Dozens Participate in First Annual Plutonium Trail Caravan

April 11th, 2024 in Action Alerts / Events / Weekly News Updates
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On a cold and windy Saturday morning, dozens of eager people got in their vehicles to participate in the First Annual Plutonium Trail Caravan beginning at the Camel Rock geologic formation.  Throughout the day the Caravan traveled through Santa Fe and El Dorado and made stops along the way.  The Caravan ended with a press conference at the Lamy Train Station.  Throughout the day, the participants engaged with the public to inform them of the growing threat of increased transportation of plutonium contaminated radioactive waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).

Back in the day, the federal Department of Energy (DOE) promised The People that once WIPP opened, the federal agency would clean up all the plutonium-contaminated waste across its nuclear weapons complex, including at LANL, in 25 years and close WIPP.  DOE failed to meet the 25-year cleanup deadline on March 26, 2024.  Now DOE is planning to keep WIPP open to at least 2083 for waste from LANL’s expanded fabrication of plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons.

 

The New Mexico Raging Grannies documented this story with satirical lyrics to well-known sing-along tunes, which the caravan participants sang with gusto.  For example to the tune, Hit the Road, Jack.

Bait ‘n’ switch is the game that the DOE

Has been playing on The People,

But The People can see

That for 25 years you’ve been lyin’ to us

‘bout the terrible danger, you keep it hush-hush

‘cause if you told the truth to us,

you’d surely make the devil blush.

Hit the road, Jack, and don’t ya come back no more, no more, no more, no more; Hit the road, Jack, and don’t you come back no more. 

 

Myrriah Gómez, author of Nuclear Nuevo México:  Colonialism and the Effects of the Nuclear Industrial Complex on Nuevomexicanos, spoke at the press conference at the Lamy Train Station.  https://uapress.arizona.edu/book/nuclear-nuevo-mexico  She highlighted the need to educate young people about the nuclear weapons complex in New Mexico and its impacts on New Mexicans.   Right now DOE and LANL are in the schools beginning the recruitment process for future workers.

At the same time the number of workers who are being injured and exposed to radiation in the fabrication processes are increasing.

The planning process for the 2025 Second Annual Plutonium Trail Caravan is beginning now.  Please contact the Stop Forever WIPP Coalition at stopforeverwipp.org if you would like to get involved.  https://stopforeverwipp.org/

  1. Friday, April 12, 2024 from noon to 1 pm MT – Join the weekly peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament on the four corners of Alameda and Sandoval in downtown Santa Fe with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, Pax Christi, Nonviolent Santa Fe, New Mexico Peace Fests, and others. Join us!

 

 

  1. Thursday, April 11 at 5 pm MDT on Zoom – Oppenheimer, Einstein, and Resistance to Nuclear Destruction – THE FULL STORY, with historians Lawrence Wittner & Blanche Wiesen Cook. Hosted by Peace Action New York State.  Registration:  https://calendar.google.com/calendar/event?eid=NmFkdGRzbnNtdjRpNXIxcjQ1bWtzcWFkdmsgNXBsdjNqYmY2MmNuYTAxcnUzYnY0ZzdkMm9AZw&ctz=America/New_York  

 

 

  1. Friday to Sunday, April 12 – 15 – PeaceWorks is issuing a CALL TO ACTION to oppose the start of a NEW 21st Century NUCLEAR ARMS RACE beginning in Kansas City NOW!  The KC National Security Campus fabricates nearly all the non-nuclear components for nuclear weapons. It announced that the plant plans to DOUBLE in size next year and increase its number of workers to Cold War levels of 9,000! https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2023/11/07/nnsa-honeywell-office-manufacturing-campus-nuclear.html

PeaceWorks invites you to join in a Resistance Retreat at Jerusalem Farm, 520 Garfield Ave., Kansas City, Missouri. Register using the QR code in the flier to the right. For more info, contact PeaceWorks Vice-Chair Ann Suellentrop at annsuellen@gmail.com or 913-271-7925.

