CCNS provided the following response to a recent Santa Fe New Mexican Our View:

“In response to Stop Stalling:  Clean up chromium plume, no one is stalling.  [Posted below.]  The plume does need immediate attention and does need to be analyzed with a computer model that everyone can use.  The consequences of getting the cleanup of the toxic hexavalent chromium plume wrong would be disastrous.

“CCNS urges that before the proposed negotiations between the Department of Energy (DOE) and the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) take place, a comparison is made of the differing groundwater models they use.

“CCNS suggests that groundwater monitoring data from 2016 forward be entered into both the USGS MODFLOW model and LANL’s own FEHM model and compared.  [We are suggesting the 2016 date because that is when the NMED groundwater discharge permit for the extraction and injection processes was issued.  GWDP No. 1835.]

“CCNS first suggested this approach as far back as 1998, when the first groundwater monitoring well was installed under LANL’s Hydrogeological Workplan.  Over the decades, CCNS has witnessed the long-standing resistance by LANL to use MODFLOW.

“Water is too precious to put its purity at risk.  The toxic hexavalent chromium plume below LANL was discovered in 2004.  [http://www.nuclearactive.org/news/122206.html] The big question right now is whether the injection of treated water is pushing, or smearing, the contamination deeper into the regional drinking water aquifer.

“This is a big deal.  To reach the drinking water aquifer where the hexavalent chromium is found, the wells must be at least 1,000 deep.  Those wells extract, or pump, the waters to the surface where they are run through large filters to remove the pollutants.  The waters are then injected back into the aquifer to create a hydrologic barrier to keep the plume from moving.  But NMED has concerns that the injection is moving the existing contamination deeper into the aquifer.  In the early days of this effort, the hexavalent chromium was found in the top 50 feet of the aquifer.  Now LANL says it is in the top 150 feet of the aquifer, creating an impasse between NMED and DOE.

“Importantly, the plume is sitting on the west side of the Española Basin Sole Source Drinking Water Aquifer.  In 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency found that 85% of the drinking water in the 3,000 square mile designated area comes from wells in the aquifer.  The importance of getting the cleanup right cannot be understated.  http://nuclearactive.org/ccns-urges-state-legislature-to-protect-the-espanola-aquifer-from-lanl-pollutants/

“On August 21^st, the New Mexico Legislature’s Radioactive and Hazardous Material Committee met in Los Alamos.  The toxic plume was on the agenda.  A suggestion was made to bring in an independent negotiator to break the impasse.  This is a good idea.  [https://www.nmlegis.gov/committee/Interim_Committee?CommitteeCode=RHMC, see agenda and DOE and NMED handouts.  See webcast at https://sg001-harmony.sliq.net/00293/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20230831/-1/73647 ]

“But LANL does not use the most widely accepted and used groundwater model created by the U.S. Geological Survey, called MODFLOW.  LANL uses its own groundwater model, called FEHM, which stands for Finite Element Heat and Mass Transfer Code.  But to use FEHM, you have to register at https://fehm.lanl.gov/.  Today, August 31^st, the registration links aren’t working.

“The USGS MODFLOW is “considered an international standard for formulating and predicting groundwater conditions and groundwater/surface water interactions.”  Most water professionals use MODFLOW to protect water from contamination.  It is a computer model that is publicly available without the need to register.  https://www.usgs.gov/software/modflow-6-usgs-modular-hydrologic-model

“A complete investigation of the movement of the hexavalent chromium in the aquifer will reveal if it has spread into the Española Basin SSA.  To break the impasse, a comparison of the two groundwater models using the same data is required now.”

Santa Fe New Mexican Our View

Stop stalling: Clean up the chromium plume

• Aug 23, 2023 Updated Aug 24, 2023 

• https://www.santafenewmexican.com/opinion/editorials/stop-stalling-clean-up-the-chromium-plume/article_86fc885a-41ea-11ee-b5ff-df838b7cbbc3.html

New Mexico has no time for standing still when it comes to cleaning up a decades-old toxic chromium plume under Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The disagreement between federal and state officials over how best to clean the tainted water must be resolved. Now. At a recent meeting of the state Legislature’s Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee, lawmakers learned the cleanup is stalled.

State regulators in March ordered the U.S. Energy Department to cease its extraction of tainted water, which was followed by treatment and a reinjection into a 1.5-mile-long plume. The process is designed to dilute the pollution, but state experts believe reinjecting the water only pushes the contaminants toward San Ildefonso Pueblo and deeper into the aquifer. The pollution isn’t only a concern for the pueblo; residents of long established villages and farmers in the area also want to know the contamination has been removed.

Federal officials say their pump-treat-return method is working. It, they maintain, reduces the hexavalent chromium and builds a “hydraulic barrier” that keeps it from spreading.

Despite disagreeing with state action, the Energy Department ceased injecting treated water back into the aquifer in April. Now, its experts are worried whatever cleaning has occurred will be compromised. Michael Mikolanis, head of the department’s environmental management at Los Alamos, told lawmakers the chromium plume once more is moving since the cleanup stopped.

Not so fast, says the state. Rick Shean, state Environment Department director of resource protection, says monitoring wells have revealed the injections are neither containing the pollutants nor pulling them back. The process doesn’t work.

Whom to believe?

We’ll go with a third party, as suggested by state Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces. He wanted to know if the feds and the state would consider mediation by an outside expert. The Energy Department has money to pay an independent analyst, who Mikolanis said would be impartial even if paid through a government grant. For the cleanup to be completed, the process cannot drag out.

