Current Activities

DOE Tries to Hire Away Another New Mexico WQCC Decision Maker

 

It was revealed at the Tuesday, April 11th monthly meeting of the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission that the Department of Energy (DOE) had approached Kelsey Rader, an at-large member of the Commission, on Good Friday about a job with DOE.  If Commissioner Rader took a position with DOE, she would be the third official who was hired away by DOE during the Commission’s review of DOE’s New Mexico Environment Department ground water discharge permit.

The permit, called DP-1132, would cover the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).  The Environment Department issued the permit to DOE under the New Mexico Water Quality Act on May 5, 2022.

Since 2013, CCNS has vigorously challenged the permit, arguing that the Facility handles, treats and stores dangerous hazardous waste and must be regulated by the more protective New Mexico Hazardous Waste Act.

DOE hired away two previous hearing officers while they were presiding over the public hearings about DP-1132.  They were Erin Anderson in 2018 and Stephanie Stringer in 2022.  Anderson was an Environment Department hearing officer, who went to work for DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).  http://nuclearactive.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/CCW-MOTION-TO-VACATE-AND-REMAND-WQCC-18-05-A-on-DP-1132-20190204.pdf AND http://nuclearactive.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/190606-CCW-Petition-for-Mandamus-2019-06-06.pdf  Stringer was the Environment Department Deputy Cabinet Secretary and Chair of the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission.  Stringer also went to work for NNSA.  http://nuclearactive.org/ccns-and-hope-return-to-water-quality-control-commission-for-justice-in-the-discharge-permit-dp-1132-matter/

“It was shocking to be in the hearing room when this information about Commissioner Rader discussing a job with DOE was revealed,” said Joni Arends, of CCNS.

Commissioner Rader did speak with Commission Counsel, Robert F. Sanchez, before the meeting.  And, out of an abundance of caution, Rader did abstain from voting on the DP-1132 matter.

One of the Commission’s tasks at the meeting was to elect a new Chair and Vice Chair.  Bruce Thomson was elected Chair, and Kelsey Rader, who is discussing a job with DOE, was elected Vice-Chair.  https://www.env.nm.gov/opf/water-quality-control-commission/

You can watch the Commission’s meeting on the Environment Department’s YouTube page.  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1mQA0FgEgoLqs4Hktlvi4g

The next Commission action in this matter will be to hear oral arguments at its Tuesday, May 9th meeting.  The Commission will consider whether CCNS and Honor Our Pueblo Existence (HOPE) have standing to bring their challenge to the Water Quality Act permit.  https://www.env.nm.gov/events-calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D165936752

If the Commission votes that CCNS and HOPE have standing, then the Commission will consider the CCNS and HOPE petition for a permit review.  The Water Quality Act has a limitation that no permit may be issued if the Hazardous Waste Act covers a facility because it handles, treats or stores dangerous hazardous waste.


Did You Know about these Opportunities to Get Involved?

 

  1. Friday, April 14th from noon to 1 pm – Join the weekly peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament on the corners of Alameda and Guadalupe in downtown Santa Fe with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, Pax Christi and others.

 

 

  1. Sunday, April 16th from 1 pm to 4:30 pm – What is WIPP? Free educational conference – in-person in Santa Fe and on Zoom – in Spanish and English. Join New Mexicans to learn about the New Mexico Environment Department’s draft renewal permit for the continued operation of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).  DOE says it wants to:
    • keep WIPP open until at least 2080;
    • double the size of the underground disposal facility for expanded plutonium pit production waste generation at LANL;
    • bring powdered surplus plutonium for disposal, among other wastes.

 

There will be presentations about WIPP history, the facility, and proposed expansion of WIPP, NMED’s draft operating permit, and the ways in which the public can have a say in WIPP’s future.  Comments are due Wednesday, April 19th by 5 pm MT to the NMED.  For more information, please visit:  https://stopforeverwipp.org/home

 

  1. April 15th to 22nd Shut Down Drone Warfare – Holloman Air Force Base in southern New Mexico – “From Tax Day to Earth Day, Rise Up!” Co-sponsored by CODEPINK, Veterans for Peace and Ban Killer Drones.  Join in a week of peaceful resistance against drone warfare and out-of-control U.S. empire.  Why Holloman?  It is the largest-drone training base in the U.S. – training 600 or more drone pilots and operators annually.  For more information:  http://www.shutdowndronewarfare.org/

Three great peace activists join us to discuss the upcoming protest at Holloman Air Force Base in April. Toby Blome, Colonel Ann Wright, and Ken Mayers talk about drones, the dangers, and the damage to people on the ground and people at the control. They also discuss the international ramifications of drones and their uncontrolled spread. With all that, they are protesting at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico and are encouraging people to come. There will be transportation, lodging, food, workshops, speakers, music, and yes non-violent direct action, specifics are a secret.  https://soundcloud.com/user-55976759/33023-veterans-for-peace-shut-down-drone-warfare-protest-is-coming

 

  1. Wednesday, April 19th by 5 pm MT – Comments about the draft hazardous waste permit for WIPP due to NMED. For sample talking points and comments you can modify and personalize to submit, visit https://stopforeverwipp.org/

 

 

  1. Wednesday, April 19th from 5 to 7 pm – Virtual NMED meeting to modify LANL hazardous waste permit to add a new container storage unit at TA-60 (an infrastructure support technical area). https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/lanl-permit/ , scroll down to Permit News for March 13, 2023 entry.  Comments are due on or before May 15, 2023.     

 

 

  1. Saturday, April 22ndEARTH DAY! Check for events in your area!
 

What is WIPP? A Free Educational Conference April 16th

Sunday, April 16, from 1PM to 4:30 PM

 the Stop Forever WIPP Coalition will hold

a Free Educational Conference about

WIPP

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

English and Spanish

In-Person at the Courtyard by Marriott

3347 Cerrillos Road in Santa Fe

and on Zoom

 The conference will educate people statewide about WIPP, the Department of Energy’s plans to expand WIPP, and how you can influence the State WIPP Renewal Permit which is under consideration right now.

IN-PERSON

The conference will take place at the Courtyard by Marriott, 3347 Cerrillos Road in Santa Fe.

We will start promptly at 1:00 pm so please arrive a little early. There is plenty of free parking.

Please register for the In-Person Conference, through the link on the homepage at: https://stopforeverwipp.org

ZOOM

For Zoom please register at:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYkcu2tpzIsGdOtLBqy60Tle1ggNH85F_fV  

You will receive your link to the Zoom conference after registration.

The Conference will provide information on WIPP history & geology, the WIPP Facility, DOE’s proposed expansion of WIPP, the New Mexico Environment Department’s Draft Permit, and ways in which the public can have a say in WIPP’s future.

