Take Action TODAY to Support LANL Cleanup; Submit Your Comments by Monday, June 8th

On April 23rd, the New Mexico Environment Department issued an important permit modification to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in order to speed up cleanup of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and focus on the disposal of legacy waste at WIPP.  The draft Hazardous Waste Act permit modification proposes to require a minimum percentage of legacy waste shipments from LANL to WIPP during specific timeframes beginning soon on January 1, 2027.

The Environment Department’s action would stop LANL’s plans to leave one million cubic meters of radioactive and hazardous waste buried in volcanic tuff in a seismic zone above the regional drinking water aquifer and the Rio Grande. The action, if approved, would limit waste from new proposed plutonium pit production that could be shipped to WIPP.

The Stop Forever WIPP Coalition opposes the expansion of WIPP for newly generated LANL waste from plutonium pit production. CCNS is a member group.

CCNS and the Stop Forever WIPP Coalition fully support the Environment Department’s action and urge you to submit your public comments by Monday, June 8th.

Some of the important proposed permit provisions are:

• From January 1, 2027 through December 31, 2031, at least 55 percent of the total volume of all waste emplaced at WIPP from all generator and storage sites must be LANL legacy waste;
• Beginning January 1, 2032, and until all LANL legacy waste has been emplaced at WIPP, LANL waste must be at least 75 percent of the total volume of waste emplaced from all generator and storage sites;
• Legacy waste currently stored above-ground at LANL’s Area G shall be shipped and emplaced at WIPP by July 1, 2028; and
• If at any point any of those conditions are not met, all generator and storage site shipments, with the exception of LANL, must cease until all deficiencies are cured.

Recall that the Department of Energy (DOE) promised New Mexico that if the state allowed WIPP, Cold War and other radioactive waste stored at LANL would be the priority for disposal in WIPP.  DOE has broken its promise for decades.

The Environment Department needs to know that the public supports the permit modification. DOE strongly opposes it.

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

To learn about the NMED draft Permit, Public Notice and Fact Sheet, go to https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/wipp/ , scroll down to “WIPP News – 2026” and view the April 23, 2026 entry.

Submit your comments by email to HWB-WIPP-Comment@env.nm.gov or use the WIPP Agency Initiated Modification (AIM) Draft Permit Public Comment Portal at https://nmed.commentinput.com/?id=x2V7G3HrWN

1. Friday, May 29^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.

2. Saturday, May 30^th from 9 to 11 am – Opening Community Day in the Garden at the Española Healing Foods Oasis located next to the Española Public Library (313 N. Paseo de Oñate) and behind City Hall. Opening Ceremony at 9 am; guided garden tours, planting seeds and snacks and beverages.  Free and Open to Everyone! For more information – https://tewawomenunited.org/events/2026-opening-day-at-the-espanola-healing-foods-oasis

3. Monday, June 1^st from 5:30 to 7 pm – Join the Fight! New Mexico vs. The Nuclear Industry – Webinar on the proposed Revisions to the WIPP Permit (comment period now until June 8^th); Roca Honda Uranium Mine (comment period now until early July); and Plutonium Pit Production (comment period now until July 16^th). Register for Zoom: https://tinyurl.com/NMvsNukeIndustry  Learn more: https://tinyurl.com/NMNukeToolkit

4. Wednesday, June 3^rd from 5 to 7 pm MDT at 10 Cities of Gold Road #A, Tribal Room, at the Cities of Gold Hotel in Pojoaque – hybrid MS Teams interactive public forum at which N3B and LANL discuss Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation with Q&A. In-person participants are invited to interact with N3B and LANL subject matter experts. For meeting information, including login details, visit: https://n3b-la.com/public-meeting/emcf-6-3-2026/.

5. Thursday, June 4^th at 6 pm MDT – FREE online showing of Daniel Ellsberg on the Nuclear Threat at the premiere of An Ordinary Insanity – a 28-minute film by Oscar-nominated director Judith Ehrlich, filmed one year before Ellsberg’s death at age 92. To register:  https://www.anordinaryinsanity.com/ The free premiere will include a panel featuring director Judith Ehrlich, Ellsberg family members, and nuclear weapons experts and activists, followed by a Q&A. After the premiere, the film will be available to view FREE online and to use for screenings and events to help build greater awareness of the threat we face and to encourage action.

6. Saturday, June 6^th at 1:30 pm MDT – Santa Fe Archbishop John Wester, Partnership for a World Without Nuclear Weapons, will present on his 2022 pastoral letter,Living in the Light of Christ’s Peace: A Conversation Toward Nuclear Disarmament to a virtual summit dialogue to activate Catholics to work for the global abolition of nuclear weapons. For more information about the Pax Christi New England Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (PCAN) and to register, go to https://paxchristima.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/PCAN-Summits-Flyer-PDF.pdf

7. Monday, June 8^th at 9 am at the NM State Capitol Building – capitWater Quality Control Commission Public Rulemaking Hearing for the Proposed Surface Water Quality State Permitting Program (WQCC 25-74(R)). For more information: https://www.env.nm.gov/events-calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D199647881

8. Sunday, June 13^th from 10 am to 11 am – Albuquerque Inaugural Women Veterans Celebration at New Mexico Veterans Memorial Park, 1100 Louisiana SE. Albuquerque Concert Band will begin music at 9:45 am. For more information, please call 505 768-4495.

Tags: AIM, broken promises, LANL, Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico Environment Department, New Mexico Hazardous Waste Act, NMED, permit modification, plutonium pit production, Stop Forever WIPP Coalition, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, WIPP, WIPP Agency Initiated Modification