, DC.  He also provided a declaration and extensive exhibits about the impacts of plutonium pit production to public health,  the environment and flaws in LANL’s worker safety and production, among others.  Declaration begins on p. 63 of the pdf, Exhibits begin on p. 69 of the pdf.

Spending time with both declarations and exhibits will enhance your knowledge and public comments about the draft LANL SWEIS.

Additional Declarations from:

General Anthony J. Cotton, Commander, United States Strategic Command, in Support of Defendants’ Position on Remedies.  Begins on p. 13 of the pdf.

Second Declaration of NNSA Administrator, Jill Hruby, in Support of Defendants’ Position on Remedies.  Begins on p. 20 of the pdf.

NNSA Deputy Administrator, Marvin Adams, in Support of Defendants’ Position on Remedies.  Begins on p. 26 of the pdf.

1. Join us on Friday, January 24th from noon to 1 pm at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament. Join the weekly peaceful protest with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners and join in the conversation for nuclear disarmament.

2. Sunday, January 26 at 7 am MST  – webinar “Autonomous Armageddon: Nuclear Weapons and AI,” explore the alarming dangers posed by the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into nuclear weapons command and control systems.  Panelists includes:  representative of Nihon Hidankyo, 2024 Nobel Peace Prize; Sir Geoffrey Hinton, 2024 Nobel Prize Winner in Physics; Connor Lahey, CEO of Conjecture; Dr. Ruth Mitchell, neurosurgeon and Chair of IPPNW, 1985 Nobel Peace Prize; Melissa Parke, Executive Director of ICAN, 2017 Nobel Peace Prize; with Moderator Karen Hallberg, Secretary General of Pugwash Conferences on Sciences and World Affairs, 1995 Nobel Peace Prize.   Register now:  https://www.ippnw.org/AI

3. Tuesday, January 28^th at 8 am MST – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Doomsday Clock Announcement at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, DC. For more information:  https://thebulletin.org/2025/01/join-us-for-the-2025-doomsday-clock-announcement/

4. Tuesday, January 28^th from 1 to 5:15 pm at Cities of Gold Ballroom – Dr. Inés Triay will speak about the findings from the Hexavalent Chromium Expert Technical Review. Meeting hosted by the Northern New Mexico Citizens’ Advisory Board of the DOE.  https://www.energy.gov/em/nnmcab/northern-new-mexico-citizens-advisory-board

 Visit https://www.energy.gov/em-la/hexavalent-chromium-campaign to find the Final Chromium Project (ITR Report w/appendices); Chromium Report Expert Technical Review Charge Letter; Chromium Project Expert Technical Review Team Members; a Hexavalent Chromium Fact Sheet; and a Hexavalent Chromium Plume FAQ.   

5. Wednesday, January 29^th from 5 to 7 pm MT – in person and virtual meeting – Hexavalent Chromium Expert Technical Review Findings to be Discussed at Environmental Management Cleanup Forum with DOE, NMED and Technical Review Team lead, Dr. Inés Triay, on the recommendations from the Hexavalent Chromium Expert Technical Review Report, including Q&A. For more information:  https://n3b-la.com/emcf_jan_29_2025/  
   

See No. 4 above for links to key documents. 

Earlier this week the U.S. Forest Service admitted that it has limited authority and oversight of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s proposed Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade Project, or EPCU, that would transmit 173 megawatts of energy across sacred National Forest System lands.  The admission made in its 35-page Response to Comments document to complete its role in the environmental assessment process.  20250113_LANL EPCU Objection Response

The EPCU Project is a 14-mile electrical transmission line beginning at the Norton substation in western Santa Fe County.  It crosses National Forest lands on the Cajas del Rio, over the Rio Grande and ends at LANL. The proposed line would follow the path of the two lines that have brought energy to LANL to power its supercomputers for decades. Let’s talk about the Caja Del Rio