Meanwhile, as Shean points out, extraction can continue — just without reinjecting the water. Federal cleanup managers say that isn’t feasible.

Truth be told, LANL and the Department of Energy have been poor partners over the years in cleaning up messes. If they truly were trying to remove legacy waste as quickly and efficiently as possible, the state of New Mexico wouldn’t have had to resort to going to court repeatedly.

Residents of Northern New Mexico deserve to have removal of pollutants — especially those contaminating water sources — at the top of the priority list for the Department of Energy. Mikolanis maintains workers can’t amp up extraction any more than the consent order calls for, but here’s a thought: What’s wrong with doing more than required?

Federal cleanup authorities should stop trying to do the minimum.

The state is suing the Department of Energy over the terms of the cleanup. A 2016 consent order between the state and federal agencies, struck under then-Gov. Susan Martinez, is deficient and state officials are seeking to move the work along. That’s the right approach.

In the meantime, get an analyst in to see whether reinjection of water is worsening the pollution. Keep pulling water out while that analysis is completed — after all, hexavalent chromium is a known carcinogen.

Stop wasting time.

1. Friday, September 1^st from noon to 1 pm MT – 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, Nonviolent Santa Fe, and others.

Come and visit with us about planning Defuse Nuclear War events (Sept. 24 – 30 Week of Action) and the Back from the Brink campaign.   Pick up Back from the Brink materials to support work to prevent nuclear war.  https://preventnuclearwar.org/   

2. Friday, September 1^st at noon on the east side of the Roundhouse, Rick Hubbard, an 82-year old retired lawyer and peace activist, will speak about his Walking Across America to Fix Our Democracy. He will speak about his efforts to raise Americans’ awareness of the danger we are facing and to build a movement to Fix Our Democracy now.   https://www.fixourdemocracy.us/santa-fe-nm

3. Friday, September 22, 2023 from 5 to 7 pm MT – NM Environment Department hybrid public meeting to present the changes made to the draft hazardous waste permit as represented in the proposed 10-year final permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The public is invited to ask questions to NMED and WIPP representatives and make public comments.   For more information, see the August 15, 2023 public notice.  https://hwbdocuments.env.nm.gov/Waste%20Isolation%20Pilot%20Plant/230818.pdf  

Three ways to attend the public meeting:

Carlsbad in-person location:  Skeen-Whitlock Bldg., 4021 National Parks Hwy.

Santa Fe in person location:  Larrazolo Auditorium, NMED Harold Runnels Bldg., 1190 St. Francis Drive (between Cordova and Alta Vista).

Remote Access on WebEx:  https://www.env.nm.gov/events-calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D167732347

Three ways to submit public comments:  

NMED Public Comment Portal: https://nmed.commentinput.com/?id=G5E7C

Email to Megan.McLean@env.nm.gov

Postal Mail:         Megan McLean, Acting WIPP Group Program Manager

                              Hazardous Waste Bureau – NM Environment Department

                              2905 Rodeo Park Drive East, Bldg. 1

                              Santa Fe, NM  87505-6303

4. Sign the Tewa Women United petition to Protect Vulnerable NM Communities: Halt Radioactive Tritium Release from LANL. LANL is proposing to vent four flanged tritium waste containers (FTWCs) by September 30, 2023 (the end of the fiscal year).  https://tewawomenunited.org/2023/08/its-happening-again-petition-to-halt-lanls-planned-tritium-release

5. Trinity: Legacies of Nuclear Testing – A People’s Perspective Art Exhibit at the Branigan Cultural Center, 501 N. Main Street, Las Cruces, NM.  The exhibit will be up until September 23, 2023.  https://www.lascruces.gov/1528/Branigan-Cultural-Center

Did you know that in 2008 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designated the 3,000 square mile Española Basin System as a Sole Source Drinking Water Aquifer?  https://www.epa.gov/dwssa   One ongoing concern is that Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) sits on its western edge, near the Valles Caldera.  And a recent dispute between the New Mexico Environment Department and the Department of Energy about the LANL hexavalent chromium plume, which is being pushed deeper into the regional drinking water aquifer, highlights the need for state agencies to have the resources to protect it.  See Powerpoint presentations titled “DOE-Los Alamos Field Office (1)” and “NMED Hex Chrome Plume” under Item 1.    https://www.nmlegis.gov/committee/Handouts_List?CommitteeCode=RHMC&Date=8/21/2023   Hexavalent chromium is a known human carcinogen.

On Monday, August 21^st CCNS requested that a New Mexico Legislative Committee provide funding to key state agencies to protect this aquifer from LANL pollutants, which are migrating through the aquifer to the Rio Grande and beyond.  The request to the New Mexico Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee was for line items for the budgets of the Office of the State Engineer and New Mexico Environment Department.  See CCNS presentation “Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety” under Item 1.     https://www.nmlegis.gov/committee/Handouts_List?CommitteeCode=RHMC&Date=8/21/2023

An important history:  In 2006, La Cienega Valley Citizens for Environmental Safeguards and geo-hydrologist Zane Spiegel submitted a petition to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to designate the area as a sole source aquifer.   They argued that the aquifer supplies at least 50 percent of the drinking water for its service area and there are no reasonably available alternative drinking water sources should the aquifer become contaminated.  The aquifer encompasses the area between the Jemez and Sangre de Cristo Mountains, from Tres Piedras to the north almost to Galisteo to the south.