 

 

  1. From Wednesday, March 6 to May 15 (Bi- Weekly) from noon to 1 pm Mountain Time – UNM Climate Change and Human Health ECHO Program: Global Nuclear and Environmental Threats Critical to Climate Change and Human Health.  https://iecho.org/echo-institute-programs/climate-change-and-human-health   

April 17th – Environmental Exposures and Superfund Sites and Nuclear SUPERfund Sites in New Mexico.  Speakers are: 

    • Myrriah Gómez, PhD – Assistant Professor in the Honors College, University of New Mexico
    • Michelle Hunter, MS – Deputy Director, New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission, The Office of the State Engineer

 

  1. Wednesday, April 17th from 2 to 4 pm – WIPP public meeting about two Class 2 permit modifications to the NM Hazardous Waste Permit for
    • adding four new shielded containers for management of remote-handled (RH) transuranic (TRU) mixed waste as contact-handled (CH) TRU mixed waste in the WIPP underground disposal facility.
    • Changing the site recertification audit schedule from annual to a graded approach.

To review the proposed permit modifications at https://wipp.energy.gov/Library/Information_Repository_A/Class_2_Permit_Modifications/24-0241_Redacted.pdf

To attend the zoom meeting, REGISTER: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0ocu2oqTMiGNJqe0L3TrFNplEgXfMzdZUy#/registration

Public comments must be received by 5 pm MDT on Saturday, June 1, 2024 to Megan McLean, NM Environment Department, Hazardous Waste Bureau at megan.mclean@env.nm.gov or the NMED Public Comment Portal at https://nmed.commentinput.com/?id=rRcW83jAC

 

  1. Thursday, April 18th from 11 am to noon MDT – EPA Public Meeting about proposed revisions to Standards for the Open Burning-Open Detonation (OB/OD) of Waste Explosives for a 60-day comment period, ending on Monday, May 20, 2024.

On Thursday, April 18th at 11 am MDT, EPA will host a public webinar to discuss the proposal.  To register: https://www.epa.gov/remedytech/forms/registration-revisions-standards-open-burningopen-detonation-waste-explosives

Both Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory use OB/OD to dispose of waste explosives.  EPA is not proposing to ban OB/OD.  https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024-03-20/pdf/2024-05088.pdf

CCNS and colleagues will be preparing sample public comments you can use to create your comments.  Submit your comments at: https://www.regulations.gov/document/EPA-HQ-OLEM-2021-0397-0001

 

  1. Thursday, April 18th from 5:30 – 7:30 pm MDT – in-person and virtual LANL Cleanup Forum, hosted by the DOE Environmental Management-LANL (EM-LA) and N3B (cleanup contactor). The forum will feature discussions and public input on the environmental cleanup mission at LANL, recent progress in shipping waste off-site and work to protect water quality. The community discussion and Q&A will follow two short presentations by EM-LA and N3B.  In –person meeting at SALA Event Center, 2551 Central Avenue, Los Alamos.  For more info and virtual Microsoft Teams access numbers:  https://n3b-la.com/emcf_apr_18_2024/

 

 

  1. Saturday, April 20th from 9 am to 2 pm – Earth Day at the Caja del Rio Hike & Clean-Up, Santa Fe, NM. Activities include a hike, lunch and cleanup activities.  For more information:  https://cajadelrio.org/earthdayevent/

 

 

  1. Sunday, April 21st from 10 to 4 pm – La Montanita EarthFest 2024 at Nob Hill Location in Albuquerque. https://lamontanita.coop/earthfest/

 

 

  1. Sunday, April 21st at 6 pm – Wildflower Playhouse and Taos Center for the Arts present: Dance, Live Performance – Stories from Home by Yvonne Montoya / Safos Dance Theatre.  Stories From Home is a series of dances embodying the oral traditions of Nuevomexicano, Chicano, and Mexican American communities in the American Southwest.  Choreographer Yvonne Montoya, a 23rd-generation Nuevomexicana, and an all-Mexican American cast of dancers draw upon personal histories and ancestral knowledge, including stories from Montoya’s great-grandmother, grandmother, great-aunts, and father.

Tickets:  https://tcataos.org/calendar/#event=77457614;instance=20240421180000?popup=1   

 

 

  1. Tuesday, April 23rd from 6 to 8 pm – DOE/DOD Semiannual Public Meeting about what is going on at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and Kirtland Air Force Base (Kirtland AFB) at New Mexico Veterans Memorial, 1100 Louisiana Blvd. SE, Albuquerque. For more info:  https://www.sandia.gov/about/environment/environmental-management-system/public-meetings/
 

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