Thousands of people submitted opposition comments to the Forest Service.  CCNS opposed the line because during the public comment period LANL and Los Alamos County secretly negotiated for a 170 megawatt solar project in San Juan County.  The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires disclosure of all alternatives.  https://nuclearactive.org/ccns-submits-comprehensive-comments-in-opposition-to-proposed-lanl-electrical-line/

Further, CCNS argued that the EPCU Project must be incorporated into the draft LANL Site-wide Environmental Impact Statement.  Last Friday, January 10th, the draft LANL SWEIS was released for public review and comment.  It assumes by slight of hand that the EPCU Project is a done deal to fulfill LANL’s energy needs. 250113 f LANL SWEIS Electricity

Surprisingly, the draft SWEIS documents LANL plans for 339 megawatts from new sources.  They are:  170 megawatts from the Foxtail Flats Solar + Battery Energy Storage System and 169 megawatts from solar photovoltaic arrays at LANL, demonstrating there is no need for the EPCU line.  https://nuclearactive.org/ccns-submits-comprehensive-comments-in-opposition-to-proposed-lanl-electrical-line/ and  https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-01-10/pdf/2025-00265.pdf

LANL claims it needs a reliable and redundant electrical power supply to support mission programs, including powering supercomputers, and that “electrical power supply forecasts project that existing transmission lines … will reach capacity before 2027 and LANL will not have the electrical power supply to meet mission requirements.”

But that is not true.  For over 25 years, LANL’s energy needs have remained basically constant at about 100 megawatts.  During this time LANL has been in the race to develop the fastest supercomputers in the world and won accolades.

One key fact LANL omits in its quest for more energy is that as supercomputers become faster, they also become more efficient and require less, not more, energy as evidenced by its stable energy use over the decades.

The EPCU Project is not needed.  LANL must withdraw the environmental assessment.

1. Start the New Year off right and join us on Friday, January 17th at noon at the intersection of West Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament. Join the weekly peaceful protest with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners and join in the conversation for nuclear disarmament. 

2. Monday, January 20th at 4:30 MT – REPLAY of the inspiring An Alternative Inauguration: Artists and Activists Celebrating in Beloved Community webinar.  Presented by King and Breaking the Silence (KBS): A Project of the National Council of Elders.  KBS is choosing to honor Dr. King’s vision of our nation by gathering people online on his actual birthday, January 15th, to celebrate acts of creativity and peacemaking. https://kingandbreakingsilence.org/

3. Saturday, January 18^th through Monday, January 20^th – The MLK 2025 Dream Weekend; Theme: Mission Possible:  Protecting Freedom, Justice and Democracy in the Spirit of Nonviolence 365.  https://nmmlksc.org/

 Sat. Jan. 18^th at 9 am – The MLK Commemorative March (begins at corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. and University Blvd. NE on the UNM Campus); 11 am Commemorative Ceremony at Civic Plaza

 Sun. Jan. 19^th at 3 pm – MLK Service – Sponsored by The Baptist Ministers Union, Shiloh MBC, 608 Avenida Cesar Chavez SE, ABQ

 Mon. Jan. 20^th at 8 am – MLK Breakfast – Sponsored by Grant Chapel Embassy Suites, 1000 Woodward Place NE, ABQ

 For more information:  Beverly.gaines@mlkjrc.nm.gov

4. Saturday, January 18^th at noon – National Women’s March from Taos Plaza go the Taos County Courthouse, followed by short talks and music from Christine Autumn from 1 to 3 pm. Dress for the weather.  Signs welcome!  Questions:  575-779-6433 or 505 205-6454. 

5. Monday, January 20^th from noon to 1 pm – NAACP Santa Fe Celebrates MLK Jr. Day at the State Capitol Rotunda, 490 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, NM. For more information, contact NAACP Santa Fe Branch at naacpsfnm@gmail.com.