Then, in 2008, after EPA determined that 85% of the drinking water in the area covered by the petition comes from wells in the aquifer, EPA approved the application and designated the aquifer as a sole source drinking water aquifer.  http://www.nuclearactive.org/news/011808.html

Nevertheless, LANL has been investigating the hexavalent chromium contamination for nearly 20 years.  http://www.nuclearactive.org/audio/092706.mp3 and http://www.nuclearactive.org/news/122206.html

More recently, NMED became concerned that the hexavalent chromium was being pushed further and further into the regional drinking water and ordered that the injection process be stopped.  See NMED Hex Chrome Plume Powerpoint under “Item 1” at https://www.nmlegis.gov/committee/Handouts_List?CommitteeCode=RHMC&Date=8/21/2023  

The threat posed to the Española Basin Sole Source Aquifer by the hexavalent chromium contamination encouraged CCNS to ask for legislative oversight by providing funding to the Office of State Engineer and New Mexico Environment Department.

It is important to note that three of the Los Alamos County drinking water wells are located close to the known perimeter of the hexavalent chromium plume.

A full recording of the August 21, 2023 meeting of the Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee meeting is available here:  https://sg001-harmony.sliq.net/00293/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20230824/-1/73647   The presentation by Joni Arends, Executive Director of CCNS begins at 10:06 AM.

1. Friday, August 25^th from noon to 1 pm MT – 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, Nonviolent Santa Fe, and others.

Come talk with us about the Back from the Brink campaign.  Pick up materials to support your work to prevent nuclear war.  https://preventnuclearwar.org/   

2. Saturday, August 26^th – 60^th Anniversary of the March on Washington in Albuquerque’s Faith Temple Church, 1000 Broadway Blvd. SE. Gathering and lineup at 9:30 am.  March at 10 am.  Rally inside the Faith Temple Church from 10:30 am to 12 noon.  It is a free event.

Speakers include:  Elder James Walker, Faith Temple; Dr. Harold Bailey, NAACP ABQ Branch; State Senator Harold Pope, Jr.; State Representative Eleanor Chavez; Dr. Jamal Martin, UNM; Ashley Long, Central NM Labor Council; and Rev. ND Smith, Macedonia Baptist Church.

For more information, contact Charles Powell at 505 271-9274.  http://nuclearactive.org/join-the-continuation-of-dr-kings-work-at-60th-anniversary-of-march-on-washington-in-albuquerque-on-saturday-august-26th/

3. Sign the Tewa Women United petition to Protect Vulnerable NM Communities: Halt Radioactive Tritium Release from LANL.  LANL is proposing to vent four flanged tritium waste containers (FTWCs) by September 30, 2023 (the end of the fiscal year).  https://tewawomenunited.org/2023/08/its-happening-again-petition-to-halt-lanls-planned-tritium-release

4. Trinity: Legacies of Nuclear Testing – A People’s Perspective Art Exhibit at the Branigan Cultural Center, 501 N. Main Street, Las Cruces, NM.  The exhibit will be up until September 23, 2023.  https://www.lascruces.gov/1528/Branigan-Cultural-Center

On August 28, 1963, more than 200,000 peaceful demonstrators from across the United States of America joined together for the first March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.  They came together to demand voting rights and equal opportunity for African Americans and to appeal for an end to racial segregation and discrimination.  

From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech.  He said,  “So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.  It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.  I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed:  We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all [people] are created equal.”  https://thekingcenter.org/about-tkc/martin-luther-king-jr/

Sixty years later, his son, Martin Luther King III, Chairman of the Drum Major Institute, stated the 60^th anniversary March in Washington, DC on Saturday, August 26^th “It’s Not a Commemoration, it’s a Continuation!  We March on!”  https://drummajorinst.org/

His wife, Arndrea Waters King, invited people from all around the world to Washington, DC to call for action to continue the dream.  She said, “Too many politicians have made Black and Brown Americans’ and marginalized groups’ lives unnecessarily difficult.  It won’t be easy, but if we use our voices for good, change will happen, and this is our time to demand it.  It’s our turn to help realize the Dream and make democracy for all a reality.”  https://drummajorinst.org/

If you are unable to travel to Washington, you are invited to the Albuquerque 60^th Anniversary of the March on Saturday, August 26^th.  The March for Jobs and Freedom:  60 Years and Still Marching will begin at Faith Temple Church, at 1000 Broadway Southeast.  http://www.faithtemplecogic.org/default.asp?sec_id=180005641  The gathering and line up will begin at 9:30 am.  The march will begin at 10 am with a rally from 10:30 am to noon. Flyer here: ABQ March On Washington

The proud march sponsors are the Albuquerque NAACP http://naacpabq.org/ , the Democratic Party of New Mexico Black Caucus http://naacpabq.org/ , and the Albuquerque Veterans for Peace, Chapter 63 https://www.facebook.com/VFP063/ .   Together they march for jobs and higher wages for all workers now, and demand an end to police brutality now and for decent housing now.

Join local leaders and activists to continue the work of social activists like Martin Luther King Jr.   Stand up against discrimination, hate crimes, and prejudice.  Stand up for freedom, equality, and justice for all.

1. Friday, August 18^th from noon to 1 pm MT – 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, Nonviolent Santa Fe, and others.

Come talk with us about the Back from the Brink campaign.  Pick up materials to support your work to prevent nuclear war.  https://preventnuclearwar.org/   

2. Sign the Tewa Women United petition to Protect Vulnerable NM Communities: Halt Radioactive Tritium Release from LANL.  LANL is proposing to vent four flanged tritium waste containers (FTWCs) by September 30, 2023 (the end of the fiscal year).  https://tewawomenunited.org/2023/08/its-happening-again-petition-to-halt-lanls-planned-tritium-release

3. Sunday, August 20^th from 5 to 7 pm at the Dixon Fire Station – Los Alamos Downwind Neighbors are hosting a public meeting about the Nukes Next Door. Joni Arends of CCNS will be speaking.  For more information, email ladownwinders@gmail.com.

