Hi All,
Please take action on the EPA Wastewater Discharge Permit for LANL today.  Tell the EPA and NMED to make the wastewater discharge permit for Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) more protective.

f NPDES public comment 8-11-13

f 401 cert public comment 8-11-13

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for wastewater discharges at LANL.  The draft of the new permit does not require protective analytical methods for PCBs and would effectively allow for discharges 300 times over the New Mexico PCB water quality standard.  It allows for on-going impairment of most of the streams within LANL, which means that the streams are not meeting water quality standards, and does not protect intermittent streams, which do not carry flow year round.

Under the Clean Water Act, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) is required to certify that the new permit will reasonably ensure that the permitted activities will be conducted in a manner that will comply with the applicable New Mexico water quality standards.  Providing public comments to NMED will help make the permit more protective.

Please take a moment to email in comments – and email them to CCNS as well.  For more information, please see the Update below.  Together we are making a difference!
Best,
CCNS

(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 Public Meeting on July 30th about Major LANL Discharge Permit

A draft permit allowing for the discharge of 11 industrial outfalls at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) into the Rio Grande Basin will be the topic of an informal public meeting held by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday, July 30th.  The meeting will begin at 6 pm and take place at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites, 60 Entrada Drive, in Los Alamos.

The EPA is proposing to renew the major groundwater discharge permit for LANL for five years under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Program, which is part of the Clean Water Act.  The EPA is proposing to allow effluent from industrial sources such as cooling towers, sanitary facilities, the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility, and the High Explosive Waste Water Treatment Plant into the canyons of the Rio Grande Basin.  The impacted canyons are Los Alamos, Sandia, Mortandad, Ten-Site, Canada del Buey, and Canon de Valle.

LANL is proposing to eliminate six industrial outfalls that have operated for decades.  There are also proposed changes to some of the effluent limits for the discharges containing arsenic, copper, cyanide, selenium and zinc.  Nevertheless, the draft permit does not require the installation of green infrastructure and low-impact designs in order minimize the impact of the discharge into the canyons.  The draft permit also allows for the discharge of what is called “other waste water.”

EPA opened a 45-day public comment period on June 29th, 2013.  Written public comments are due Tuesday, August 13th, 2013 to Diane Smith, at EPA’s Permit Processing Team, by email at smith.diane@epa.gov.  The draft permit may be found on the EPA’s website at http://www.epa.gov/region6/water/npdes/publicnotices/nm/nmdraft.htm

Under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, the State of New Mexico is required to certify to EPA that it agrees that the final permit will “reasonably ensure that the permitted activities will be conducted in a manner that will comply with applicable New Mexico water quality standards, including the antidegradation policy, and the statewide water quality management plan.”  The certification process is handled by the New Mexico Environment Department, Surface Water Quality Bureau.  Written public comments about the Section 401 certification may be submitted to Bruce Yurdin, a manager with the Surface Water Quality Bureau, by email at bruce.yurdin@state.nm.us.  The EPA will issue the permit until after the Section 401 requirements have been met.

The public meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 30th, beginning at 6 pm at the Holiday Inn Express in Los Alamos.

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

Hi,  In the Update, we invited you to download sample public comments to use.  Unfortunately, they aren’t ready yet.  Please check back next week.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

We hope to see you at the Pax Christi Santa Fe Sackcloth and Ashes event at Ashley Pond, Los Alamos on Sunday, August 4th between 2 pm and 4 pm to commemorate the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.  http://nuclearactive.org/pax-christi-santa-fe-to-commemorate-bombing-of-hiroshima-on-sunday-august-4th-in-los-alamos/

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 8/2/13 through 8/9/13

(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:

* Public Comments about Major LANL Discharge Permit due August 13th

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to renew the major permit which allows Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to discharge pollutants into the waters of the United States from 11 industrial outfalls.  Public comments are due to EPA on Tuesday, August 13^th, 2013.