There will be an opportunity during the Conference to write individual public comments about the Draft Permit. You will also learn how to participate in the upcoming WIPP public hearing. The deadline to submit public comments to the Environment Department is 5pm on Wednesday, April 19th.

Also at https://stopforeverwipp.org you can link to a sample public comment letter. Copy the sample letter into your email and add your own personal comments if you wish. Be sure to add your name, address and date and email it to NMED’s Ricardo Maestas at ricardo.maestas@env.nm.gov.

 


 

Domingo 16 de Abril, de 1PM a 4:30PM,

la Coalición para Detener WIPP Para Siempre dará una

Conferencia Educativa Gratis, sobre

WIPP

La Planta Piloto de Aislamiento de Residuos

en Español e Inglés,

En persona  en el Courtyard by Marriot,

3347 Cerrillos Road, Santa Fe 87507

y en Zoom

La conferencia es para informar a nivel estatal sobre WIPP, los planes del Departamento de Energía para expandir WIPP, y cómo puede usted influenciar el Permiso del Estado para Renovar WIPP que está siendo considerado en estos momentos.

              En persona

              La conferencia será en el Courtyard by Marriot, 3347 Cerrillos Road, Santa Fe 87507.

Comenzaremos a la 1PM en punto, por favor llegue unos minutos antes.  Hay suficiente estacionamiento gratis. Por favor regístrese para participar en persona en el enlace de la página: https://stopforeverwipp.org

              ZOOM

              Para participar en Zoom por favor regístrese en:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYkcu2tpzIsGdOtLBqy60Tle1ggNH85F_fV 

              Al registrarse, usted recibirá un enlace para la conferencia.

La Conferencia dará información sobre la historia y geología de WIPP, las instalaciones WIPP, la propuesta expansión de WIPP por parte del DOE, el Borrador del Permiso del Departamento del Medioambiente de Nuevo México, y maneras en que el público puede dar su voz respecto al futuro de WIPP.

Durante la Conferencia tendrá la oportunidad de escribir sus comentarios personales públicos respecto al Borrador del Permiso. También le informaremos cómo participar durante la próxima audiencia pública sobre WIPP.  La fecha límite para entregar los comentarios del público al Departamento del Medioambiente es Miércoles 19 de Abril a las 5pm.

 

También en https://stopforeverwipp.org puede enlazarse a una carta muestra de comentario. Copie y envíela desde su cuenta personal añadiendo sus comentarios personales si desea. Asegúrese de escribir su nombre, dirección y fecha al enviarla al NMED a Ricardo Maestas a ricardo.maestas@env.nm.gov.

 

Urgent! Your comments needed immediately

Dear friends:

We are writing with concerning news regarding the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS) and Honor Our Pueblo Existence (HOPE) have filed for a review of the Water Quality Act permit that was issued last May by the New Mexico Environment Department.

On April 6th, the NM Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) hearing officer recommended that the WQCC dismiss the position that CCNS and HOPE have standing in this permit review of DP-1132.

Now we need your help! Please submit comments to the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission BEFORE TOMORROW’S 9AM MEETING. Sample comment available here: 230410 Public comments to WQCC Members

You can submit your comments electronically to Pamela Jones, Hearing Clerk at Pamela.Jones@env.nm.gov or at the NMED Public Comment Portal at https://nmed.commentinput.com/?id=ZCP4E

Please participate in the public hearing tomorrow, April 11th at 9 am, either in person or virtually and make your voice heard.  We are agenda item No. 9.

Thank you!

CCNS Board and Staff

 

NMED’s Permit Allows LANL Loopholes for Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility

BREAK THE SILENCE!

It’s time to break the silence about the permitting of the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory.  Since 1963, the Facility has handled, treated and stored radioactive and hazardous liquid waste generated at the Plutonium Facility, where the triggers, or plutonium pits, for nuclear weapons are fabricated.

The New Mexico Environment Department has refused to regulate the Facility under the New Mexico Hazardous Waste Act even though the law regulates hazardous materials “from cradle to grave.”

In May 2022, for the first time, the Environment Department did permit the Facility, but under a less strict law – the New Mexico Water Quality Act.  It is ground water discharge permit, DP-1132.

This permit provides many loopholes and is totally inappropriate for the Facility and for the construction and operation of two new radioactive liquid waste treatment facilities, all without any public process as required by the Hazardous Waste Act.

Under the Water Quality Act permit, the Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration need only submit the plans and specifications to the Environment Department for review.  Unlike the Hazardous Waste Act, there is no requirement for advance public notice, no public review and comment, and no opportunity for a public hearing.

One of the new facilities will treat low-level radioactive and hazardous liquid waste.  The other is in the planning stages for treating plutonium-contaminated radioactive and hazardous liquid waste.  When CCNS asked Environment Department officials if they themselves had the technical expertise to review plans and specifications for a nuclear facility that handles, treats and stores radioactive and hazardous waste, they said no.  And when CCNS asked them the same question about the expertise of their technical contractors, they also said no.

Another loophole in the Water Quality Act is that it omits the seismic analyses for the new facilities built on volcanic tuff in a seismic zone on the eastern slope of an active volcano, above a sole source regional drinking water aquifer and the Rio Grande.

Again, in contrast to the Hazardous Waste Act, this permit omits analyses of the seismic vulnerability and risk in Los Alamos County and the surrounding counties from Taos to Bernalillo.

Our concerns are not unfounded.  Recall that the proposed Nuclear Facility, as part of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Project, was eventually canceled because of the increasing cost to address the unresolved threats of seismic action within the Pajarito Fault System.

CCNS and Honor Our Pueblo Existence (HOPE) have challenged the issuance of DP-1132 before the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission.  The filings are available at:  https://www.env.nm.gov/opf/docketed-matters/ , scroll down to WQCC 22-21:  Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety and Honor Our Pueblo Existence’s Petition for Review of NMED Ground Water Discharge Permit DP-1132.

Break the silence and express your concerns to the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission at its May 9th meeting.  https://www.env.nm.gov/events-calendar/?trumbaEmbed=date%3D20230501%26index%3D0

Stay tuned to nuclearactive.org and our social media channels.


  1. Friday, April 7th from noon to 1 pm – Join the weekly peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament on the corners of Alameda and Guadalupe in downtown Santa Fe with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, Pax Christi and others.

 

 

  1. Saturday, April 8th at 1 pm – Cindy Weehler, of 285 ALL, and Joni Arends, of CCNS, will be in conversation about the April 16th free Educational Conference about WIPP with Carol Boss on Women’s Focus on KUNM 89.9 FM.

