Navy Ordered 444 Missiles, 80% of Work to be Done in Rio Rancho, Including Static Weapons Testing

The U.S. Navy has ordered 444 fully functional Blackbeard hypersonic missiles from Castelion Corporation. The government has assigned 80% of the contract work to be done in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, where Project Ranger is nearing completion. Project Ranger is a 1,000-acre hypersonic manufacturing campus, designed to support production of solid rocket motors, static testing of those motors and final assembly of hypersonic weapons. https://www.castelion.com/project-ranger/

The work is moving forward before the public has had the opportunity to weigh in on the permitting processes for the release of hazardous air emissions, the discharge of water contaminants, and the generation of hazardous waste, among others. Nor has information about the impacts of testing explosives, fire-safety implementation, or approvals to conduct static weapons testing been made available.

This is not an isolated local failure. It is part of a national project to remove communities from environmental decision-making.

Project Ranger serves as the blueprint for congressional action on the newly introduced Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026, or the AAJA, sponsored by Senators Martin Heinrich, Sheldon Whitehouse, Shelley Moore Capito and Mike Lee. It was introduced on September 30, 2026, but does not have a number yet. https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2026/9/capito-lee-whitehouse-and-heinrich-introduce-bipartisan-american-affordability-and-jobs-act-of-2026

If the AAJA became law, it would impose accelerated environmental review schedules, restrict litigation, alter Clean Water Act and historic-preservation reviews, and give approved projects greater protection against later permit cancellation. Its authors call this “affordability” and “certainty.” For affected communities, such as Rio Rancho, it means less time to uncover concealed risks, narrower grounds for challenging unlawful decisions and more pressure on agencies to approve projects before the full consequences are known.  https://www.energy.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/BipartisanAmericanAffordabilityandJobsAct.pdf See Section 1110, Judicial Review – amending the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, beginning on p. 67.

The Senate package does not merely exist alongside the House-passed Streamlining Procurement for Effective Execution and Delivery, or the SPEED, Act. H.R. 4776. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/119/hr4776#google_vignette

It carries forward the same deregulatory architecture: narrower National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, review, compressed deadlines, restricted judicial remedies and “permit certainty” for developers. Additional amendments are expected before the post-election vote, creating another opportunity to attach even more industry written exemptions and limitations. These bills threaten to make the Project Ranger model—build first, disclose later and deny the public meaningful review—the national rule.

Common Ground Rising provides the following information at https://commongroundrising.org/

Yes—key restrictions from H.R. 4776 [SPEED Act] appear in the new Senate AAJA package. That verifies that the provisions were carried forward; “buried” describes their presentation, not a proven intent to conceal them.

In the 417-page Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (AAJA), Section 1110, printed pages 67–74, would:

A limited preliminary-injunction exception requires a likely violation of another federal law; NEPA and the specified historic-preservation law cannot supply that basis. 

IMPORTANT!  H.R. 4776 can remain stalled while central restrictions advance inside a differently named bill.

CALL SENATORS HEINRICH AND WHITEHOUSE: STOP THIS BILL AS WRITTEN.

Call Senator Martin Heinrich: 202-224-5521, or heinrich.senate.gov
Call Senator Sheldon Whitehouse: 202-224-2921. (heinrich.senate.gov⁠, whitehouse.senate.gov⁠)

Tell their offices: Remove the provisions that weaken communities’ ability to challenge unlawful environmental review in the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026.

Find them in Section 1110, printed pages 67–74 of the published bill:

• Page 68 — proposed §111(b)(1): A 150-day deadline for covered NEPA lawsuits.
• Page 68 — §111(b)(2): When comments were invited, challengers must have submitted a substantive comment identifying the particular issue.
• Pages 69–70 — §111(c)(5)(A): Courts finding NEPA violations must return authorizations to agencies without canceling them or issuing an injunction, subject to the limited exception below.
• Pages 70–71 — §111(c)(5)(B): Preliminary injunctions require a likely violation of another federal law; NEPA and the specified historic-preservation law cannot provide that basis.
• Page 71 — §111(c)(6): Authorizations remain effective, and project activity may continue while agencies correct violations.
• Pages 73–74 — §111(d): Courts must give agencies substantial deference on environmental documents’ scope and contents. (epw.senate.gov⁠)

These are the page numbers printed on the bill; they also match the PDF viewer pages.