6. Tuesday, January 21^st at 9 am at NM State Capitol – Call for Climate Courage – Demand meaningful action from lawmakers on the first day of the legislative session. Sponsored by Youth United for Climate Crisis Action (YUCCA).  For more information:  info@earthcarenm.org

7. Tuesday, January 21^st from 6 to 7 pm – LANL Director Thom Mason’s first virtual Town Hall of 2025 on zoom to answer your questions. No advance registration is required.
   

Via Zoom: lanl.zoomgov.com/j/1601904198?pwd=Hj3iYyjwzIC8E2AW2qowabeFjNf6BG.1

Meeting ID: 160 190 4198

Passcode: LANL0124

To submit a question live or in advance of the Town Hall, email AskLANL@lanl.gov.

For more information: https://www.lanl.gov/engage/community/public-town-hall

8. Tuesday, January 28^th – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Doomsday Clock Announcement. https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/

“In truth, the Doomsday Clock is a global alarm clock.  We need to wake up – and get to work.”  Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, February 6, 2023. 

More than two years after the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) sought public input about the scope of a site-wide environmental impact statement (SWEIS) for Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) operations, a draft LANL SWEIS will be released for a 60-day public review and comment period on Friday, January 10th.  Public hearings will be held during the week of February 10th.  The public comment period ends on March 11th.  https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-01-10/pdf/2025-00265.pdf

DOE claims the draft SWEIS will project public health, safety and environmental impacts out 15-years, or until 2040.  A 15-year analysis is unacceptable. 

Generally, DOE has released a SWEIS every decade, starting in 1999 and continuing in 2008.  https://www.energy.gov/nepa/eis-0238-continued-operation-los-alamos-national-laboratory-los-alamos-new-mexico (1999) and https://www.energy.gov/nepa/doeeis-0380-site-wide-environmental-impact-statement-continued-operation-los-alamos-national (2008)  To remain on its schedule, the public expected the next SWEIS to be completed by 2018.  That did not happen.

During the seven year delay, the public has had to rely on the outdated 2008 SWEIS.  DOE should have completed the final SWEIS in 2018.  DOE did not.

Seven years is almost a decade.  DOE is now saying this SWEIS will cover 15 years of operations.  This is unacceptable.  When one adds the seven years the public has been waiting for this LANL SWEIS to DOE’s 15 years in this SWEIS, the time period expands to 22 years – or over two decades – or roughly two SWEIS periods.

Looking back, dramatic changes occurred during those seven years.  LANL’s annual budget doubled to over five billion dollars.  Seventy-nine percent of those taxpayer funds are for fabrication of plutonium pits, or triggers, for nuclear weapons.  As a result, there are unanalyzed impacts from that work.  For example, construction of new buildings, accommodations for over 2,000 new employees, increased air emissions, water use, waste handling and traffic, among other support services.  Those support services are paid with the remaining 21 percent of the budget.  https://nukewatch.org/resources-and-information/economic-information/ – see LANL FY 2024 Congressional Budget Request.

It is time to raise your voice!

DOE and NNSA will hold public hearings on their draft SWEIS.  The first hearing will be in-person and virtual on Tuesday, February 11th at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center from 1 to 4 pm and 5 to 9 pm.  The second hearing will be in person only on Wednesday, February 12th from 5 to 8 pm in Española at the Mision y Convento.  The third hearing will be in person only on Thursday, February 13th in Los Alamos at Fuller Lodge from 5 to 8 pm.  https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-01-10/pdf/2025-00265.pdf

1. Start the New Year off right and join us on Friday, January 10th at noon at the intersection of West Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament. Join the weekly peaceful protest with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners and join in the conversation for nuclear disarmament. 