 

 

  1. Sunday, April 16th from 1 pm to 4:30 pm – What is WIPP? Free educational conference – in-person in Santa Fe and on Zoom – in Spanish and English. Join people statewide to learn about the DOE’s pending application with the New Mexico Environment Department for the continued operation of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).  There will be presentations about WIPP history, the facility, and proposed expansion of WIPP, NMED’s draft operating permit, and the ways in which the public can have a say in WIPP’s future.  For more information:  https://stopforeverwipp.org/home

 

 

  1. April 15th to 22ndShut Down Drone Warfare – Holloman Air Force Base in southern New Mexico – “From Tax Day to Earth Day, Rise Up!” Co-sponsored by CODEPINK, Veterans for Peace and Ban Killer Drones.  Join for a week of peaceful resistance against drone warfare and out-of-control U.S. empire.  Why Holloman?  It is the largest-drone training base in the U.S. – training 600 or more drone pilots and operators annually.  For more information:  http://www.shutdowndronewarfare.org/ and listen to

 

Three great peace activists join us to discuss the upcoming protest at Holloman Air Force Base in April. Toby Blome, Colonel Ann Wright, and Ken Mayers talk about drones, the dangers, and the damage to people on the ground and people at the control. They also discuss the international ramifications of drones and their uncontrolled spread. With all that, they are protesting at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico and are encouraging people to come. There will be transportation, lodging, food, workshops, speakers, music, and yes non-violent direct action, specifics are a secret.  https://soundcloud.com/user-55976759/33023-veterans-for-peace-shut-down-drone-warfare-protest-is-coming

 

  1. Wednesday, April 19thComments about the draft hazardous waste permit for WIPP due to NMED. Stay tuned for sample talking points and comments you can modify and personalize to submit.

 

 

  1. Wednesday, April 19th from 5 to 7 pm – Virtual NMED meeting to modify LANL hazardous waste permit to add a new container storage unit at TA-60 (an infrastructure support technical area). https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/lanl-permit/ , scroll down to Permit News for March 13, 2023 entry.   
 

NNSA and DOE Officials Will Be in Santa Fe on Tuesday, April 4th to Answer Your Questions

The National Nuclear Security Administrator Jill Hruby and Senior Advisor to the Department of Energy Office of Environment Management Ike White will be in Santa Fe next week for a public town hall.  It is essential that they hear from you!

You are invited to the question and answer town hall in-person or virtually on Tuesday, April 4th from 6:30 pm at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center, at 201 West Marcy Street in Santa Fe.  The entrance to underground parking is available from Federal Place.  The virtual links will be available closer to the event.

Our top issues are expansion of nuclear weapons operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).  Both are Department of Energy (DOE) sites in New Mexico.  As more information is revealed about the very expensive expansion plans, it is clear that the proposed doubling of the size of the underground disposal site at WIPP is needed to support proposed expansion of plutonium pit production at LANL.  The pits are the triggers of nuclear weapons.

None of the plans make common sense.  For example, it is estimated that over the next 50 years, pit production will add an estimated 57,550 cubic meters, or 2,032,360 cubic feet, of radioactive and hazardous waste.  These volumes constitute more than half of WIPP’s estimated expansion capacity.  Our common sense requires us to ask:  What other waste is expected to be disposed at WIPP?  The federal agencies have not said.

But under agreements, WIPP is supposed to close in 2024.  DOE wants to keep WIPP operating until at least 2080.  But WIPP was not designed to operate until then.

Some possible questions for Hruby and White include:

  • How much water will be needed for expanded pit production?
  • What emissions will be released into the air at LANL, along the transportation routes, and at WIPP from expanded operations?
  • What climate change analysis has been done?
  • What efforts are being made to find other disposal sites in states other than New Mexico?
  • Why is DOE and NNSA disregarding the commitments made to New Mexicans for a 2024 closure?

Please bring your questions to the virtual and in-person town hall.  There are many on-line resources to help you develop your questions at CCNS’s website at http://nuclearactive.org/ ; Nuclear Watch New Mexico at https://nukewatch.org/ ; and Stop Forever WIPP at https://stopforeverwipp.org/ .

Santa Fe County Commissioner Anna Hansen will moderate the town hall. http://nuclearactive.org/santa-fe-county-commission-chair-anna-hansen-to-moderate-public-qa-with-nnsa-and-doe-officials-on-tuesday-april-4th-in-santa-fe/

 

 


Did You Know about these Opportunities to Get Involved?

 

  1. Friday, March 31st from noon to 1 pm – Join the weekly peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament on the corners of Alameda and Guadalupe in downtown Santa Fe with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, Pax Christi and others.

 

 

  1. Tuesday, April 4th at 6:30 pm at Santa Fe Community Convention Center in-person and virtualSanta Fe County Commission Chair Anna Hansen will Moderate a Public Question and Answer Session with Jill Hruby, National Nuclear Security Administrator, and Ike White, a Senior Advisor to the DOE Office of Environmental Management. There is parking below the Santa Fe Community Convention Center – enter on Federal Place.  Bring your question about planned expansions at LANL and WIPP and transportation between the two.  The virtual link will be posted soon.  It will also be in newspaper ads.  http://nuclearactive.org/santa-fe-county-commission-chair-anna-hansen-to-moderate-public-qa-with-nnsa-and-doe-officials-on-tuesday-april-4th-in-santa-fe/

 

 

  1. Thursday, April 6th from 3 to 4 pm Mountain – webinar about The Geopolitics of Critical Minerals with Debamanyu Das. The Uranium Caucus of the Western Mining Action Network and the Institute for Policy Studies is hosting a series of three webinars about Rare Earth Elements.  Debamanyu Das is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst.  His research focuses on the political economy of critical minerals used for the green transition. Please join Das on April 6th for the first webinar.  Registration at https://ips-dc.org/events/geopoliticsofcriticalminerals/  

 

 

  1. April 1st to 7thJoin the Sacred Peace Walk, an interfaith journey of approximately 60 miles from Las Vegas to the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) (formerly the Nevada Test Site), through the Great Basin Desert in Nevada, on the beautiful traditional lands of the Indigenous Western Shoshone and Paiute Peoples, bringing the message of non-violence to the test site and Creech AFB (the center of drone warfare and assassination for the US military and the CIA). For more information, contact the Nevada Desert Experience at kingsbayplowshares@gmail.com and http://nevadadesertexperience.org/

 

 

  1. Sunday, April 16th from 1 pm to 4:30 pm – What is WIPP? Free educational conference – in-person in Santa Fe and on Zoom – in Spanish and English. Join people statewide to learn about the DOE’s pending application with the New Mexico Environment Department for the continued operation of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).  There will be presentations about WIPP history, the facility, and proposed expansion of WIPP, NMED’s draft operating permit, and the ways in which the public can have a say in WIPP’s future.  For more information:  https://stopforeverwipp.org/home

 

 