The EPA is proposing to renew the discharge permit for LANL for five years under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Program, which is part of the Clean Water Act.  The permit covers discharges from industrial sites, such as cooling towers, sanitary facilities, the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility, and the High Explosive Waste Water Treatment Plant, into the canyons of the Rio Grande Basin.  http://www.epa.gov/region6/water/npdes/publicnotices/nm/nmdraft.htm

The Communities for Clean Water attended the EPA public meeting about the draft permit in Los Alamos this week.  They asked the majority of questions to officials from the EPA, LANL and the state Environment Department.  The Communities for Clean Water have prepared sample public comments you can use to submit to EPA.  They may be downloaded at nuclearactive.org or at the Facebook page for Honor Our Pueblo Existence.  Public comments should be directed to Diane Smith, of EPA’s Permitting Processing Team, by email at smith.diane@epa.gov.

Further, under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, the State of New Mexico is required to certify to EPA that it agrees that the final permit will “reasonably ensure that the permitted activities will be conducted in a manner that will comply with applicable New Mexico water quality standards, including the antidegradation policy and the statewide water quality management plan.”  The Surface Water Quality Bureau of the Environment Department handles the certification process.  Last December the Environment Department wrote to EPA stating that a more protective laboratory analytical method was needed for the polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, which are found at high-levels in the discharges.  Nevertheless, because there is no EPA-approved analytical method for PCBs, EPA included a less protective method in the draft permit.  The Communities for Clean Water ask for your support to submit public comments about this issue to the Environment Department.  They have prepared sample public comments for you to use.  Please download them at nuclearactive.org or from the Facebook page for Honor Our Pueblo Existence.

Written public comments about the Section 401 certification may be submitted to Bruce Yurdin, a manager with the Surface Water Quality Bureau, by email to bruce.yurdin@state.nm.us. The EPA will not issue the permit until after the Section 401 requirements have been met.

This has been the CCNS News Update.  For more information and to download sample public comments, please visit our website at nuclearactive.org and like us on Facebook.

mp3 – 072613

Hiroshima Commemoration Flyer – HIROSHIMA COMMEMORATION

CCNS News Update

Runs 7/26/13 through 8/2/13

(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:

* Pax Christi Santa Fe to Commemorate Bombing of Hiroshima on Sunday, August 4th in Los Alamos

Pax Christi Santa Fe will hold its annual Hiroshima Day Commemoration on Sunday, August 4th, 2013 from 2 pm to 4 pm in Los Alamos, New Mexico.  the event will include a march of peace and a sackcloth and ashes prayer vigil for peace in commemoration of when, near the end of World War II, on August 6th, 1945, the U.S. bombed Hiroshima, Japan with a nuclear weapon.  Pax Christi Santa Fe and its members seek the abolition of nuclear weapons.

From 2 to 4 pm the Peace March and Sackcloth and Ashes Prayer Vigil for Peace will begin and end at Ashley Pond in Los Alamos.  Pax Christi Santa Fe asks that you join them in the spirit of nonviolence to put on sackcloths and ashes, march for peace, and sit in silent meditation for 30 minutes to repent for the creation of nuclear weapons.  The sackcloths and ashes ceremony is taken from the Bible story found in the Book of Jonah.  In the Bible story, God was angry about how the people of Nineveh were behaving and asked that they repent from their sins.  The people sat in sackcloths and on ashes and prayed for forgiveness.  God accepted their prayers and granted them peace.  Pax Christi will supply the sackcloths and ashes.  Father John Dear will provide closing remarks.

Pax Christi Santa Fe is a part of Pax Christi USA, the national Catholic peace movement, which seeks to promote the peace of Christ by exploring, articulating, witnessing and practicing Gospel nonviolence.  They work to abolish war, poverty, violence, injustice and nuclear weapons in New Mexico and the world and welcome God’s reign of peace on earth.

Bud Ryan, of Pax Christi Santa Fe, said, “We in Pax Christi Santa Fe and our members throughout New Mexico ask you to join us for our annual Hiroshima Commemoration on August 4th.”

