Draft LANL Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement to be Released on Friday, January 10th

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During the seven year delay, the public has had to rely on the outdated 2008 SWEIS.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.

Tags: Department of Energy (DOE), LANL, Los Alamos National Laboratory, National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, plutonium pit production, public hearings, site-wide environmental impact statement, SWEIS