  1. April 15th to 22nd – Shut Down Drone Warfare – Holloman Air Force Base in southern New Mexico – “From Tax Day to Earth Day, Rise Up!” Co-sponsored by CODEPINK, Veterans for Peace and Ban Killer Drones.  Join for a week of peaceful resistance against drone warfare and out-of-control U.S. empire.  Why Holloman?  It is the largest-drone training base in the U.S. – training 600 or more drone pilots and operators annually.  For more information:  http://www.shutdowndronewarfare.org/

Three great peace activists join us to discuss the upcoming protest at Holloman Air Force Base in April. Toby Blome, Colonel Ann Wright, and Ken Mayers talk about drones, the dangers, and the damage to people on the ground and people at the control. They also discuss the international ramifications of drones and their uncontrolled spread. With all that, they are protesting at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico and are encouraging people to come. There will be transportation, lodging, food, workshops, speakers, music, and yes non-violent direct action, specifics are a secret.  https://soundcloud.com/user-55976759/33023-veterans-for-peace-shut-down-drone-warfare-protest-is-coming

 

Santa Fe County Commission Chair Anna Hansen to Moderate Public Q&A with NNSA and DOE Officials on Tuesday, April 4th in Santa Fe

For nearly three years, the public has requested a town hall type of event in which officials from the Department of Energy (DOE) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) would answer questions about the plans to expand operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).  In February, Santa Fe County Commissioner Anna Hansen https://www.santafecountynm.gov/county-commissioners/anna-hansen traveled to Washington, DC and invited Jill Hruby, NNSA Administrator https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/person/jill-hruby , and Ike White, a Senior Advisor to the DOE Environmental Management Office https://www.energy.gov/em/person/william-ike-white , to Santa Fe to answer questions from the public.  They accepted her invitation.

In 2021, Santa Fe County Commissioners Hank Hughes https://www.santafecountynm.gov/county-commissioners/hank-hughes , Anna Hamilton https://www.santafecountynm.gov/county-commissioners/anna-t-hamilton and Anna Hansen held town halls in El Dorado and Santa Fe about the planned expansion plans to fabricate more plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons at LANL and double the size of the WIPP underground disposal area for more nuclear weapons waste.  The Commissioners heard the public’s concerns about increased shipments between the DOE sites, the proposed shipment of powdered surplus plutonium, and emergency preparedness and response, among other issues.

Background:  The two emergency preparedness and response meetings were on August 4, 2021 at the Hondo Volunteer FD (sponsored by County Commissioners Hamilton and Hughes)https://nuclearactive.org/santa-fe-county-nuclear-waste-transportation-emergency-response-town-hall/ , and on October 19, 2021 at the Nancy Rodriguez Community Center (sponsored by County Commissioner Hansen). http://nuclearactive.org/santa-fe-county-nuclear-waste-emergency-response-town-hall-on-tuesday-october-19th-from-6-to-730-pm/

On July 7, 2022, WIPP held a very tightly controlled public meeting in Santa Fe at which the officials would not, or could not, answer many of the questions from the public.  http://nuclearactive.org/wipp-to-stay-open-forever-speak-up-at-the-july-7th-wipp-community-forum/  Later on October 24, 2022, WIPP held another public meeting at Buffalo Thunder and answered some questions, but not others.  http://nuclearactive.org/wipp-community-forum-on-monday-october-24th-at-530-pm-at-buffalo-thunder/

Commissioner Anna Hansen will moderate the Town Hall with Jill Hruby and Ike White. After a brief discussion and presentations, there will be an opportunity for the public to ask questions and for Hruby and White, and other DOE and NNSA officials, to respond.

For more information, please visit the Stop Forever WIPP website.  https://stopforeverwipp.org/

 

In related news, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) released a draft hazardous waste permit for WIPP for public review and comment.  To learn more about the proposed 10-year renewal permit and how you can make comments, please join the Stop Forever WIPP Coalition for its free conference on Sunday, April 16th from 1 to 4:30 pm at the Courtyard by Marriott at 3347 Cerrillos Road in Santa Fe.  This will be an in-person and virtual event in English and Spanish.  https://stopforeverwipp.org/

Public comments are due on Wednesday, April 19th, 2023, by 5 pm Mountain Time, to the Environment Department.  During the conference there will be time for you to craft your comments and submit them.  https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/wipp/ ,  or use the NMED public comment portal at https://nmed.commentinput.com/?id=G5E7C .  You can read the comments that have already been submitted.

For more information, please visit the Stop Forever WIPP website.  https://stopforeverwipp.org/


  1. Friday, March 24th from noon to 1 pm – Join the weekly peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament on the corners of Alameda and Guadalupe in downtown Santa Fe with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, Pax Christi and others.

 

 

  1. Thursday, March 23rd at 5:30 pm – WIPP Community Forum & Open House at the Hobbs Country Club, 5001 W. Carlsbad Hwy. The Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) and the new contractor at WIPP, the Salado Isolation Mining Contractors (SIMCO), are hosting an in person and virtual meeting to provide a short update with an extended Q&A period.  For more information at infocnter@wipp.ws or call 1-800-366-9477.

 

 

  1. Wednesday, March 29th at 5:30 to 7 pm – New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) and DOE Environmental Management Los Alamos (EM-LA) in person and virtual annual meeting about the 2016 Consent Order, Appendix B, cleanup sites at LANL. Connection information at:  https://www.env.nm.gov/events-calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D165903120  To view Appendix B – Milestones and Targets, go to:  https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/lanl/ and scroll down to 2016 Compliance Order on Consent to access the January and February 2023 updates.

 

 

  1. April 1st to 7th Join the Sacred Peace Walk, an interfaith journey of approximately 60 miles from Las Vegas to the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) (formerly the Nevada Test Site), through the Great Basin Desert in Nevada, on the beautiful traditional lands of the Indigenous Western Shoshone and Paiute Peoples, bringing the message of non-violence to the test site and Creech AFB (the center of drone warfare and assassination for the US military and the CIA). For more information, contact the Nevada Desert Experience at kingsbayplowshares@gmail.com and http://nevadadesertexperience.org/

 

 

  1. April 15th to 22nd Shut Down Drone Warfare – Holloman Air Force Base in southern New Mexico – “From Tax Day to Earth Day, Rise Up!” Co-sponsored by CODEPINK, Veterans for Peace and Ban Killer Drones.  Join for a week of peaceful resistance against drone warfare and out-of-control U.S. empire.  Why Holloman?  It is the largest-drone training base in the U.S. – training 600 or more drone pilots and operators annually.  For more information:  http://www.shutdowndronewarfare.org/
 

Get Your Surplus Plutonium Draft EIS Comments Into DOE ASAP!

