CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 10/9/15 through 10/16/15

(THEME UP AND UNDER) This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Here is this week’s top headline:

• DOE Addresses LANL Chromium Plume in Haphazard Manner

The Department of Energy (DOE) and its management contactor, Los Alamos National Security, LLC, continue to address the migrating chromium ground water plume beneath Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in a hit or miss manner. In late September, DOE released an inadequate draft environmental assessment for the chromium plume for public review and comment. http://energy.gov/nepa/ea-2005-chromium-plume-control-interim-measure-and-plume-center-characterization-los-alamos  Public comments are currently due on Friday, October 23, 2015.  Sample public comments – sample Cr-VI EA public comments 10-10-15

DOE is proposing a pump and treat system, meaning they would pump approximately 700 acre feet a year, or 230 million gallons, of ground water from the regional aquifer to the surface for treatment, a distance of approximately 1,000 feet. After treatment, the water would be applied to the land surface by trucks or irrigation systems, re-injected into the drinking water aquifer, or evaporated.

DOE has not applied for an evaporation permit from the New Mexico Environment Department. It has applied to the Environment Department for a re-injection permit and a draft permit may be released by the end of October 2015. DOE applied, and received a permit from the Environment Department for land application of 350,000 gallons per day. In August the Communities for Clean Water appealed that permit to the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission and asked for a stay of activities pending a decision. It has not yet been heard.

The draft cleanup proposal is for an “interim measure,” meaning that the plan falls between the discovery of the plume in 2004, and when a cleanup remedy is selected. Information and data obtained during the interim measure, which will be in effect for a minimum of eight years, will be used to decide on the final remedy in the 2023 timeframe.

Further, not all of the documents referenced in the draft assessment are available to the public, including key technical reports about geology, seismic activity, and DOE water rights. For all these reasons, CCNS is requesting a 90-day extension of the public comment period.

The plume measures one mile by one-half mile below Mortandad Canyon. The concentrations at the center of the plume are approximately 20 times the New Mexico standard of 50 parts per billion, or 1,000 parts per billion. Sampling results indicate that the plume is migrating at the plume edges.

The majority of the Los Alamos County drinking water wells are located in Mortandad Canyon, which is directly east of Santa Fe’s 13 deep drinking water wells and the Buckman Direct Diversion Project, which diverts Rio Grande water into the drinking water supply.

The 30-day public comment period ends on October 23, 2015. Comments may be submitted to DOE by email at CRProjectEA@em.doe.gov

This has been the CCNS News Update. For more information and a sample public comment letter sample Cr-VI EA public comments 10-10-15, please visit http://www.nuclearactive.org and our Facebook page

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Ran 8/14/15 through 8/21/15

In 2002, Deborah Reade, then Research Director for Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping (CARD), filed a 27-page complaint with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Civil Rights against the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED). The complaint alleged a pattern of discrimination against Spanish-speaking residents exhibited during the permitting process for Triassic Park, a hazardous waste facility in southeastern New Mexico.

The facility site, located between Roswell and Tatum in Chaves County, was permitted by the Environment Department and could have received hazardous waste from across the U.S. and from foreign countries. Though the facility has not been built, the owners of Triassic Park have applied to renew their permit, which is currently under review.

EPA regulations require acknowledgement of receipt of the complaint within five days. EPA accepted the CARD complaint in 2005, nearly 1,100 days later.

EPA is required to determine if an investigation is needed within 20 days, and if so, it must be completed in 180 days. Twelve years after the initial complaint was filed, EPA contacted Reade for additional information. EPA has yet to complete their investigation.

The 2002 complaint alleged the Department discriminated against Chaves County residents on the basis of race, color and national origin in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. During the Triassic Park permitting process, CARD alleged that the Department did not examine “possible disparate impacts on the basis of race and ethnicity” and conducted the administrative process “in a manner hostile to Spanish-speaking residents.”

Chaves County residents are mostly Hispanic New Mexicans and New Mexicans of Mexican origin; a high percentage live in poverty; and infant mortality rates are high. The complaint also alleged the Department “obstructed and excluded members of the public – particularly the Spanish-speaking public – from the permitting process” because they did not provide information in Spanish and harassed and intimidated the public.