4. Monday, August 21^st at 9 am – Joni Arends of CCNS is presenting to the NM Interim Radioactive & Hazardous Materials Legislative Committee about the hexavalent chromium plume. The meeting is in Los Alamos County Municipal Building.  The agenda is available:  https://www.nmlegis.gov/agendas/RHMCageAug21.23.pdf  For more information and access to handouts:  https://www.nmlegis.gov/committee/Interim_Committee?CommitteeCode=RHMC

5. Trinity: Legacies of Nuclear Testing – A People’s Perspective Art Exhibit at the Branigan Cultural Center, 501 N. Main Street, Las Cruces, NM.  The exhibit will be up until September 23, 2023.  https://www.lascruces.gov/1528/Branigan-Cultural-Center

More than 100 medical journals, including the Lancet, the British Medical Journal, the New England Journal of Medicine, and the JAMA, have issued a joint call for urgent steps to decrease the growing danger of nuclear war and to move rapidly to the elimination of nuclear weapons.  At a time of expanded fighting in Ukraine and increased tensions in Korea, leaders of the global health community underscore that any use of nuclear weapons would be catastrophic for humanity.  https://peaceandhealthblog.com/2023/08/02/medical-journals-issue-urgent-call-for-elimination-of-nuclear-weapons/

The unprecedented call to action comes in the form of an editorial co-authored by the editors of 11 of the leading medical and health journals, the World Association of Medical Editors and leaders of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW).  The editorial was released on August 1^st in conjunction with the start of the United Nations Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Preparatory Committee Meeting and the 78th year since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. https://meetings.unoda.org/npt-/treaty-on-the-non-proliferation-of-nuclear-weapons-preparatory-committee-for-the-eleventh-review-conference-first-session-2023

The editorial warns, “The danger is great and growing.  The nuclear armed states must eliminate their nuclear arsenals before they eliminate us.”

Citing the special responsibility of the health community, the editorial urges “health professional associations to inform their members worldwide about the threat to human survival and to join with the IPPNW to support efforts to reduce the near-term risks of nuclear war.”

It calls on the nuclear armed states, and those allied with them to take three immediate steps: “[F]irst, adopt a no first use policy; second, take their nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert; and, third, urge all states involved in current conflicts to pledge publicly and unequivocally that they will not use nuclear weapons in these conflicts.”

The editorial also urges its members to “work for a definitive end to the nuclear threat by supporting the urgent commencement of negotiations among the nuclear-armed states for a verifiable, time bound agreement to eliminate their nuclear weapons in accordance with commitments in the NPT, opening the way for all nations to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.”

Chris Zielinski, of the World Association of Medical Editors, said, “This is an extraordinary development.  Normally medical journals go to great lengths to ensure that the material they publish has not appeared in any other medical journals.  That all of these leading journals have agreed to publish the same editorial underlines the extreme urgency of the current nuclear crisis and the need for prompt action to address this existential threat.”

Dr. Arun Mitra, one of the authors of the editorial, said, “The medical community needs to warn the general public of the enormity of the threat we face.  It is an integral part of our responsibility as health professionals.”

Dr. Ira Helfand, another co-author, said, “We have to support the efforts of civil society organizations like the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and the Back from the Brink campaign in the United States.”  https://www.icanw.org/ and https://preventnuclearwar.org/

1. Friday, August 4^th from noon to 1 pm MT – 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, Nonviolent Santa Fe, and others.

2. Trinity: Legacies of Nuclear Testing – A People’s Perspective Art Exhibit at the Branigan Cultural Center, 501 N. Main Street, Las Cruces, NM.  The exhibit will be up until September 23, 2023.  https://www.lascruces.gov/1528/Branigan-Cultural-Center

3. Wednesday, August 9^th at 1 pm – Please join members of Veterans For Peace, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Nonviolent Santa Fe and others for an informal gathering at Ashley Pond to commemorate the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki on that day 78 years ago. We will engage in silent meditation at the shelter shown on the aerial photo.  Also bring water and protection from sun and/or possible rain. Please encourage friends and family to join you in attending.

4. Sunday, August 13^th from 2 to 3 pm at the Museum of International Folk Art – Mara Taub, long-time advocate for prisoner and immigrant rights, will present “Between the Lines: Prison Art and Advocacy.  Mara is the founder of The Coalition for Prisoner’s Rights, a Santa Fe based nonprofit which focuses on advocacy, support, and providing prisoner’s with reading materials and prisoner and family support-related resources. https://www.internationalfolkart.org/event/details/5603/2023/08/gallery-talk-discussion-platica-y-discusian-en-la-galeraa

MOIFA will be collecting appropriate paperback books the day of the talk for Mara’s organization, please bring paperback books you’d like to donate!

Exhibit will be up until November 5, 2023.  https://www.internationalfolkart.org/exhibition/5411/between-the-lines-prison-art-advocacy-a-community-conversation

5. Saturday, August 26^th at 10 am – 60^th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s original March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom – in Albuquerque, NM. The March will bstart at Faith Temple Church, at 1000 Broadway Southeast.  http://www.faithtemplecogic.org/default.asp?sec_id=180005641  The gathering and line up will begin at 9:30 am.  The march will begin at 10 am with a rally from 10:30 am to noon. For more information, contact Charles Powell, Planning Chair for the Albuquerque March at CRPowell5@gmail.com

Martin Luther King III is making a march in Washington, DC on this date.  He says:  “It’s Not a Commemoration, it’s a Continuation!  We March on!”