As if there is not enough going on, it’s time to get your personalized comments into the Department of Energy (DOE).  It has published its unsupported draft environmental impact statement about DOE’s proposal for handling more than 48 metric tons of surplus plutonium – and maybe more – for decades to come.  CCNS has prepared sample public comments you can modify, personalize, or cut and paste and submit to DOE on or before the Thursday, March 16th deadline.  Written comments should be received or postmarked by the March 16th deadline to SPDP-EIS@nnsa.doe.gov. Here is a sample letter for your use: 2303016 sample Surplus-Pu-dEIS-comments

You can also mail your comments or phone them in.  Details about how to do that are available at https://www.energy.gov/nepa/doeeis-0549-surplus-plutonium-disposition-program  Nevertheless, as stated in the public notice, “Comments received or postmarked after the comment period will be considered to the extent practicable.”  CCNS recommends getting your comments in before Monday, March 20th.

Why is this draft environmental impact statement important to you?  Because the proposed DOE plan will impact People living in the vicinity of the DOE facilities in Texas, New Mexico and South Carolina and along the transportation routes between those sites for decades.  https://www.energy.gov/nepa/doeeis-0549-surplus-plutonium-disposition-program

Here’s a brief summary of the DOE’s 3,300 mile proposed route for disposing of its surplus plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), located 26 miles east of Carlsbad, New Mexico.  DOE proposes to ship the triggers, or plutonium pits, for nuclear weapons, currently stored at the Pantex Plant, north of Amarillo, Texas, to Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), in Northern New Mexico, to be pulverized into powdered plutonium.  From LANL, the powdered plutonium would be shipped to the Savannah River Site, in South Carolina, so an adulterant to inhibit recovery of the plutonium would be added.  From there, the waste would be shipped for disposal at WIPP.

Should there be an accident and a release of powdered plutonium, the consequences would be deadly.  Inhaling plutonium or getting it into an open wound are the most dangerous forms of exposure.  Once in the body, plutonium concentrates in the bone, blood and gonads, the primary reproductive organs.  Plutonium exposure causes cancer 100 percent of the time.

Sandia National Laboratories has documented that it is nearly impossible to clean up an accident involving plutonium.  Site Restoration: Estimation of Attributable Costs From Plutonium-Dispersal Accidents, Sandia National Laboratories, 1996, SAND96-0957; https://www.osti.gov/biblio/249283

DOE has been working on this plan for over three decades and CCNS has provided the history in previous Updates, which are listed here:

http://nuclearactive.org/news/082010.html – More Plutonium Destined to WIPP?  Public Meetings in Carlsbad 8/24 and Santa Fe 8/26 (Aug. 20, 2010);

http://www.nuclearactive.org/wippplutoniumfactsheet.pdf – More Plutonium Coming to WIPP and LANL? (Aug. 8, 2012);

http://nuclearactive.org/news/081512.html – DOE Plans to Bring More Plutonium to WIPP and LANL (Aug. 15, 2012);

http://nuclearactive.org/will-does-surplus-plutonium-end-up-in-new mexico/ (Jan. 11, 2019);

http://nuclearactive.org/doe-plans-to-move-tons-of-surplus-plutonium-to-wipp-and-lanl-postpones-tritium-venting/ (May 16, 2020);

http://nuclearactive.org/doe-plans-to-move-tons-of-surplus-plutonium-to-wipp-and-lanl-postpones-tritium-venting/ (Dec. 17, 2020);

http://nuclearactive.org/doe-breaks-its-promises-to-new-mexico-part-i/

(Jan. 12, 2021);

http://nuclearactive.org/doe-breaks-its-promises-to-new-mexico-part-2/

(Jan. 19, 2021);

http://nuclearactive.org/stop-surplus-plutonium-waste-from-coming-to-wipp/ (Jan. 29, 2021);

http://nuclearactive.org/newsbytes-about-wipp-and-lanl/ (Feb. 4, 2021);

http://nuclearactive.org/proposed-funding-increases-for-doe-operations-in-new-mexico/ (April 21, 2022);

http://nuclearactive.org/does-dramatic-plan-to-move-tons-of-surplus-plutonium-for-processing-at-lanl-and-disposal-at-wipp/ (Jan. 12, 2023);

http://nuclearactive.org/its-time-to-speak-out-at-does-surplus-plutonium-hearings-in-carlsbad-and-los-alamos/ (Jan. 20, 2023);

http://nuclearactive.org/public-comments-needed-about-does-surplus-plutonium-plans/ (March 2, 2023); and

http://nuclearactive.org/doe-must-withdraw-the-unsupported-surplus-plutonium-draft-eis/ (March 11, 2023).

CCNS encourages you and your neighbors to submit comments that state that “We do not consent.”


  1. Friday, March 17th from noon to 1 pm – Join the weekly peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament on the corners of Alameda and Guadalupe in downtown Santa Fe with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, Pax Christi and others.

 

 

  1. Saturday March 18th at 2 pm at San Mateo & Gibson outside Kirtland Air Force Base – Peace in Ukraine – On the 20th Anniversary of the U.S. Invasion of Iraq, Say No to Endless U.S. Wars. Organized by ANSWER ALBUQUERQUE.  For more information, https://www.answercoalition.org/albuquerque or call 505 392-8460.

 

 

  1. Thursday, March 23rd at 5:30 pm – WIPP Community Forum & Open House at the Hobbs Country Club, 5001 W. Carlsbad Hwy. The Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) and the new contractor at WIPP, the Salado Isolation Mining Contractors (SIMCO), are hosting an in person and virtual meeting to provide a short update with an extended Q&A period.  For more information at infocnter@wipp.ws or call 1-800-366-9477.

 

 

  1. Wednesday, March 29th at 5:30 to 7 pm – New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) and DOE Environmental Management Los Alamos (EM-LA) in person and virtual annual meeting about the 2016 Consent Order, Appendix B, cleanup sites at LANL. Connection information at:  https://www.env.nm.gov/events-calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D165903120  To view Appendix B – Milestones and Targets, go to:  https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/lanl/ and scroll down to 2016 Compliance Order on Consent to access the January and February 2023 updates.