In mid-July, CARD, along with four other non-governmental organizations based in California, Alabama and Michigan, filed suit in the U.S. District Court in Northern California against EPA for relief to challenge the unreasonable delay of [EPA] to enforce the Civil Rights Act. Between 1994 and 2003, the plaintiffs each filed a civil rights compliant with EPA. Between 1995 and 2005, EPA accepted their complaints for investigation, but EPA “utterly failed to meet” their regulatory deadlines. The plaintiffs asked the Court to compel EPA to act.

The groups are CAlifornians for Renewable Energy, Ashurst/Bar Smith Community Organization, Maurice and Jane Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice, Sierra Club and individual, Michael Boyd.

After an in-depth investigation of the EPA Office of Civil Rights, the Center for Public Integrity reported on the excessive delays, along with a close-up report on Chaves County. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/thirteen-years-counting-anatomy-epa-civil-rights-investigation-n405201

For more information, please visit the Center for Public Integrity’s website.

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 8/7/15 through 8/14/15

(THEME UP AND UNDER) This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Here is this week’s top headline:

• Livestreaming of August 9^th Peace and Disarmament Vigil in Los Alamos in Remembrance of 1945 U.S. Bombing of Nagasaki

Pace e Bene will livestream the Sunday, August 9^th peace and disarmament vigil in Los Alamos in remembrance of the 70^th anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Nagasaki, Japan at http://livestream.com/streamingnm/cnnc beginning at 11 am Mountain Standard Time. Sunday’s vigil is the last of Pace e Bene’s four days of events in Northern New Mexico, including two vigils in Los Alamos and a conference in Santa Fe. All events are available for viewing at paceebene.org.

The events commemorate the 70^th anniversary of the U.S. dropping atomic bombs Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan on August 6^th and August 9^th, 1945, respectively.

The Franciscan Friars of California founded Pace e Bene in 1989, which is an independent, nondenominational nonprofit organization. Its name is derived from St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi who used the phrase as a form of greeting. Translated from the Italian, it means, “Peace and all good.” It is in this spirit that Pace e Bene works to mainstream peacemaking that will empower people from all walks of life to prayerfully and relentlessly engage in nonviolent efforts for the well-being of all.

On Sunday, August 9^th, beginning at 11 am there will be a sackcloth and ashes ceremony and the presentation of the 2015 U.S. Peace Memorial Award at Ashley Pond in Los Alamos.

At 9:30 am, three buses will leave from the Hilton Hotel in Santa Fe, destined for Los Alamos. The Albuquerque Peace and Justice Center is organizing a caravan from Albuquerque to Santa Fe on Sunday morning. They will be leaving the Center at 202 Harvard Southeast at 8:15 am sharp to arrive in Santa Fe by 9:15 am to meet up with buses at the Hilton Hotel. Please visit abqpeaceandjustice.org for more information. They invite you, your family and friends to “come together for a day to call for an end to nuclear weapons.”

At 11 am the Nagasaki commemoration will begin in Los Alamos. After receiving instructions and a blessing from Father John Dear, participants will carry sackcloths, or burlaps sacks, and ashes and walk mindfully from Ashley Pond on Trinity Drive towards Los Alamos National Laboratory, the birthplace of the bomb. Around 11:30 am, participants will pour ashes on the ground, put on sackcloths and sit in silence for 30 minutes. Participants will walk back to Ashley Pond for reflection, music, speakers and the presentation of the U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation’s annual peace prize.

The Foundation works to establish a national monument to peacemakers to recognize those who have dedicated their lives to peace on the National Mall.

For more information, please visit paceebene.org

This has been the CCNS News Update. For more information, please visit nuclearactive.org and our Facebook page.

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 7/31/15 through 8/7/15

(THEME UP AND UNDER) This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Here is this week’s top headline:

• Free Livestreaming of Campaign Nonviolence National Conference in Santa Fe and Peace and Disarmament Vigils in Los Alamos

Pace e Bene, the organizers of the sold-out Campaign Nonviolence National Conference in Santa Fe, is providing free livestreaming of the conference and the two peace and disarmament vigils in Los Alamos at http://livestream.com/streamingnm/cnnc. To commemorate the 70^th anniversary of the U.S. dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan on August 6^th and August ^9th, 1945, respectively, Pace e Bene is hosting four days of events.

