EPA Provides Public Review Period for Final LANL SWEIS and ROD

Did you know that the president, with the issuance of a new Executive Order,  eliminated the opportunity for the public to comment on the Final Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Record of Decision? Nevertheless, the rules of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allow the public to provide comments on the Final LANL SWEIS and the related Record of Decision, or the ROD.

Prior to January 8, 2026, the public had an official opportunity to review and provide comments about those documents to the Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration under the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA.  Those opportunities evaporated under the president’s January 8, 2026 Executive Order 14154, titled Unleashing American Energy, which revoked the NEPA implementing regulations.

At that time, DOE and NNSA were a mere 68 days from the end of a four-year NEPA process about their contentious plans to expand the fabrication of plutonium triggers, or pits, for nuclear weapons. Public hearings were held in Northern New Mexico, including in Santa Fe where the Most Reverend John Wester, the Archbishop of Santa Fe, spoke in opposition to the expansion plans.

In early 2025, the Draft LANL SWEIS was released for public comment under the NEPA implementing regulations that guide federal agencies and the public through the process.

On January 8, 2026, those regulations were eviscerated by the administration. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/01/08/2026-00178/removal-of-national-environmental-policy-act-implementing-regulations

But wait, there’s more.

A mere 68 days later, on March 17, 2026, DOE/NNSA released the Final LANL SWEIS and ROD with no opportunity for public review and comment. https://www.energy.gov/nepa/articles/doeeis-0552-final-environmental-impact-statement-march-2026

One has to wonder why the administration could not have waited to rescind the regulations until after the LANL SWEIS administrative processes were completed.

Nevertheless, the Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for filing environmental impact statements, or EISs, in the EPA’s database and publishing that information in a weekly Notice of Availability in the Federal Register.

Importantly, the EPA’s filing guidance at https://www.epa.gov/nepa/environmental-impact-statement-filing-guidance#notice and specifically the time frames for public review periods at  https://www.epa.gov/nepa/environmental-impact-statement-filing-guidance#Public%20Review%20Periods state:

• Comment periods for all draft EISs are recommended to be 45 calendar days
• The review periods for all final EISs are recommended to be 30 calendar days

On March 27, 2026, EPA published the Notice of Availability in the Federal Register for the Final LANL SWEIS and ROD.  91 FR 14843. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/27 and https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/27/2026-05986/environmental-impact-statements-notice-of-availability

Please note:  the EPA’s Environmental Impact Statement Filing Guidance was last updated on January 21, 2026 – AFTER the January 8, 2026 Executive Order was issued – thus providing the public with the mandated opportunity to submit comments on the Final LANL SWEIS and ROD for 30 calendar days after March 27, 2026, the date EPA published the Notice of Availability in the Federal Register.  91 FR 14843.  260121 last updated EPA EIS Filing Guidance

According to the EPA, the public now has until Monday, April 27, 2026 to submit their comments. CCNS is preparing sample public comments you can personalize and use. They will be available next week.

1. Friday, April 10^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. Sunday, April 5^th to Saturday, April 11^th – Spring Action Week – Shut Down Drone Warfare at Holloman AFB, Alamogordo, Southern NM. Nonviolent Resistance to Military Drones & War.  For more information:  https://www.shutdowndronewarfare.org/,  Nmvetsforpeace@gmail.com

3. Friday, April 10^th at 1 pm MT – Hanford Challenge’s 2026 Scholar Series with Myrriah Gómez speaking about Rudolfo Anaya and the Atomic Bomb. Gómez is a professor and author of Nuclear Nuevo México: Colonialism and the Effects of the Nuclear Industrial Complex on Nuevomexicanos
   On Zoom, register here. Even if you can’t make it, register for a link to the recording.

In this presentation, Myrriah Gómez will discuss how New Mexican Chicano author, Rudolfo Anaya, wrote about the atomic bomb and nuclear culture in much of his work. As one of the world’s most recognized Chicano authors, Myrriah seeks to frame Anaya’s writing in the larger context of nuclear cultural production, specifically literature about atomic weapons.

By interrogating Anaya’s presence in nuclear culture, Myrriah is asking important questions about what his writing conveys about New Mexican Hispanic culture and whether or not nuclear weapons can be considered part of the querencia of nuevomexicanos– that is, the place where one feels most safe, often associated with a deep love of place. Myrriah will discuss several of Anaya’s writings as well as her recent findings from his archival collection held at the Center for Southwest Research at the University of New Mexico.

4. Friday, April 10^th from 5 pm to 7:30 pm at National Hispanic Cultural Center – Nuclear Past, Present, and Future: Art in Action – with Free Reception – at 1701 4^th Street SW, Albuquerque. For more information: https://nhccnm.org/event/nuclear-past-present-and-future-art-in-action/  

5. Tuesday, April 28^th from noon to 1:30 pm – WIPP Community Forum, U.S. Department of Energy, Carlsbad Field Office and Salado Isolation Mining Contractors (SIMCO). To register, https://wipp.energy.gov/wipp_news_20260324.asp

Tags: Department of Energy, DOE, draft LANL SWEIS, Draft Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Executive Order 14154 Unleashing American Energy, Federal Register, Final LANL SWEIS, Final Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Most Reverend John Wester – Archbishop of Santa Fe, National Environmental Policy Act, National Nuclear Security Administration, NEPA, NNSA, Notice of Availability, Record of Decision, ROD