 

 

  1. April 1st to 7thJoin the Sacred Peace Walk, an interfaith journey of approximately 60 miles from Las Vegas to the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) (formerly the Nevada Test Site), through the Great Basin Desert in Nevada, on the beautiful traditional lands of the Indigenous Western Shoshone and Paiute Peoples, bringing the message of non-violence to the test site and Creech AFB (the center of drone warfare and assassination for the US military and the CIA). For more information, contact the Nevada Desert Experience at kingsbayplowshares@gmail.com and http://nevadadesertexperience.org/

 

 

  1. April 15th to 22nd – Shut Down Drone Warfare – Holloman Air Force Base in southern New Mexico – “From Tax Day to Earth Day, Rise Up!” Co-sponsored by CODEPINK, Veterans for Peace and Ban Killer Drones.  Join for a week of peaceful resistance against drone warfare and out-of-control U.S. empire.  Why Holloman?  It is the largest-drone training base in the U.S. – training 600 or more drone pilots and operators annually.  For more information:  http://www.shutdowndronewarfare.org/
 

DOE Must Withdraw the Unsupported Surplus Plutonium Draft EIS

A review of the Department of Energy (DOE) National Environmental Policy Act website shows that it is behind schedule in providing the public with up-to-date site-wide environmental impact statements, or SWEISs, for the four main sites involved in DOE’s proposed surplus plutonium plans.  Generally, a SWEIS is done every ten years.  But that is not the case for the sites where DOE plans to process and dispose of more than 34 metric tons of surplus plutonium.  As a result, the public has not been afforded a timely opportunity to weigh in on the latest environmental changes at the sites.  It is premature for DOE to ask for public comments on its surplus plutonium plans based on obsolete NEPA documentation – some decades out-of-date.  Comments are currently due on Thursday, March 16th, 2023 to SPDP-EIS@NNSA.DOE.gov.

The four main sites are the Pantex Plant located in the Texas panhandle, the Savannah River Site located in South Carolina, and two sites in New Mexico:  Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).

DOE’s plan is to ship plutonium “pits,” or the triggers, for nuclear weapons from Pantex to LANL to be pulverized.  From LANL, the powdered plutonium would be shipped to the Savannah River Site for more processing for disposal at WIPP.  https://www.energy.gov/nepa/doeeis-0549-surplus-plutonium-disposition-program

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires federal agencies, such as DOE, to assess the environmental effects of proposed major federal actions prior to decision-making.  In the case of the four sites, DOE has not analyzed the environmental effects in a timely manner.  The draft EIS for the surplus plutonium disposition project plans are unsupported with up-to-date information, data and analysis as required by NEPA.

The burden falls on the public to oppose DOE’s plans.

For example, the Pantex EIS was completed in 1996 – 27 years ago.  No WIPP EIS has been done since 1990 – 33 years ago.  It is unclear whether a Savannah River Site SWEIS has ever been done.  At LANL, a new SWEIS process should have been completed in 2018.  To view the NEPA history for these sites, go to: https://www.energy.gov/nepa/doe-environmental-impact-statements and enter the site’s name in the Search box.

NEPA also prohibits the “irreversible and irretrievable” commitment of resources that would be involved in a proposed action before the environmental review process is complete.  In the last three fiscal years, the total LANL budget increased from roughly $3.9 billion to $4.9 billion – a one billion dollar increase – all without the proper NEPA analysis of the impacts and effects of “investing” those funds at LANL.  https://nukewatch.org/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/LANL-FY23-Lab-Table-Chart-scaled.jpg

CCNS urges you to include a statement in your comments that DOE must withdraw the draft Surplus Plutonium Environmental Impact Statement for public comment until it brings its SWEIS analyses current for the four main sites.  Comments are currently due on Thursday, March 16th, 2023 to SPDP-EIS@NNSA.DOE.gov.

For more information about DOE’s proposed plans, check out Tom Clements’ January 23, 2023 analysis in Plutonium Pondering:  How much SRS plutonium has gone to WIPP?  How much plutonium does DOE plan to ship to WIPP?  66 Metric Tons?!  https://srswatch.org/plutonium-pondering-how-much-srs-plutonium-has-gone-to-wipp-how-much-plutonium-does-doe-plan-to-ship-to-wipp-66-metric-tons/

Clements states:

In my opinion, of the entire processing, transportation and disposal cycle, the greatest risks to workers and the public occur during plutonium processing related to plutonium oxide preparation [at LANL] and the mixing and packaging of the downblended material into the disposal containers [at SRS].


 

  1. Friday, March 10th from noon to 1 pm – Join the weekly peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament on the corners of Alameda and Guadalupe in downtown Santa Fe with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, Pax Christi and others.

 

 

  1. If you missed the Sunday, March 5th Unite! March in Love for Life! for Nuclear Disarmament, organized by the Donald & Sally-Alice Thompson Chapter and Joan Duffy Chapter of the Veterans for Peace.  KKOB-TV Channel 4 covered the March.  https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/albuquerque-activists-gather-to-protest-nuclear-weapons/  

 

 

  1. Thursday, March 16th Comments due to DOE/NNSA about the draft Surplus Plutonium Disposition Program. For more information, please visit http://nuclearactive.org/

 

 

  1. Saturday March 18th at 2 pm at San Mateo & Gibson outside Kirtland Air Force Base – Peace in Ukraine – On the 20th Anniversary of the U.S. Invasion of Iraq, Say No to Endless U.S. Wars. Organized by ANSWER ALBUQUERQUE.  For more information, https://www.answercoalition.org/albuquerque or call 505 392-8460.

 

 

  1. Thursday, March 23rd at 5:30 pm – WIPP Community Forum & Open House at the Hobbs Country Club, 5001 W. Carlsbad Hwy. The Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) and the new contractor at WIPP, the Salado Isolation Mining Contractors (SIMCO), are hosting an in person and virtual meeting to provide a short update with an extended Q&A period.  For more information at infocnter@wipp.ws or call 1-800-366-9477.

 

 

  1. April 1st to 7thJoin the Sacred Peace Walk, an interfaith journey of approximately 60 miles from Las Vegas to the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) (formerly the Nevada Test Site), through the Great Basin Desert in Nevada, on the beautiful traditional lands of the Indigenous Western Shoshone and Paiute Peoples, bringing the message of non-violence to the test site and Creech AFB (the center of drone warfare and assassination for the US military and the CIA). For more information, contact the Nevada Desert Experience at kingsbayplowshares@gmail.com and http://nevadadesertexperience.org/

 

 

  1. April 15th to 22ndShut Down Drone Warfare – Holloman Air Force Base in southern New Mexico – “From Tax Day to Earth Day, Rise Up!” Co-sponsored by CODEPINK, Veterans for Peace and Ban Killer Drones.  Join for a week of peaceful resistance against drone warfare and out-of-control U.S. empire.  Why Holloman?  It is the largest-drone training base in the U.S. – training 600 or more drone pilots and operators annually.  For more information:  http://www.shutdowndronewarfare.org/
 

Public Comments Needed about DOE’s Surplus Plutonium Plans

What would you do with more than 30 metric tons of “surplus” plutonium in the form of triggers for nuclear weapons?  The Department of Energy (DOE) has been working to find a solution for at least 30 years.  Over that time, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) were not included in the plans and were not analyzed in the environmental impact statements required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).  Now both DOE sites in New Mexico, LANL and WIPP, are analyzed in the recently released statement.  https://www.energy.gov/nepa/doeeis-0549-surplus-plutonium-disposition-program

Please get involved!  Public comments are now due to DOE by Thursday, March 16th to SPDP-EIS@NNSA.DOE.gov

In the latest draft environmental impact statement, DOE plans to ship the triggers from its Pantex Plant, north of Amarillo, to LANL in Northern New Mexico on I-40.  At Clines Corners, the trucks would proceed north on U.S. 285 to I-40 to the 599 by-pass around Santa Fe and back onto 285 to LANL.  At LANL, the triggers would be pulverized into powder at the over-subscribed Plutonium Facility.  From LANL, the powdered plutonium would be shipped to South Carolina for processing at the DOE’s Savannah River Plant.  The final leg of the 3,300-mile trip ends in southeast New Mexico at WIPP.  Nevertheless, the draft statement does not provide an estimate of the number of years, nor the number of shipments that are planned.