He continued, “For me this has been an incredible way to say I’m sorry for being part of the collective violence we in the U.S. perpetrate on others around the world, as well as ourselves.  Afterward we ask you to join us to hear speakers talk about nuclear weapons and what we can do to work to abolish them.  We would hope that for all participants this becomes a lifetime pursuit, rather than just an afternoon, to rid the world of nuclear weapons and to get the nine nuclear weapon States to clean up their nuclear mess.”

For more information, please call Bud Ryan at 505 264-2838 or Ellie Voutselas at 505 474-8557.

This has been the CCNS News Update.  For more information and to download the flyer, please visit our website at nuclearactive.org and like us on Facebook.

mp3 –

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 7/19/13 through 7/26/13

(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 Public Meeting on July 30^th about Major LANL Discharge Permit

A draft permit allowing for the discharge of 11 industrial outfalls at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) into the Rio Grande Basin will be the topic of an informal public meeting held by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday, July 30^th.  The meeting will begin at 6 pm and take place at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites, 60 Entrada Drive, in Los Alamos.

The EPA is proposing to renew the major groundwater discharge permit for LANL for five years under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Program, which is part of the Clean Water Act.  The EPA is proposing to allow effluent from industrial sources such as cooling towers, sanitary facilities, the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility, and the High Explosive Waste Water Treatment Plant into the canyons of the Rio Grande Basin.  The impacted canyons are Los Alamos, Sandia, Mortandad, Ten-Site, Canada del Buey, and Canon de Valle.

LANL is proposing to eliminate six industrial outfalls that have operated for decades.  There are also proposed changes to some of the effluent limits for the discharges containing arsenic, copper, cyanide, selenium and zinc.  Nevertheless, the draft permit does not require the installation of green infrastructure and low-impact designs in order minimize the impact of the discharge into the canyons.  The draft permit also allows for the discharge of what is called “other waste water.”

EPA opened a 45-day public comment period on June 29^th, 2013.  Written public comments are due Tuesday, August 13th, 2013 to Diane Smith, at EPA’s Permit Processing Team, by email at smith.diane@epa.gov.  The draft permit may be found on the EPA’s website at http://www.epa.gov/region6/water/npdes/publicnotices/nm/nmdraft.htm

Under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, the State of New Mexico is required to certify to EPA that it agrees that the final permit will “reasonably ensure that the permitted activities will be conducted in a manner that will comply with applicable New Mexico water quality standards, including the antidegradation policy, and the statewide water quality management plan.”  The certification process is handled by the New Mexico Environment Department, Surface Water Quality Bureau.  Written public comments about the Section 401 certification may be submitted to Bruce Yurdin, a manager with the Surface Water Quality Bureau, by email at bruce.yurdin@state.nm.us.  The EPA will issue the permit until after the Section 401 requirements have been met.

The public meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 30^th, beginning at 6 pm at the Holiday Inn Express in Los Alamos.

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

mp3 –

written version with links – ff Update 7-12-13

Thank you to all who participated in this effort to ensure a public hearing about the proposed expansion of WIPP’s mission!

written version – f Update 7-5-13

ACTION ALERT

In collaboration with our colleagues at Peace Action, Western States Legal Foundation, and the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, please sign the petition in support of the U.S. participating in the UN High-Level meeting on nuclear disarmament on September 26.

Here are two resources:

the letter to the president: http://peaceblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/making-global-elimination-of-nuclear-weapons-a-reality

A terrific article by American Friends Service Commitee’s Joseph Gerson on Truthout, which makes the key arguments for the elimination of nuclear weapons: http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/17240-president-obama-in-berlin-why-not-ask-for-more

mp3 – 062113

written version with links – f Update 6-21-13

mp3 – 062813

written version – f Update 6-28-13

Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium flyer – TBDC 7-13-13 event flyer

mp3 – 061413

written version – f Update 6-14-13

ACTION ALERT

Presidents Obama and Putin are meeting Monday and  Tuesday, June 17 and 18, in Northern Ireland.  Reductions in the number of nuclear weapons each country possesses are on the agenda.  The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation encourages you to take action by asking Presidents Obama and Putin to make a mutual pledge of no first use of nuclear weapons.  Please go to the Facebook pages of either the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation at wagingpeace or CCNS to take action.