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

March 23rd, 2023 in Action Alerts / Events / Weekly News Updates
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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/
 

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