Let’s remember that LANL is located in a recognized seismic zone, above the regional drinking water aquifer and the Rio Grande and in a wildfire zone.  WIPP is located in the productive gas and oil region of the Permian Basin in southeastern New Mexico.

Since at least 1994, DOE has spent billions to prevent access to the surplus plutonium.  One proven method is to immobilize the triggers.  The Government Accountability Office (GAO) describes immobilization as, “Immobilization encapsulates the plutonium in glass or ceramic materials prior to disposal.”  GAO Report to the Committee on Armed Services, U.S. Senate – Surplus Plutonium Disposition:  NNSA’s Long-Term Plutonium Oxide Production Plans are Uncertain, GAO-20-166, October 2019.  https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-20-166.pdf

Immobilization would eliminate the need to pulverize the triggers into powdered plutonium, the most deadly form of plutonium.  But in 2002, DOE canceled the immobilization program “due to budgetary constraints,” even though thousands of public comments supported immobilization.

Here are some suggested topics to cover in your comments:

The DOE’s plans would change the form of plutonium to powder.  If inhaled, powdered plutonium causes cancer one hundred percent of the time.

As reported by Sandia National Laboratories, powdered plutonium, if released over land, is almost impossible to clean up.  Transporting powdered plutonium risks ranch and farmlands, businesses, schools, homes and communities.

We do not consent to DOE’s irresponsible plans.

For more information, see previous CCNS News Updates:  http://nuclearactive.org/news/081512.html (Aug. 15, 2012); http://nuclearactive.org/will-does-surplus-plutonium-end-up-in-new-mexico/ (Jan. 11, 2019); http://nuclearactive.org/doe-plans-to-move-tons-of-surplus-plutonium-to-wipp-and-lanl-postpones-tritium-venting/ (Dec. 17, 2020);  http://nuclearactive.org/does-dramatic-plan-to-move-tons-of-surplus-plutonium-for-processing-at-lanl-and-disposal-at-wipp/ (Jan. 12, 2023); http://nuclearactive.org/its-time-to-speak-out-at-does-surplus-plutonium-hearings-in-carlsbad-and-los-alamos/ (Jan. 20, 2023); and http://nuclearactive.org/stop-surplus-plutonium-waste-from-coming-to-wipp/ (Jan. 29, 2021).


  1. Friday, March 3rd from noon to 1 pm – Join the weekly peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament on the corners of Alameda and Guadalupe in downtown Santa Fe with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, Pax Christi and others.

 

 

  1. Sunday, March 5th from 1 to 5 pm – Unite! March in Love for Life! for Nuclear Disarmament, organized by the Donald & Sally-Alice Thompson Chapter and Joan Duffy Chapter of the Veterans for PeaceMarch from Morningside Park to Sandia Weapons Lab/Kirtland AFB Gate.  Walk or drive for 2.9 miles.

 

Meet at 1 pm on at the Morningside Park, at 219 Morningside Drive, SE, Albuquerque, NM.  Here’s the schedule:

12:45 at Morningside Park the Raging Grannies start a sing-along
1:00 PM Start speakers interspersed with a sing-along or two for 45 minutes
– Elizabeth Smith opening remarks – 1 or 2 min
– Raging Grannies song
– Bill Tiwald 1 or 2 min -detailing activities/announcements
– Party for Socialism and Liberation  4-5 min-
– Sally-Alice Thompson – Announcement 2-4 min
– Paul Pino of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium 4-5 min plus a song by Paul
– Demand Nuclear Abolition – 4-5 min
– Affordable Student Housing UNM –  Lizbeth Olivarez 4-5 min
– International Depleted Uranium Study Team – 4-5 min
– Green Party of Metropolitan Albuquerque – Em Ward 4-5 min
– Bill Tiwald – 2 min concerning our weapons/their weapons and what they will do to the earth & its inhabitants
– Raging Grannie song to start the march

Before 2 PM we proceed to march this route
⁃ Proceeding from the southeast corner of Morningside Park across Morningside Drive and Lead Avenue to the south side of Lead Avenue.
⁃ Proceed east on the south side of her Lead Avenue miles meeting Coal/Zuni .3 miles
⁃ Cross Coal/Zuni at Washington Street with a Circle K with a restroom available.
⁃ Proceed east on the south side of Zuni (wide bike lane) to the 7-Eleven (no restroom)  1.1 miles
⁃ Proceed on the south side of Zuni to Allsup’s restroom available 1.8 miles
⁃ Cross to the east side of Louisiana Blvd to 1.9 miles
⁃ Proceed on the east side of Louisiana past the NM Veterans Memorial at 2.8 miles.
– 4:30 to 5:00 PM finish the march at the Louisiana Gate of the Air Force Base/Sandia Weapons Lab.
– At the gate  – closing by Charles Powell and a Raging Grannies song.

Shuttle with vehicles back to Morningside Park and go home.

 

For more information, contact Elizabeth Smith at 8eli.love.8@gmail.com and Bill Tiwald at tiwaldbill@gmail.com    

 

  1. March 9 and 10, 2023 – ICAN and ICAN Norway are hosting the ICAN Act on It Forum in Oslo, Norway. You are invited to join campaigners, youth, politicians, academics and others interested in nuclear disarmament to amplify voices demanding the end of unlawful and inhumane nuclear weapons.  March 2023 is the 10th anniversary of the first conference on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons, hosted by Norway.  https://www.icannorway.no/

 

 

  1. April 1st to 7thJoin the Sacred Peace Walk, an interfaith journey of approximately 60 miles from Las Vegas to the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) (formerly the Nevada Test Site), through the Great Basin Desert in Nevada, on the beautiful traditional lands of the Indigenous Western Shoshone and Paiute Peoples, bringing the message of non-violence to the test site and Creech AFB (the center of drone warfare and assassination for the US military and the CIA). For more information, contact the Nevada Desert Experience at kingsbayplowshares@gmail.com and http://nevadadesertexperience.org/

 

 

  1. April 15th to 22ndShut Down Drone Warfare – Holloman Air Force Base in southern New Mexico – “From Tax Day to Earth Day, Rise Up!” Co-sponsored by CODEPINK, Veterans for Peace and Ban Killer Drones.  Join for a week of peaceful resistance against drone warfare and out-of-control U.S. empire.  Why Holloman?  It is the largest-drone training base in the U.S. – training 600 or more drone pilots and operators annually.  For more information:  http://www.shutdowndronewarfare.org/
 

CCNS and HOPE Petition for Mandamus from New Mexico Supreme Court

CCNS and Honor Our Pueblo Existence (HOPE) filed a Verified Petition for An Original Writ of Mandamus with the New Mexico Supreme Court about the improper regulation by the Water Quality Control Commission of the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory.  CCNS and HOPE have argued for more than a decade that the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility is legally required to be regulated by the federal and state hazardous waste laws.