Near the end of World War II, on August 6^th, 1945, the United States dropped a uranium atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.  Three days later, the United States dropped a plutonium atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan.  To acknowledge the harm done in the development, testing and use of the atomic bombs by the United States, two events are taking place on Saturday, August 5^th in Albuquerque and one event on Wednesday, August 9^th in Los Alamos.  For more information or to find similar commemorative events in your area, please see the Physicians for Social Responsibility website at https://psr.org/remembering-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-2023/

In New Mexico, the first event is at 10 am on Saturday, August 5^th when “The Forgotten Bomb” documentary will be shown at The Guild Cinema, located at 3405 Central Avenue, Northeast in Albuquerque.  Created by local filmmakers Bud Ryan and Stuart Overbey, “The Forgotten Bomb” is described as  “a discovery of the true story of nuclear weapons and how the world might learn to live without them.”  In sum, “The Forgotten Bomb explores our preconceptions about nuclear weapons and their history, investigates how they inform our sense of identity and discovers what the Bomber can learn from the Bombed.”  Ryan will be present for a Q and A following the film.  https://www.forgottenbomb.com/    

You are invited to join the Inaugural Albuquerque Peace Festival also on Saturday, August 5^th from 2 to 6 pm at Roosevelt Park for music, food trucks, speakers and informational tables.  This is a rain or shine event at Coal and Spruce Streets Southeast.  https://abqpeacefest.org/

Where is Roosevelt Park? The park is located at 500 Spruce Street SE. The northern border of the park is Coal Avenue. There is No Parking on Coal Ave.

From Santa Fe and parts north, take exit 224A on southbound I-25, continue through the intersections at MLK and Central, past Lead Ave, then turn left on Coal Ave.

From Belén and parts south, take exit 224A on northbound I-25 and turn right on Coal.

Please park on the east side of the park on Sycamore Street or Hazeldine at the end of Spruce.

The Albuquerque Peace Festival is an effort by diverse organizations to bring attention to the danger of nuclear weapons, the horror of nuclear war, and promote efforts toward longstanding peace locally, nationally, and globally. Program – Schedule of Events – APF2023

At 5:15 pm, a ceremonial bell will be rung in coordination with the August 6^th events in Hiroshima, Japan at 8:15 am – the time of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima. Following the bell ringing, Carla DeSola, the founder of the Omega West Dance Company, will lead a circle peace dance for everyone to participate in.  https://www.spiritmovesomega.com/carla-de-sola.html    

For more information and to make a donation to the effort, please visit https://abqpeacefest.org/

At 1 pm on Wednesday, August 9^th, a commemorative gathering recognizing the harm of the bombing of Nagasaki will take place on the south side of Ashley Pond in Los Alamos.  Please bring banners, flags and signs.

You are invited to participate in one or more of the events.

1. Friday, August 4^th from noon to 1 pm MT – 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, Nonviolent Santa Fe, and others.

2. Trinity: Legacies of Nuclear Testing – A People’s Perspective Art Exhibit at the Branigan Cultural Center, 501 N. Main Street, Las Cruces, NM.  The exhibit will be up until September 23, 2023.  https://www.lascruces.gov/1528/Branigan-Cultural-Center

3. Wednesday, August 9^th at 1 pm – Please join members of Veterans For Peace, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Nonviolent Santa Fe and others for an informal gathering at Ashley Pond to commemorate the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki on that day 78 years ago. We will engage in silent meditation at the shelter shown on the aerial photo.  Also bring water and protection from sun and/or possible rain. Please encourage friends and family to join you in attending.

4. Saturday, August 26^th at 10 am – 60^th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s original March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom – in Albuquerque, NM.
5. The March will bstart at Faith Temple Church, at 1000 Broadway Southeast.  http://www.faithtemplecogic.org/default.asp?sec_id=180005641  The gathering and line up will begin at 9:30 am.  The march will begin at 10 am with a rally from 10:30 am to noon. For more information, contact Charles Powell, Planning Chair for the Albuquerque March at CRPowell5@gmail.com

Martin Luther King III is making a march in Washington, DC on this date.  He says:  “It’s Not a Commemoration, it’s a Continuation!  We March on!”

A delegation from the Archdioceses of Santa Fe and Seattle is embarking on a transformative Pilgrimage of Peace to the Japanese cities of Tokyo, Akita, Kyoto, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, from July 31 to August 12, 2023.  The delegation comprises Most Reverend John C. Wester, Archbishop of Santa Fe, and Most Reverend Paul D. Etienne, Archbishop of Seattle, along with representatives from various organizations and archdiocesan offices dedicated to nuclear disarmament and social justice.  Funding for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe delegation is strictly through grants and personal contributions; no funds from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe are being used.

The Pilgrimage of Peace is driven by a compelling vision and mission statement, which is rooted in a world free from nuclear weapons and their inherent threat to lasting peace.  By advocating for universal disarmament and fostering global cooperation, the delegation aims to eliminate nuclear weapons and cultivate an environment where peace can flourish unimpeded.

Most Reverend John C. Wester stated, “During this Pilgrimage of Peace to Japan, I hope to encourage conversation about universal, verifiable nuclear disarmament and to walk together toward a new future of peace, a new promised land of peace, a new culture of peace and nonviolence where we all might learn to live in peace as sisters and brothers on this beautiful planet, our common home.  I hope one day, we will stop building these weapons, disarm our state and our world, and embark on a new future without the fear and terror of the nuclear threat.