ASK for the staff member handling environmental permitting. Give your name and ZIP code and request a written response addressing each provision.

A community that proves an environmental-review violation needs an effective remedy. Stop this bill as written. Remove these restrictions before advancing it.

Please share with various organizations to make the calls. 

Further, the health stakes are not theoretical. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that static testing of solid rocket motors releases fine particulate matter that can penetrate deep into the lungs and aggravate cardiovascular and respiratory disease, among other impacts.

For more information about Project Ranger, please visit Common Ground Rising.org at https://commongroundrising.org/.

1. Friday, October 9^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. Bring your flags, signs and banners.

2. Saturday, October 3^rd through Saturday, October 10^th– Keep Space for Peace Week – Space is a Global Commons – Not to be Dominated! For more information: https://space4peace.org/keep-space-for-peace-week/ and https://nuclearactive.org/peace-week-outer-space-as-a-global-commons/

3. Friday, October 9^th – Final day to tell EPA – No further rollbacks on clean water protections! The EPA and Army Corps of Engineers have released a supplemental proposal to further narrow Clean Water Act protections for streams, wetlands and other waters. This proposal is a “gutting of a gutting” – effectively removing all protections from the vast majority of wetlands and streams that do not flow year-round. This builds on the administration’s earlier effort to narrow the definition of “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) and is now open for public comment.

Please consider submitting a comment here. It was prepared by New Mexico Interfaith Power & Light. You can use either of the templates attached in a word document here. Just copy and paste the written text you choose into the comment section of the EPA portal linked here and add your personalization. Additionally, for those who identify with Christian traditions, you can sign the following letter from our national partners. 

4. October 14^th at 5:30 pm – Webinar for “A Data Center Moratorium for NM – Because an Executive Order Can’t Protect Our Air or Water” with NM Representatives Micaela Lara Cadena and Angelica Rubio. Register at: https://bit.ly/nmdata-center-moratorium

AI developers may be in a headlong rush, but we don’t have to be. Making good law requires time and community input. New Mexico needs to slow down and get data center guardrails right. With guest speakers from NM Water Advocates, Youth United for Climate Crisis Action (YUCCA) and New Energy Economy.

5. Saturday, October 17^th – the 2026 White Mesa Spiritual Walk will be held at the White Mesa Community Center, with a pre-conference in the evening of the 16^th at the same location. https://protectwhitemesa.org/saturday-october-17-2026-10th-annual-white-mesa-ute-community-spiritual-walk-and-protest-against-energy-fuels-uranium-mill-dump-and-uranium-mines/

6. Saturday, October 17^th, Early Voting Day of Action – Nationwide NO KINGS: VOTE EARLY – No Thrones. No Crowns. No Kings nonpartisan events designed to increase participation from all eligible voters. For more information, https://www.nokings.org/

7. Tuesday, October 20^th from 1 pm to 2:30 pm Mountain Time – webinar about Nuclear Weapons and the Responsibility of Scientists: A Conversation with Carlo Rovelli, organized by The Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction. Learn more and register: https://physicistscoalition.org/webinars-and-trainings/

Tags: 000+ acre campus, Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026, built to be the largest hypersonic manufacturing facility in the U.S., Castelion Corporation, Clean Water Act, Common Ground Rising, discharge of water contaminants, final assembly of hypersonic weapons, fire-safety implementation, H.R. 4776, hazardous air emissions, hazardous waste generation, National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, Project Ranger: A 1, Rio Rancho in New Mexico, Senator Martin Heinrich, Senator Mike Lee, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, solid rocket motors, static testing, static weapons testing, Streamlining Procurement for Effective Execution and Delivery, testing explosives, the SPEED Act