Beginning on Thursday, August 6^th with a peace and disarmament vigil in Los Alamos to commemorate the 70^th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, participants will gather at Ashley Pond at 2 pm. After receiving instructions and a blessing from Father John Dear, participants will carry sackcloths, or burlaps sacks, and ashes and walk mindfully on Trinity Drive towards Los Alamos National Laboratory. Around 2:30 pm, participants will pour ashes on the ground, put on sackcloths, and sit in silence for 30 minutes. Afterwards, participants will walk back to Ashley Pond for reflection, music and speakers.

On Friday, August 7^th, from 9 to 4 pm, a nonviolence training session will be held in the Hilton Hotel Ballroom in Santa Fe.

On Friday at 7 pm, the Campaign Nonviolence National Conference will begin with a keynote speech about mobilizing the nation for the times we’re in by Rev. Jim Lawson, a civil rights leader and one of Martin Luther King’s key strategists.

On Saturday, August 8^th, from 9 am to 9 pm, the conference will take place at the Hilton. Speakers include Erica Chenoweth, author of “Why Civil Resistance Works;” Ken Butigan and Kit Evans Ford will present about the Campaign Nonviolence National Week of Action starting on September 20^th; and Roshi Joan Halifax will lead a silent Zen sitting meditation. Panel discussions include working to end war, poverty and environmental destruction, building a new culture of peace and nonviolence, and Los Alamos nuclear weapons. Local panelists include Sister Joan Brown, Marian Naranjo, Beata Tsosie-Peña, Bud Ryan and Jay Coghlan.

On Sunday, August 9^th, beginning at 11 am, there will be a commemoration of the U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki and presentation of the 2015 U.S. Peace Memorial Award at Ashley Pond. Three buses will leave from the Hilton Hotel at 9:30 am. Another sackcloth and ashes ceremony will take place. After returning to Ashley Pond, a presentation of the U.S. Peace Memorial will occur. The Memorial honors the millions of thoughtful and committed Americans who have dedicated their lives to peace or taken a stand against war in general or a specific U.S. war.

For more information, please visit paceebene.org

This has been the CCNS News Update. For more information, please visit nuclearactive.org and our Facebook page.

TONIGHT, Tuesday, July 28th, on the PBS NewsHour there will be a story about the Trinity Downwinders. The program is broadcast live from 6:00 – 7:00pm Eastern time and can be seen on the NewsHour’s live stream at that time (pbs.org/newshour), and it will be available after that on the web site.

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 7/24/15 through 7/31/15

(THEME UP AND UNDER) This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Here is this week’s top headline:

• Pace e Bene Hosting Campaign Nonviolence Conference in Santa Fe and Peace and Disarmament Vigils in Los Alamos August 6^th through 9^th

To commemorate the 70 years since the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan on August 6^th and August 9^th, respectively, Pace e Bene is hosting a four-day Campaign Nonviolence conference in Santa Fe from Thursday, August 6^th to Sunday, August 9^th and organizing two peace and disarmament vigils in Los Alamos on Thursday, August 6^th and Sunday, August 9^th.

The conference is sold out, but free livestreaming will be available at http://paceebene.org/.

The peace and disarmament vigils will take place in Los Alamos, the birthplace of the atomic bomb and home of Los Alamos National Laboratory, which continues to manufacture plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons. The vigils are free and open to the public.

On Thursday, August 6^th from 2 to 4 pm at Ashley Pond, the annual Sack Cloth and Ashes ceremony will take place. After gathering at Ashley Pond, participants will walk on Trinity Drive towards the entrance of the national laboratory carrying peace signs. They will stop and sit in symbolic sackcloth and ashes, the oldest form of political protest, for 30 minutes. They will then return to Ashley Pond for a rally calling for nuclear disarmament.