The mission of the Pilgrimage of Peace is to establish a strong ecclesial and personal relationship with the bishops of Japan.

Most Reverend Paul D. Etienne stated, “God calls us to build a global community where the whole human family can flourish.  Let us keep educating ourselves, praying for peace, and appealing for verifiable nuclear disarmament, which reflects our Catholic teachings and is the path for the common good.”

He continued, ”Guided by the Holy Spirit and under the patronage of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of Nagasaki, the delegation embarks on this sacred mission, standing in solidarity with the bishops of Japan to build a lasting legacy of peace for present and future generations.

The delegations will be praying a novena for peace starting August 1 and ending August 9, the day the U.S. dropped a plutonium atomic bomb on Nagasaki.  The novena, the travel schedule and daily digest may be found on the Pilgrimage of Peace website at https://archseattle.org/about-the-archdiocese-of-seattle/archbishop-etienne/pilgrimage-of-peace/

1. Friday, July 28^th from noon to 1 pm MT – 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, Nonviolent Santa Fe, and others.

2. Trinity: Legacies of Nuclear Testing – A People’s Perspective Art Exhibit at the Branigan Cultural Center, 501 N. Main Street, Las Cruces, NM.  The exhibit will be up until September 23, 2023.  https://www.lascruces.gov/1528/Branigan-Cultural-Center

3. Saturday, August 5^th at 10 am, the Guild Cinema will show the documentary “The Forgotten Bomb: A discovery of the true story of nuclear weapons and how the world might learn to live without them,” made by local filmmakers Bud Ryan and Stuart Overbey. In sum, “The Forgotten Bomb explores our preconceptions about nuclear weapons and their history, investigates how they inform our sense of identity and discovers what the Bomber can learn from the Bombed.”  https://www.forgottenbomb.com/  and https://www.guildcinema.com/movies/the-forgotten-bomb

4. Saturday, August 5^th from 2 to 6 pm at Roosevelt Park – Albu(r)querque Peace Festival with music, speakers, informational tables and food trucks. The Albu(r)querque Peace Festival is an effort by multiple organizations to bring attention to the danger of nuclear weapons, the horror of nuclear war, and promote efforts toward longstanding peace locally, nationally, and globally.  For more information:  https://abqpeacefest.org/  230721 Update

5. Wednesday, August 9^th at 1 pm – Please join members of Veterans For Peace, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Nonviolent Santa Fe and others for an informal gathering at Ashley Pond to commemorate the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki on that day 78 years ago. We will engage in silent meditation at the shelter shown on the aerial photo.  Also bring water and protection from sun and/or possible rain. Please encourage friends and family to join you in attending.

Rain or shine, please join diverse organizations and individuals at the Inaugural Albu(r)querque Peace Festival on Saturday, August 5^th from 2 to 6 pm at Roosevelt Park for music, speakers, informational tables and food trucks. The Albu(r)querque Peace Festival is an effort by multiple organizations to bring attention to the danger of nuclear weapons, the horror of nuclear war, and promote efforts toward longstanding peace locally, nationally, and globally.  https://abqpeacefest.org/

At 5:15 pm, a commemoration bell will be rung in coordination with the August 6^th events in Hiroshima, Japan at 8:15 am – the time of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 near the end of World War II.

Co-sponsoring the inaugural event are the following seventeen organizations (as of July 19, 2023):  Donald and Sally-Alice Thompson Chapter of the Veterans for Peace – Albu(r)querque; the Joan Duffy Chapter of Veterans for Peace – Santa Fe; Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety; the Green Party Albu(r)querque Metropolitan Area; Taos Environmental Film Festival; the ANSWER Coalition; Stop the War Machine; Party for Socialism and Liberation – Albu(r)querque; the Raging Grannies; The Paper; Unity Spiritual Center Albu(r)querque; the Stop Forever WIPP Coalition; the New Mexico Peace Choir; Demand Nuclear Abolition; Progressive Democrats of America-Central New Mexico; Nuclear Watch New Mexico; and Communities for Clean Water.

If you would like to participate as a co-sponsor, please contact CCNS at ccns@nuclearactive.org by Friday, July 21^st.  Please include your logo in the email.

Roosevelt Park, 500 Spruce St SE, Albuquerque, NM 87106, is southwest of University Boulevard and Coal Avenue, Southeast.

For more information and to make a donation to the effort, please visit https://abqpeacefest.org/

Also, on Saturday, August 5^th at 10 am, the Guild Cinema will show the documentary “The Forgotten Bomb: A discovery of the true story of nuclear weapons and how the world might learn to live without them,” made by local filmmakers Bud Ryan and Stuart Overbey.  In sum, “The Forgotten Bomb explores our preconceptions about nuclear weapons and their history, investigates how they inform our sense of identity and discovers what the Bomber can learn from the Bombed.”  https://www.forgottenbomb.com/  and https://www.guildcinema.com/movies/the-forgotten-bomb

Peter Phillips, with Veterans for Peace Albu(r)querque and an organizer of the Festival, invites you to join in the August 5^th events.  Phillips is a Professor Emeritus of Political Sociology, Sonoma State University.  He said, “New Mexico has a legacy of being the prime location for the advance of nuclear weapons in the world.  New Mexicans must now take the moral leadership role of seeking the total elimination of all nuclear weapons.”

