On Ninth Anniversary of WIPP Explosion, Join Us at New Mexico’s Capitol on Tuesday, February 14th at 1:15 pm

On February 14^th, 2014, one or more drums of radioactive and hazardous waste exploded in the deep underground disposal site of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).  To raise public awareness, non-government organizations are joining together on Tuesday, February 14^th at 1:15 in the Rotunda at the New Mexico State Capitol for a press conference.  Please join us and hold a red rose and a card containing the name of your neighborhood for a short press conference about why WIPP is not safe.

The audience will then deliver the red roses to the Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s Office to remind her that she has the tools to protect the People from exposure to dangerous radioactive waste now and in the future by blocking the proposed WIPP expansion.

The organizers from Tewa Women United https://tewawomenunited.org/ , 285 ALL, and Stop Forever WIPP https://stopforeverwipp.org/ , request that you wear black and red.  There is free and easy parking at the Galisteo Parking Garage at 485 Galisteo and Paseo de Peralta. 

Please check out the map at http://nuclearactive.org/ to see if your neighborhood is on the major shipping route from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to WIPP.  https://lanl.gov/ and https://www.wipp.energy.gov/   The Department of Energy (DOE) owns both facilities and plans to concentrate more plutonium work at each.  At LANL, DOE plans to pulverize the triggers, or plutonium pits, for nuclear weapons.  More plutonium waste would be destined for WIPP.  Over several decades, about 100,000 pounds of plutonium would be made into powder.  Public comments are now due to DOE by March 16^th.  https://www.energy.gov/nepa/doeeis-0549-surplus-plutonium-disposition-program  Stay tuned here for more information and sample public comments you can use.

DOE has been working methodically since the 2014 explosion to double the size of the waste site located 2,150 feet below ground surface, 26 miles east of Carlsbad, New Mexico.  http://nuclearactive.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/WIPP-Timeline_Final.pdf and related posts.

Communities are joining together to raise awareness about DOE’s expansion plans and the 2024 deadline for closing WIPP.  It’s time for the Governor to use the existing agreements that requires waste repositories in other states.

With the expansion plans, there would be more shipments from DOE’s Pantex Plant, north of Amarillo to LANL where the pits would be pulverized and shipped to the DOE’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, where an adulterant would be added to defuse the plutonium.  The last leg of this 3,300-mile journey would end at WIPP.  http://nuclearactive.org/does-dramatic-plan-to-move-tons-of-surplus-plutonium-for-processing-at-lanl-and-disposal-at-wipp/

The 2014 explosion and release could have happened anywhere on the transportation route as it passed through our neighborhoods and communities.

Please join us on February 14^th at 1:15 pm in the Rotunda to ask Governor Lujan-Grisham to protect our communities and future generations by blocking WIPP expansion.  For more information:  285alliance@gmail.com

1. Friday, February 10^th from noon to 1 pm – Join the weekly peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament on the corners of Alameda and Guadalupe in downtown Santa Fe with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, Pax Christi and others.

2. Thursday, February 9^th from 5:30 to 7:30 pm – in person and virtual LANL Environmental Management Cleanup Forum at Cottonwood on the Greens (Los Alamos Golf Course), 4244 Diamond Drive, Los Alamos. Presentations include N3B (cleanup contractor) fiscal year 2023 priorities and the hexavalent chromium treatment systems, which will be followed by a question and answer period about cleanup priorities.  Agenda and connection information:  https://n3b-la.com/emcf_feb_9_2023/

3. March 9 and 10, 2023 – ICAN and ICAN Norway are hosting the ICAN Act on It Forum in Oslo, Norway. You are invited to join campaigners, youth, politicians, academics and others interested in nuclear disarmament to amplify voices demanding the end of unlawful and inhumane nuclear weapons.  March 2023 is the 10^th anniversary of the first conference on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons, hosted by Norway.  https://www.icannorway.no/

4. April 1^st to 7^th – Join the Sacred Peace Walk, an interfaith journey of approximately 60 miles from Las Vegas to the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) (formerly the Nevada Test Site), through the Great Basin Desert in Nevada, on the beautiful traditional lands of the Indigenous Western Shoshone and Paiute Peoples, bringing the message of non-violence to the test site and Creech AFB (the center of drone warfare and assassination for the US military and the CIA). For more information, contact the Nevada Desert Experience at kingsbayplowshares@gmail.com and http://nevadadesertexperience.org/

5. April 15^th to 22^nd – Shut Down Drone Warfare – Holloman Air Force Base in southern New Mexico – “From Tax Day to Earth Day, Rise Up!” Co-sponsored by CODEPINK, Veterans for Peace and Ban Killer Drones.  Join for a week of peaceful resistance against drone warfare and out-of-control U.S. empire.  Why Holloman?  It is the largest-drone training base in the U.S. – training 600 or more drone pilots and operators annually.  For more information:  http://www.shutdowndronewarfare.org/

Tags: 2024 deadline to close WIPP, 285 ALL, 50 metric tons of plutonium, Department of Energy, DOE, February 14th, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, LANL, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Pantex Plant, plutonium pits, red rose, Savannah River Site, STOP FOREVER WIPP, Tewa Women United, Valentine’ Day 2014, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, WIPP