On Sunday, August 9^th from 11 am to 1 pm at Ashley Pond, the Nagasaki Day peace vigil will take place. There will be a procession through the Los Alamos townsite and a rally at Ashley Pond.

On Sunday, Veterans for Peace will provide round-trip bus transportation from the Hilton Hotel in Santa Fe to Los Alamos and back.  Buses will leave from in front of the Hilton by 9:30 am. Buses will leave Los Alamos around 1:30 pm and return to Santa Fe around 2:30 pm.

Founded in 1989 by the Franciscan Friars of California, Pace e Bene is an independent, nondenominational nonprofit organization. Its name is derived from St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi who used the phrase in their own time as a form of greeting. Translated from the Italian, it means, “Peace and all good.” It is also a blessing, a hope, and a way of acknowledging the sacredness of those whom they encountered, as in, “May you have the fullness of well-being; may you be secure and happy; may you not want; may your dignity be respected; may the goodness in your inmost being flourish; may the world in which we live know this deep peace.”

It is in this spirit that Pace e Bene works to mainstream peacemaking that will empower people from all walks of life to prayerfully and relentlessly engage in nonviolent efforts for the well-being of all.

This has been the CCNS News Update. For more information, please visit our website at nuclearactive.org and our Facebook page.

CCNS NEWS UPDATE
Runs 7/17/15 through 7/24/15

(THEME UP AND UNDER) This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Here is this week’s top headline:

·      Commemoration of Trinity Atomic Bomb Test Will Be Held Saturday, July 18^th at the Tularosa Little League Field at 8 pm

In the early morning of July 16, 1945, the U.S. government dropped the first atomic bomb from a 100-foot metal structure in the south central desert of New Mexico, called Jornada del Muerto, or Journey of Death. In the massive explosion, the radiation and toxic materials rose an estimated 70,000 feet and began to fall back to earth in what many thought was snow.  The kids played in it, the cattle and vegetable gardens were covered in it, and later that night when it rained, the water cisterns were contaminated with radioactive and toxic particles.

The innocent people of the Tularosa Basin were not informed beforehand and were not evacuated after the test, even though the exposures were at least 10,000 times higher than the safe radiation levels of the time.  Cancer rates in the Tularosa Basin are four to eight times higher than the national average.  For more information, please see Chapter 10 “The Trinity Test” of the 2010 Los Alamos Historical Document Retrieval and Assessment Report at http://www.lahdra.org/pubs/Final%20LAHDRA%20Report%202010.pdf

To memorialize those who have died and to honor those who are living with or who have survived cancer, the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, in cooperation with the Village of Tularosa, will host the Sixth Annual Candlelight Vigil on Saturday, July 18^th from 8 to 10 pm in Tularosa, New Mexico, at the Tularosa Little League Field, on La Luz Avenue, west of the Tularosa High School. Everyone is invited to attend.

Luminarias will be available for a small donation beginning at 7:30 pm.   They will be lit in memory of those who have died and those living with or who have survived cancer and other radiation-related illnesses.

In 2005, the Consortium formed to ensure that those exposed to the Trinity test receive compensation under the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). The act first passed in 1990 to provide compensation and medical care to those exposed to above ground nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands and the Nevada Test Site.  For five years, New Mexico Senator Tom Udall has introduced amendments that would include the Trinity downwinders and certain uranium miners in New Mexico.

On July 1^st, Senator Udall attended a Consortium meeting in Tularosa at which eight survivors told their stories before an audience of 200. After hearing their passionate stories, Senator Udall renewed his commitment to ensure passage of the RECA amendments.

Tina Cordova, a co-founder of the Consortium, said, “Please join us at the Sixth Annual Candlelight Vigil in Tularosa. It will be a peaceful opportunity to reflect on all that we’ve lost and the work ahead of us to achieve justice.”

For more information and to volunteer, please contact Tina Cordova at 505-897-6787, or tcordova@queston.net.

This has been the CCNS News Update. For more information, please visit our website at http://www.nuclearactive.org and our Facebook page.