1. Friday, July 21^st from noon to 1 pm MT – 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, Nonviolent Santa Fe, and others.

2. Trinity: Legacies of Nuclear Testing – A People’s Perspective Art Exhibit at the Branigan Cultural Center, 501 N. Main Street, Las Cruces, NM.  The exhibit will be up until September 23, 2023.  https://www.lascruces.gov/1528/Branigan-Cultural-Center

3. Friday, July 21 release of Oppenheimer in the U.S. and U.K. by Universal Pictures. https://www.oppenheimermovie.com/

4. Thursday, July 27, 2023 from 5 to 7 pm – Kirtland AFB Bulk Fuels Facility leak project open house at the groundwater treatment system facility. The GWTS is located on Kirtland Air Force Base, with public access provided for this event through the Ridgecrest Gate (Ridgecrest Dr SE & Louisiana Blvd SE, south of Gibson Blvd.)

If you would like additional information, please contact the 377th Air Base Wing Public Affairs office at (505) 846-5991 or by email at 377ABW.PA@us.af.mil.

5. Wednesday, August 9^th at 1 pm – Please join members of Veterans For Peace, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Nonviolent Santa Fe and others for an informal gathering at Ashley Pond to commemorate the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki on that day 78 years ago. We will engage in silent meditation at the shelter shown on the aerial photo.  Also bring water and protection from sun and/or possible rain. Please encourage friends and family to join you in attending.

You are invited to come to a free in-person and live stream public vigil entitled “From Reflection to Action:  An Interfaith Remembrance of the Trinity Test” on Sunday, July 16^th from 4 to 6 pm Mountain Time at Santa Maria de la Paz Church at 11 College Avenue in Santa Fe.  The vigil will commemorate the 78^th year since the detonation of the first atomic weapon, called The Gadget, at the Trinity Test Site in south central New Mexico and provide you with tools to work for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. Doors open at 3:15 pm so you may view exhibits and visit with representatives of local organizations, including CCNS.

The organizers have asked you to pre-register to attend in person or on youtube at: form.jotform.com/ASFPMD/July162023Event  To view the event on July 16^th:  youtube.com/watch?v=2EnpL0aDQ1E

Among the scheduled speakers is Most Reverend John C. Wester, Archbishop of Santa Fe.  Wester declared, “We can no longer deny or ignore the extremely dangerous predicament of our human family.  We are in a new nuclear arms race even more dangerous than the first, and I believe we need to rejuvenate a sustained, serious conversation about universal, verifiable nuclear disarmament.”

Other areas of New Mexico had already been impacted by nuclear weapons research.  Beginning in the spring of 1943, design research for The Gadget was done at the Y Site, now known as Los Alamos National Laboratory, in Northern New Mexico.  The Tewa name is Sankaweh.

Research was needed to determine the amount of time for the spherical shell of the atomic bomb to collapse, or implode, on itself.  The Y-Site scientists conducted 32 open-air explosive tests in Bayo Canyon at Sankaweh before the Trinity test.  They used high-level radioactive lanthanum, or RaLa, as a substitute for plutonium, which was still being developed.  Along with RaLa, depleted uranium and conventional high explosives were used.  Some of the spherical shells were the size of a matchhead, but contained hundreds, or in some cases, thousands of curies of radioactivity.

Each test used hundreds of pounds of high explosives that dispersed the radioactivity upwind and downwind to the Rio Grande and northeast to Pueblo de San Ildefonso, Santa Clara Pueblo and beyond.

The RaLa tests and Trinity test are documented in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Los Alamos Historic Document Retrieval and Assessment Project 2010 Final Report.  https://wwwn.cdc.gov/LAHDRA/Content/pubs/Final%20LAHDRA%20Report%202010.pdf

Information about the 254 Radioactive Lanthanum (RaLa) experiments is found throughout the Final LAHDRA Report.  For an overview, check out Chapter 16:  Partial Chronology of Accidents, Incidents and Events at LANL (pp. 427-461 of the pdf), which provides information about each of them.

Chapter 10 is devoted to the Trinity Test (pp. 237-291 of the pdf).  Check out the Conclusions Regarding Public Exposures from the Trinity Test (p. 286 of the pdf).

Joni Arends, of CCNS, said, “The nuclear weapons industry has severely impacted the People, lands and economy of New Mexico.  It is beyond time to eliminate nuclear weapons.  To learn what you can do, come to the July 16^th vigil.”

1. Friday, July 14th from noon to 1 pm MT – 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, Nonviolent Santa Fe, and others.

2. Saturday, July 15^th from 7 am to 9 am MT free virtual meeting of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space – Latest development on war via space. https://space4peace.org/  To register:  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/global-network-31st-annual-meeting-latest-developments-on-war-via-space-tickets-638565886757  

3. Saturday, July 15^th from 7 am to 4 pm – 44^th Annual Church Rock Uranium Tailings Spill Commemoration, hosted by the Red Water Pond Road Community, the Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining, and the Pipeline Road Community. For more information, please contact Susan Gordon at sgordon@swuraniumimpacts.org

4. Saturday, July 15^th – Trinity:  Legacies of Nuclear Testing, a People’s Perspective Art Exhibit from 11 am to 1 pm at the Branigan Cultural Center, 501 N. Main Street, Las Cruces, NM.  Exhibit will be up until September 23, 2023.  
   