LANL has admitted that the Facility handles, treats and stores hazardous waste, which means that it is subject to regulation under the hazardous waste laws, but neither LANL nor the Water Quality Control Commission will concede that the Facility must be regulated by the hazardous waste laws.  The hazardous waste laws are more protective of human health and the environment, including the requirement of a seismic analysis.

CCNS and HOPE have opposed the issuance of a groundwater discharge permit, DP-1132, under the Water Quality Act for the Facility.  The petition for a writ of mandamus asks the New Mexico Supreme Court to order the Commission to perform its statutory duty and reverse the permit.

LANL has flatly opposed lawful regulation under the state Hazardous Waste Act.  LANL even secretly hired two New Mexico Environment Department hearing officers during state proceedings about the unfounded groundwater discharge permit.

But under the law any facility managing hazardous waste must have a Hazardous Waste Act permit.  Further, the Water Quality Act contains a specific provision that it “does not apply to any activity or condition subject to the …. Hazardous Waste Act.”  § 74-6-12.B NMSA 1978.

In reality, CCNS and HOPE argue, “Protection of New Mexico citizens and communities is undermined by applying the [Water Quality Act] to the [Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility] instead of the [Hazardous Waste Act], which the law requires.  The [Water Quality Act] authorizes regulation of a discharge towards ground water but cannot regulate a hazardous and radioactive waste treatment facility.”  Petition, ¶ 13.

CCNS and HOPE appealed DP-1132 to the Water Quality Control Commission in June.  In the following eight months, the Commission has stayed the proceedings; denied any consideration of the prohibition in the Water Quality Act, and ignored the legal rights of CCNS and HOPE.  https://www.env.nm.gov/opf/docketed-matters/ , scroll down to Water Quality Control Commission to WQCC 22-21 CCNS and HOPE Petition for Review of NMED Ground Water Discharge Permit DP-1132. 

The mandamus petition asks the Supreme Court either to reverse DP-1132 because the New Mexico Water Quality Act does not apply; or, alternatively, to vacate the Commission’s stay of all proceedings and to vacate all orders issued by the hearing officer who was hired by LANL.  Petition, ¶ 12.

Lindsay A. Lovejoy, Jr., represents CCNS and HOPE.  http://lindsaylovejoy.com/

230216 (002) CCNS HOPE Verified Petition for an Original Writ of Mandamus

230215 CCNS HOPE Ex. 1

230215 CCNS HOPE Ex. 2

230215 CCNS HOPE Ex. 3

230215 CCNS HOPE Ex. 4

230215 CCNS HOPE Ex. 5

230215 CCNS HOPE Ex. 6

230215 CCNS HOPE Ex. 7

230215 CCNS HOPE Ex. 8

230215 CCNS HOPE Ex. 9

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230215 CCNS HOPE Ex. 11

230215 CCNS HOPE Ex. 12

230215 CCNS HOPE Ex. 13


  1. Friday, February 24th from noon to 1 pm – Join the weekly peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament on the corners of Alameda and Guadalupe in downtown Santa Fe with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, Pax Christi and others.

 

 

  1. Tuesday, February 28th at 8 am MT; 10 am ET – The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee will livestream its hearing on the Equal Rights Amendment: How Congress Can Recognize Ratification and Enshrine Equality in Our ConstitutionTo view the livestream:  https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/the-equal-rights-amendment-how-congress-can-recognize-ratification-and-enshrine-equality-in-our-constitution   For more information:  https://www.eracoalition.org/

 

 

  1. Sunday, March 5th from 1 to 5 pm – March in Love for Life for Nuclear Disarmament, organized by the Donald & Sally-Alice Thompson Chapter and Joan Duffy Chapter of the Veterans for Peace.

 

Meet at 1 pm on at the Morningside Park, at 299 Morningside Drive, SE, Albuquerque, NM.  The Raging Grannies will sing between speeches by representatives of the march sponsors.  The march will start on Lead Avenue, east on Zuni to Louisiana Blvd (on the south side of Zuni), south on Louisiana to gate of Sandia/KAFB.  March finishes at the gate by 4 to 4:30 pm.  Sag (support and gear) vehicles for those who would march part of the route or none of the route.  Porta-potty available along the route.  For more information, contact Elizabeth Smith at 8eli.love.8@gmail.com and Bill Tiwald at tiwaldbill@gmail.com    

 

 

  1. March 9 and 10, 2023 – ICAN and ICAN Norway are hosting the ICAN Act on It Forum in Oslo, Norway. You are invited to join campaigners, youth, politicians, academics and others interested in nuclear disarmament to amplify voices demanding the end of unlawful and inhumane nuclear weapons.  March 2023 is the 10th anniversary of the first conference on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons, hosted by Norway.  https://www.icannorway.no/

 

 

  1. April 1st to 7thJoin the Sacred Peace Walk, an interfaith journey of approximately 60 miles from Las Vegas to the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) (formerly the Nevada Test Site), through the Great Basin Desert in Nevada, on the beautiful traditional lands of the Indigenous Western Shoshone and Paiute Peoples, bringing the message of non-violence to the test site and Creech AFB (the center of drone warfare and assassination for the US military and the CIA). For more information, contact the Nevada Desert Experience at kingsbayplowshares@gmail.com and http://nevadadesertexperience.org/

 

 

  1. April 15th to 22nd – Shut Down Drone Warfare – Holloman Air Force Base in southern New Mexico – “From Tax Day to Earth Day, Rise Up!” Co-sponsored by CODEPINK, Veterans for Peace and Ban Killer Drones.  Join for a week of peaceful resistance against drone warfare and out-of-control U.S. empire.  Why Holloman?  It is the largest-drone training base in the U.S. – training 600 or more drone pilots and operators annually.  For more information:  http://www.shutdowndronewarfare.org/