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 6/12/15 through 6/19/15

(THEME UP AND UNDER) This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Here is this week’s top headline:

            EPA Recertification Public Meetings June 16 in Carlsbad and June 17 in Albuquerque

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is holding public meetings in Carlsbad and Albuquerque regarding the Department of Energy (DOE) recertification application to demonstrate that the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) will not leak radiation for 10,000 years. That application was submitted six weeks after the February 14, 2014 radiation leak that was never supposed to happen, but does not mention that event. However, EPA has stated that the radiation release is an important consideration in its review.  http://www.epa.gov/radiation/news/wipp-news.html#wippcra2014pubmeetings

The meetings will include EPA and WIPP officials and allow for questions, answers, and discussion as part of the information exchange among the government officials and the public. The Tuesday, June 16^th meeting is at the Carlsbad Field Office from 1:30 to 4:30 pm. On Wednesday, June 17, the two Albuquerque sessions are at the Embassy Suites Hotel, at 1000 Woodward Place, Northeast. From 2:30 to 6 pm the roundtable dialogue will allow detailed technical discussion. The evening session from 7 to 9 pm will include time for public statements. The public can provide comments during each session.

As a result of the radiation leak, many changes will have to be made for WIPP to re-open. Among the changes are a new exhaust shaft and new underground waste disposal rooms. Neither of those major changes is mentioned in the DOE application.

Further, ignitable waste in hundreds of drums shipped to WIPP from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have been identified by DOE as the source of the radiation leak, even though such waste is not allowed at WIPP. Such waste is omitted from the analysis in the DOE application.

Also not discussed in the application is how the LANL waste characterization information could have been so inadequate as to allow prohibited waste at WIPP and what changes are required.

Other issues include whether EPA has to approve WIPP’s reopening, which, given the lack of complete and accurate information in the DOE application, is unlikely to occur so that WIPP could re-open in March 2016, as is DOE’s current schedule.

Federal law and EPA’s regulations prohibit commercial and high-level waste at WIPP. DOE and EPA are being asked to explain why small quantities of commercial spent nuclear fuel have been allowed at WIPP.

According to Don Hancock, of Southwest Research and Information Center, “The meetings are an important opportunity for people to tell EPA to do its job of protecting New Mexicans now and for generations into the future.”  sric.org

EPA can take the information and public comments to raise additional questions about the DOE application. DOE must provide information at the meetings and submit much more information to EPA to address the inadequacies in their application.

This has been the CCNS News Update. To learn more, please visit our website at nuclearactive.org

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 6/5/15 through 6/12/15

(THEME UP AND UNDER) This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Here is this week’s top headline:

 *           WIPP Isolates 420 LANL Drums; EPA Recertification Public Meetings June 16 in Carlsbad and June 17 in Albuquerque

In a joint press release, the Department of Energy (DOE) and the New Mexico Environment Department announced that DOE had closed the rooms containing 420-nitrate salt bearing waste containers shipped from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The drums are located in disposal Panels 6 and 7. On February 14, 2014, one or more LANL drums exploded in the WIPP underground releasing plutonium and americium into the environment and contaminating 22 workers on the surface. Brattice cloth, used to restrict airflow, and a chain link fence were installed near the waste containers. Ten feet of mined salt was then used as backfill and a steel bulkhead was installed. Finally, continuous air monitors were installed at the bulkheads.

Don Hancock, of Southwest Research and Information Center, said the installation was an initial closure, not a permanent closure, and would not provide full protection from a radiation release. He explained, “The bulkhead and brattice cloth should reduce what would come out, but it is not designed as a total or more permanent barrier if there is a roof fall or breach.”  sric.org

Ryan Flynn, Environment Department Secretary, told state legislators this week that a more robust permanent closure would require a modification to the hazardous waste permit. The modification process includes public comment and an opportunity for a public hearing.

DOE has stated that WIPP will be ready to accept waste again next summer. Flynn told legislators that the end of 2016 “is a little more realistic.”