13^th Annual Candelight Vigil from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm at Albert Johnson Park, 896 N. Main Street, Las Cruces, NM.  Program begins at 8 pm.  Bring a chair or blanket, sunscreen, bug spray and water.  For more information:  https://www.trinitydownwinders.com/  

Message from the Downwinders of New Mexico: 

Stand in solidarity with the Downwinders of New Mexico.  Many people cannot be with us in Las Cruces for our 13^th Annual Candlelight Vigil where we memorialize those we’ve lost to cancer.  If you want to participate from your own home make a luminaria and light it in solidarity with us on the evening of July 15, 2023.

For those of you who are not familiar with the traditional New Mexico luminaria, it is a brown paper lunch bag with a cup or so of sand in the bottom and a votive candle placed in the middle of the bag.  You can write your own message on the bag.  At dusk you light the candle and leave it lit until the candle extinguishes.  Let us know that you are standing with us by sending us an email at info@trinitydownwinders.com

5. Sunday, July 16^th – Santa Fe Archbishop John C. Wester’s service about A WORLD WITHOUT NUCLEAR WEAPONS: An Interfaith Remembrance of the Trinity Test on July 16, 1945, at the Santa Maria de la Paz Center at 11 College Avenue, Santa Fe (just before the Santa Fe Community College (road work is taking place in the area – allow for extra travel time). https://archdiosf.org/living-in-the-light-of-christs-peace

6. Friday, July 21 release of Oppenheimer in the U.S. and U.K. by Universal Pictures. https://www.oppenheimermovie.com/

7. Thursday, July 27, 2023 from 5 to 7 pm – Kirtland AFB Bulk Fuels Facility leak project open house at the groundwater treatment system facility. The GWTS is located on Kirtland Air Force Base, with public access provided for this event through the Ridgecrest Gate (Ridgecrest Dr SE & Louisiana Blvd SE, south of Gibson Blvd.)

If you would like additional information, please contact the 377th Air Base Wing Public Affairs office at (505) 846-5991 or by email at 377ABW.PA@us.af.mil.

8. Save the date: Saturday, August 5^th from 2 to 6 pm at Roosevelt Park in Albuquerque – Albuquerque Peace Festival – Hiroshima Nagasaki Commemorative Rally in collaboration with Hiroshima Day in Japan.  Details to follow.

To commemorate the 78^th anniversary of the first detonation of an atomic weapon at the nearby Trinity Test Site, the complete elimination of nuclear weapons must be prioritized.  A free in-person and live streamed public event entitled “From Reflection to Action: An Interfaith Remembrance of the Trinity Test” will be held at the Santa Maria de la Paz Community Hall in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Sunday, July 16^th from 4 to 6 pm.  Doors open at 3:15 pm so you may view exhibits on nuclear issues and visit with representatives of local organizations.

Among the scheduled speakers is Most Reverend John C. Wester, Archbishop of Santa Fe.  Wester declared, “We can no longer deny or ignore the extremely dangerous predicament of our human family.  We are in a new nuclear arms race far more dangerous than the first, and I believe we need to rejuvenate a sustained, serious conversation about universal, verifiable nuclear disarmament.”

The government did not warn or evacuate the estimated tens of thousands of people living within a 50-mile radius of the Trinity Test blast.  The detonation produced more heat and light than the sun, generating radioactive ash that fell for days.  The communities downwind of the blast saw a spike in infant deaths in the months after the explosion and, generations later, continue to suffer its effects.

Tina Cordova, event co-organizer and co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, said, “We don’t ask IF we’ll get cancer, we ask WHEN it will be our turn.  The government basically walked away from the people of New Mexico and has taken no responsibility for all the sacrifice, suffering, and the dying.”

Attendees will learn about actions they can take toward a world without nuclear weapons, such as calling on congresspeople to co-sponsor U.S. House Resolution 77, “Embracing the Goals and Provisions of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.”  They will be encouraged to join forces with the grassroots Back from the Brink coalition to spur communities to adopt resolutions urging the U.S. to prioritize negotiations toward the complete elimination of nuclear weapons, and to extend and expand victim assistance and environmental remediation at local nuclear weapons facilities.

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Soka Gakkai International-USA, Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, and United Church of Santa Fe are organizing the event.

For more information and to pre-register, go to https://archdiosf.org/social-justice

A gentle reminder:  CCNS is seeking donations large and small through throughout the summer as we challenge DOE, WIPP and LANL in court and to keep the Update and social media program going.  We are extremely grateful for your support! 

1. Friday, July 7th from noon to 1 pm MT – 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, Nonviolent Santa Fe, and others.

2. Saturday, July 8^th through Sunday, July 9^th for a 24-Hour Peace Wave 2023 on Zoom, produced by International Peace Bureau and World BEYOND War. It begins on Sat. July 8^th at 9 am Eastern, 7 am Mountain; and ends on Sun. July 9^th at 9 am Eastern, 7 am Mountain.  Watch live peace actions in the streets and squares of the world moving around the globe with the sun.  To register:  https://worldbeyondwar.org/wave/

3. Saturday, July 15^th from 7 am to 9 am MT free virtual meeting of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space – Latest development on war via space. https://space4peace.org/  To register:  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/global-network-31st-annual-meeting-latest-developments-on-war-via-space-tickets-638565886757  

4. Saturday, July 15^th from 7 am to 4 pm – 44^th Annual Church Rock Uranium Tailings Spill Commemoration, hosted by the Red Water Pond Road Community, the Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining, and the Pipeline Road Community. For more information, please contact Susan Gordon at sgordon@swuraniumimpacts.org

5. Save the date: Saturday, August 5^th in Albuquerque – Peace Commemoration in collaboration with Hiroshima Day in Japan.  Details to follow.