2. Wednesday, January 15^th at 4:30 MT – An Alternative Inauguration: Artists and Activists Celebrating in Beloved Community webinar.  Presented by King and Breaking the Silence (KBS): A Project of the National Council of Elders.  KBS is choosing to honor Dr. King’s vision of our nation by gathering people online on his actual birthday, January 15th, to celebrate acts of creativity and peacemaking.  Register at https://kingandbreakingsilence.org/

3. Thursday, January 16^th at 11 am MT – Demystifying Divestment – Learn how to move our money out of the industries that threaten our shared future. Register Now .  https://warheadstowindmills.org/demystifying-divestment/

Learn about the power of divestment as a campaign and organizational tool with Susi Snyder, Programme Coordinator, Int’l Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, and Nick Cantrell, Green Future Wealth Management.  Hear about its past and current successes to effect change.  Understand how you can take part and make a difference with your money and in your community.

4. Saturday, January 18^th through Monday, January 20^th – The MLK 2025 Dream Weekend; Theme: Mission Possible:  Protecting Freedom, Justice and Democracy in the Spirit of Nonviolence 365.  https://nmmlksc.org/

 Sat. Jan. 18^th at 9 am – The MLK Commemorative March (begins at corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. and University Blvd. NE on the UNM Campus); 11 am Commemorative Ceremony at Civic Plaza

 Sun. Jan. 19^th at 3 pm – MLK Service – Sponsored by The Baptist Ministers Union, Shiloh MBC, 608 Avenida Cesar Chavez SE, ABQ

 Mon. Jan. 20^th at 8 am – MLK Breakfast – Sponsored by Grant Chapel Embassy Suites, 1000 Woodward Place NE, ABQ

 For more information:  Beverly.gaines@mlkjrc.nm.gov

5. Possibly the third week of January – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Doomsday Clock Announcement.

 “In truth, the Doomsday Clock is a global alarm clock.  We need to wake up – and get to work.”  Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, February 6, 2023.

The New Mexico Environment Department’s hazardous waste permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) requires the Department of Energy (DOE) to submit a Legacy Transuranic, or TRU, Waste Disposal Plan to the Environment Department.  DOE submitted its inadequate plan on November 4^th for a 60-day public comment period, which ends on Friday, January 3^rd, 2025.  https://wipp.energy.gov/Library/documents/2024/24-0772-s.pdf

A sample public comment letter you can use to create your comments is available here.  241230 LegacyWasteDisposalPlan SampleLetter

The DOE plan ignores the promises DOE made to New Mexicans.  WIPP was sold as a pilot project to clean up Cold War legacy radioactive and hazardous waste at DOE’s nuclear weapons sites located across the country.  It was a test case for the deep geologic disposal of transuranic, or plutonium-contaminated, nuclear waste made during the Cold War.  DOE promised it would cleanup all its transuranic waste, ship it to WIPP for disposal and close WIPP after 25 years of operations.  WIPP opened in 1999 and was scheduled to close in 2024.

But DOE changed its mind.  DOE now wants to keep WIPP open until at least 2083 for the transuranic waste created by fabricating new plutonium triggers, or pits, for nuclear weapons at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.  DOE is ignoring its promises and the buried transuranic waste at LANL that needs to be packaged and shipped to WIPP.  Further, there are 2,025 transuranic waste containers stored aboveground in the Area G fabric tents in a wildfire zone.  https://n3b-la.com/area-g-tru/

New Mexicans can challenge DOE’s plan through the WIPP Hazardous Waste Permit and the three new permit conditions that address the need for another nuclear waste repository in a state other than New Mexico; the need to prioritize and reduce risk of transuranic waste stored in New Mexico; and the need for a Legacy TRU Waste Disposal Plan that prioritizes disposal of Cold War legacy waste over newly generated nuclear waste, including at LANL.  https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/wipp-permit-page/ , see permit conditions 2.14.3 Repository Siting Annual Report; 4.2.1.4 Prioritization and Risk Reduction of New Mexico Waste; and 4.2.1.5 Legacy TRU Waste Disposal Plan on the attached.  240924 NMED WIPP HazWaste Renewal Permit Conditions

DOE’s plan fails to define legacy waste.  DOE’s definition is explicitly intended to include as legacy waste whatever any DOE site describes as legacy, including waste generated more than a decade after WIPP opened.  The plan also includes as legacy waste “surplus” plutonium that DOE plans to ship and process at LANL and dispose of at WIPP.