In related news, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be holding two public meetings in Carlsbad and Albuquerque regarding the DOE’s recertification application to demonstrate that WIPP won’t leak for 10,000 years.  http://www.epa.gov/radiation/news/wipp-news.html#wippcra2014pubmeetings and CARD Fact Sheet CARD WIPP EPA fact sheet

The application does not mention the February 14, 2014 radiation leak that was never supposed to happen. The inadequacies of the application, whether EPA has to approve the potential reopening of WIPP and concerns about high-level waste coming to WIPP, will be among the issues discussed. Many people will be asking EPA to do its job protecting New Mexicans now and for generations into the future.

Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping (CARD) will be hosting a dinner and training on Tuesday, June 9^th at 6 pm at the South West Organizing Project, 211 10th Street South West, Albuquerque.  http://cardnm.org/  Sylvianna Diaz d’Ouville, Don Hancock and Ray Garduno will give their perspectives on WIPP. Mark Doppke will facilitate. Hancock will give a power point presentation about what is happening at the facility.  Dinner will be served and donations will be accepted.  WIPP Dinner, EPA, 15 (flyer).

On Tuesday, June 16^th the Carlsbad meeting is at the Carlsbad Field Office from 1:30 to 4:30 pm.

On Wednesday, June 17, the two Albuquerque sessions are at the Albuquerque Embassy Suites Hotel, at 1000 Woodward Place, Northeast. From 2:30 to 6 pm the roundtable dialogue will allow detailed technical discussion among the public, EPA and WIPP officials. The evening session from 7 to 9 pm will include time for public statements.

The public can comment during the meetings.

This has been the CCNS News Update. To learn more, please visit our website at nuclearactive.org.

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 1/30/15 through 2/6/15

(THEME UP AND UNDER) This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Here is this week’s top headline:

• Important Joint Congressional Hearing on February 4th about Clean Water Protection Rule and
• Attend River Rally 2015 from May 1st to 4th at Tamaya Resort    

About 60 percent of streams and millions of acres of wetlands are not protected from pollution and destruction under the federal Clean Water Act. One in three Americans, or about 117 million people, obtains their drinking water from vulnerable streams. Hundreds of studies show that small streams and wetlands play an essential role in the health of larger downstream waterways, such as rivers and lakes, and need to be protected.

The definitions of what waters are protected has been challenged all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, with a focus on small streams and wetlands. In the court’s decisions, the protections were removed. In response, and after years of work, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers now propose to clarify the waters that need protection through a draft Clean Water Protection Rule. It needs your support.

Clean Water Act activists are concerned about the joint congressional hearing of the Senate and House Environmental Committees on Wednesday, February 4^th about the proposed rule. It is rare for congress to hold a joint hearing and it is viewed as an opportunity to attack the proposed rule. Please contact your congressional members and ask them to attend. To learn more, visit http://www.rivernetwork.org/

In support of the rule, the EPA conducted a thorough review of more than 1,200 peer-reviewed, published scientific studies to learn how small streams and wetlands connect to larger, downstream water bodies. The state-of-the-science report is called, “Connectivity of Streams and Wetlands to Downstream Waters: A Review and Synthesis of the Scientific Evidence.”

The researchers found, among other things, that “the scientific literature clearly demonstrates that streams, regardless of their size or frequency of flow, are connected to downstream waters in ways that strongly influence their function” and “there is ample evidence illustrating that many wetlands and open waters located outside of riparian areas and floodplains provide functions that could benefit rivers, lakes, and other downstream waters, even where they lack surface water connections. Some potential benefits of these wetlands, in fact, are due to their isolation, rather than their connectivity” and “the incremental contributions of individual streams and wetlands are cumulative across entire watersheds.”

To learn more about how to protect precious water, please attend the 2015 River Rally, which will be held from Friday, May 1^st through Monday, May 4^th at the beautiful Tamaya Resort at Santa Ana Pueblo, south of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Registration is open now at http://www.rivernetwork.org/events/river-rally-2015

Joni Arends, of CCNS, said, “The River Rally is one of the best conferences I have attended. It is genuinely fascinating, informative, and fun.”

This has been the CCNS News Update. To learn more, please visit our website at http://www.nuclearactive.org

Update:  The Clean Water Protection Act was finalized.  To learn more, visit http://www.rivernetwork.org/clean-water-rule-finalized