Join the Nagasaki Commemoration on Sunday, August 9th and the Fire on the Mountain Billboard Unveiling on Tuesday, August 11th

Did you know that the nuclear bomb the United States of America dropped on Nagasaki, Japan on August 9th, 1945 was fabricated at Los Alamos National Laboratory?  Or that the radioactive waste from that fabrication remains buried at LANL? This is a circle that needs to be closed by removing the waste to a place where it can do no harm.

Dr. Ivana Nikolić Hughes, the President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, will speak on Sunday, August 9th beginning at 10 am on the Santa Fe Plaza to commemorate the lives lost in Nagasaki 81 years ago. https://www.wagingpeace.org/ivana_nikolic_hughes/ Please join with the Veterans for Peace, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, the Santa Fe Raging Grannies and others for an informal gathering to honor the Hiroshima and Nagasaki hibakusha, sing-alongs, and short speeches.

Then at 10:45 am you are invited to attend the 11 am mass at the Cathedral Basilica where Father Ito of Japan will give a brief homily calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Father Ito currently serves as the Parochial Vicar, or Associate Pastor, of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Santa Fe, under the guidance of Pastor, Reverend Daniel Dupre. https://www.guadalupesantafe.org/

On Tuesday, August 11th at 11 am Mountain Time, two new billboards with the message “One Fire Away, Radioactive Santa Fe,” will be unveiled along Interstate 25 at the La Cienega exit, mile marker 272.

Raise your voice to end the nuclear weapons cycle and join us at the billboard site at Two Pablo Drive, Santa Fe.  See the directions and map at https://www.burythebarrels.org/ .

The Fire on the Mountain Coalition launched this effort  because public safety demands that the Department of Energy (DOE) remove the Cold War-era nuclear weapons waste from the forest at LANL to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). https://wipp.energy.gov/ DOE has failed to prioritize the waste removal and allowed it to sit in fabric tents bordering the community of White Rock.

The Governor and the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) are serious about resolving this threat by changing the WIPP permit and allowing NMED to track DOE’s progress to move the plutonium-contaminated waste. WIPP and its contractors are fighting the common sense solution and have refused to participate in on-going negotiations. https://www.burythebarrels.org/articles

1. The new film, An Ordinary Insanity, about the renowned whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and the Nuclear Threat is available for FREE at https://www.anordinaryinsanity.com/. To view the 29-minute film, go to the Screenings Page at https://www.anordinaryinsanity.com/screenings     The film is a powerful wakeup call about the global threat posed by nuclear weapons and advocates how we can dramatically reduce the real and present danger of nuclear annihilation.

PLEASE SHARE ONLINE and SCREEN AT PUBLIC EVENTS.

2. Michael Moore put his film, “Sicko,” about the unequal health care system in America on YouTube. Watch it here for free.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ4TQ9q8rPc

3. Friday, August 7^th from noon to 1 pm – Join the nuclear disarmament community at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval in Santa Fe for the weekly peaceful protest in support of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Join with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners.

4. Wednesday, August 12^th from 5 to 6 pm at the Santa Fe Public Library – Southside Library Community Room, 6599 Jaguar Drive, Santa Fe – Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Meet and Greet. This meeting will be an informal gathering to learn more about the DNFSB’s role to protect public health and safety through independent oversight of the DOE’s defense nuclear facilities, including LANL, Sandia and WIPP. There will be a brief overview, followed by a Q&A and opportunity to speak with the team afterwards for continued discussion.  For more information, contact the DNFSB’s Chief of Staff, Kyle D. Johnson at 202-701-8964.

5. Thursday, August 13^th – New Mexico Legislature Interim Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee meeting in Los Alamos. For the most current information about this meeting, visit https://www.nmlegis.gov/Committee/Interim_Committee?CommitteeCode=RHMC

Tags: Cathedral Basilica, Department of Energy, DOE, Dr. Ivana Nikolić Hughes, Father Ito, Fire on the Mountain Coalition, Hiroshima, LANL, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Nagasaki, New Mexico Environment Department, NMED, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, One Fire Away – Radioactive Santa Fe billboard, President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Reverend Dupre, Santa Fe Plaza, Santa Fe Raging Grannies, Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Veterans for Peace, VFP, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, WIPP