DOE will submit the public comments to the Environment Department before the end of January.  The Environment Department will determine whether DOE met the permit requirements for the plan.

The public comments that have been submitted so far are available on the WIPP homepage at the third blue box labeled “Legacy TRU Waste Disposal Plan” or at https://wipp.energy.gov/Legacy-TRU-Waste-Disposal-Plan.asp

1. Start the New Year off right and join us on Friday, January 3^rd at noon at the intersection of West Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament. Join the weekly peaceful protest with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners and join in the conversation for nuclear disarmament. 

2. Possibly the third week of January – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Doomsday Clock Announcement.

 “In truth, the Doomsday Clock is a global alarm clock.  We need to wake up – and get to work.”  Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, February 6, 2023. 

A new condition in the New Mexico Environment Department’s hazardous waste permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) requires the Department of Energy (DOE) to submit a Legacy Transuranic Waste Disposal Plan to the Environment Department.  DOE submitted its Plan on November 4^th, 2024 for a 60-day public comment period.

Your electronic public comments may be submitted to DOE on or before Friday, January 3, 2025 to LTWDP@wipp.doe.gov.  Sample public comments you can use are available on the Stop Forever WIPP website.  https://stopforeverwipp.org/take-action-1

The comments that have already been submitted are available on the WIPP homepage at the third blue box labeled “Legacy TRU Waste Disposal Plan” or at https://wipp.energy.gov/Legacy-TRU-Waste-Disposal-Plan.asp

DOE will submit the Plan and comments to the Environment Department before the end of January.  The Environment Department will review them to determine whether DOE has met the permit requirements for the Plan.

The purpose of the Plan is for DOE to define legacy transuranic, or TRU, waste and legacy TRU mixed waste.  Transuranic, or plutonium-contaminated, TRU waste is generated through the research, development and testing of nuclear weapons and because it contains plutonium, it must be disposed in a deep geologic facility, like WIPP, to prevent exposure to it and other radioactive elements.  Many people have defined “legacy” waste as waste generated and managed as of 1999, the year WIPP opened.

DOE’s plan to define legacy waste fails to comply with the hazardous waste permit requirements.  DOE’s definition is explicitly intended to include as legacy waste whatever any DOE site describes as legacy, including waste generated more than a decade after WIPP opened.  The plan also includes as legacy waste “surplus” plutonium that DOE plans to ship and process at LANL.

Many people are concerned about the delayed efforts to get transuranic waste “off the hill” at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).  Currently 2,025 TRU waste containers are located in the fabric tents at LANL’s Area G disposal site.  https://n3b-la.com/area-g-tru/

As we prepare to review the 25^th year since the Cerro Grande fire burned over 7,000 acres at LANL, it is important to ask why 2,025 TRU waste containers remain stored aboveground at Area G.  The May 2000 fire came within a half-mile of the fabric tents.

While getting legacy waste off the hill is a priority for the public, it is not for DOE.  It has instead prioritized shipping newly generated waste from nuclear weapons fabrication to WIPP over legacy waste.

It is also important that your comments support another new permit condition that requires WIPP to provide a detailed report on its progress to site another repository for TRU waste in a state other than New Mexico.  By December 31^st of each year, WIPP is required to submit the Repository Siting Annual Report to the Environment Department.  DOE has waffled about whether this report will be posted on the WIPP website.  The Environment Department has stated it will post the report on its website.  https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/wipp/

Make time to submit your comments on the Plan.  Together we are making a difference!

1. Friday, December 27^th at noon at the intersection of West Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament. Join the weekly peaceful protest with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners!

2. Possibly the third week of January – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Doomsday Clock Announcement.

 “In truth, the Doomsday Clock is a global alarm clock.  We need to wake up – and get to work.”  Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, February 6, 2023. 

There is a unique opportunity to provide your comments about the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant’s Legacy Transuranic Waste Disposal Plan.  The disposal plan describes WIPP’s strategies to keep the disposal site for plutonium-contaminated hazardous wastes open for 60 more years, despite WIPP’s promises to New Mexicans to close in 2024.

Comments are due to WIPP on or before Friday, January 3^rd, 2025.  Sample public comments you can use are available on the Stop Forever WIPP website.  https://stopforeverwipp.org/home  You can review comments already submitted on the WIPP website at the third blue box labeled “Legacy TRU Waste Disposal Plan.”  https://wipp.energy.gov/

Once the comment period ends on January 3, 2025, WIPP must submit the public’s comments to the New Mexico Environment Department for its review about whether to accept the disposal plan or reject it as inadequate because it does not meet the hazardous waste permit requirements.

This administrative process is being done because the Stop Forever WIPP Coalition’s efforts to hold the Department of Energy, WIPP and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) accountable for the plutonium-contaminated wastes generated since the making of the first nuclear weapons tested in New Mexico and used over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan in 1945.   Testing and developing nuclear weapons has been the main work at LANL since 1943.  Such work generates plutonium-contaminated waste that must be disposed to prevent exposure to radiation.  For that reason disposing of the waste in WIPP 2,100 feet below ground surface is to prevent such exposures.  The term “legacy” refers to waste generated before 1999, the year the WIPP disposal site opened.

For New Mexicans, it is important to provide comments about why the plutonium-contaminated legacy waste buried and stored at LANL must be prioritized, packaged, transported and disposed of at WIPP, as required by the state hazardous waste permit.  LANL has instead prioritized newly generated waste from nuclear weapons fabrication over legacy waste to the detriment of the needed cleanup to protect public health and the environment.

It is also important that your comments support another new permit condition that requires WIPP to provide a detailed report on progress to site another repository for plutonium-contaminated waste in a state other than New Mexico.  By December 31^st of each year, WIPP is required to submit the Repository Siting Annual Report to the Environment Department.  240924 NMED WIPP HazWaste Renewal Permit Conditions

Please submit your comments electronically to LTWDP@wipp.doe.gov by Friday, January 3^rd, 2025.

TOGETHER WE ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE!

1. Friday, December 20^th at noon at the intersection of West Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament. Join the weekly peaceful protest with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners!

1. TODAY! ACTION ALERT: Stop Tritium Venting and Protect the Most Vulnerable – TWO ACTIONS TO DO NO LATER THAN TODAY THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2024  https://tewawomenunited.org/2024/11/action-alert-stop-tritium-venting-and-protect-the-most-vulnerable

In collaboration with New Mexico Environmental Law Center, Tewa Women United issued a press release on November 19: “New Report Reveals Los Alamos National Laboratory Tritium Venting Could Have Triple the Radiation Exposure to Infants Compared to Adults”

TWU commissioned two independent technical reports by respected scientists to study impacts of the venting of radioactive tritium. The finding: LANL omitted dose calculations to infants and children in their compliance application.

We are requesting that TWU supporters and everyone concerned about protecting the most vulnerable take these two actions no later than Thursday, December 19, 2024:

1) CALL/EMAIL EPA REGION 6:

Earthea Nance, PhD, PE
Regional Administrator, Region 6
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(214) 665-2200

Call Script Earthea Nance

Email Earthea Nance (script to copy and paste)

2) CALL/EMAIL THE NATIONAL NUCLEAR SAFETY ADMINISTRATION (NNSA):

Theodore ‘Ted’ Wyka, Environmental Manager
National Nuclear Security Administration
Los Alamos Field Office
505-667-5105

Call Script Ted Wyka

Email Ted Wyka (script to copy and paste)