Public Comments Needed on Final LANL SWEIS Record of Decision

On Wednesday, March 25, 2026, the Department of Energy (DOE) released the Final Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory, or the Final LANL SWEIS, and its Record of Decision, or ROD. Key to DOE and its National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) plans are to expand production of the triggers for nuclear weapons, or the pits, at LANL until at least 2038. 

DOE has released this Final LANL SWEIS nearly a decade after it was first due in 2018. Between 2018 and 2026, LANL’s annual congressional budget request has more than doubled from approximately $2.4 billion to $6 billion. Over this time, the focus has been to rebuild and expand plutonium pit production and reduce cleanup activities. The 2026 final SWEIS follows these trends.  https://www.energy.gov/nepa/articles/doeeis-0552-final-environmental-impact-statement-march-2026

Now is the time to prepare your comments on DOE’s ROD to continue its expanded pit production operations at LANL. Next week CCNS will have sample comments you can use as a base for your comments. They will focus on how in 2025 DOE began the public comment process for the Draft LANL SWEIS as required by the National Environmental Protection Act, or NEPA.

We quote from the Final LANL SWEIS Summary:

The Draft SWEIS was published on January 10, 2025. On January 20, 2025, the U.S. President signed several [Executive Orders] that rescinded previous EOs directly affecting analysis presented in the Draft SWEIS (e.g., EO 12898, “Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations,” and EO 14008, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad”). Text related to the rescinded EOs was removed.

On January 20, 2025, the U.S. President issued EO 14154, “Unleashing American Energy,” which directed the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to “propose rescinding” its NEPA regulations in their entirety (i.e., 40 CFR Parts 1500 – 1508). On February 25, 2025, CEQ published an interim final rule rescinding its NEPA regulations. The recisission went into effect on April 11, 2025. References to the CEQ NEPA regulations remain for contextual purposes, as the Draft SWEIS was written in compliance with those regulations.

On June 30, 2025, DOE rescinded most of 10 CFR Part 1021 and published its new NEPA implementing procedures, a copy of which is available at DOE (2025). NNSA prepared this Final SWEIS in accordance with these new DOE NEPA Implementing Procedures. Reference to 10 CFR Part 1021 as it existed prior to June 30, 2025, remains for contextual purposes, as the Draft SWEIS was written in compliance with those regulations. The new procedures and the NEPA statute  include a page limit of 300 pages, not including appendices or citations. This Final SWEIS reflects adjustments to accommodate this page limit.

After publication of the Draft SWEIS, LANL published the SWEIS Yearbook for 2023 (LANL 2025). The baseline information in Chapter 4 of this SWEIS has been updated to include the 2023 data as part of the baseline.

Some of the information used for the development of analytical parameters (see Section 3.5) of the Draft SWEIS was updated in this Final SWEIS as a result of the 2023 data, modeling, and improved understanding (e.g., total workforce, radiological worker exposure estimates, and radiological waste generation). The updated parameters have been consistently applied to the appropriate resource area analyses in Chapter 5.

The Draft SWEIS included an evaluation of the Surplus Plutonium Disposition Program in the Expanded Operations Alternative. On May 23, 2025, U.S. President issued Executive Order 14302, “Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base,” which states, “The Secretary of Energy shall halt the surplus plutonium dilute and dispose program except with respect to the Department of Energy’s legal obligations to the State of South Carolina.” Therefore, the Final SWEIS removed the Surplus Plutonium Disposition Program from consideration under the Expanded Operations Alternative. https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2026-03/eis-0552-lanl-site-wide-summary-2026-03.pdf , p. S-7, pdf page 12.

Volume 1 – Final Site-Wide EIS for Continued Operation of LANL (March 2026), available at https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2026-03/eis-0552-lanl-site-wide-vol-1-2026-03.pdf

Volume 2 – Final Site-Wide EIS for Continued Operation of LANL (March 2026), available at https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2026-03/eis-0552-lanl-site-wide-vol-2-2026-03.pdf

General Information available at https://www.energy.gov/nepa/articles/doeeis-0552-final-environmental-impact-statement-march-2026

Through the use of Executive Orders, this administration has cut off access to a full NEPA process to the Peoples of New Mexico that began in January 2025, while at the same time assuming and projecting the assumption that it knows best.

These are but a few of the striking examples of why your comments on the ROD are essential. There is no formal comment period, but your voice is needed now. Sample public comments you can use will be available next week.

1. Friday, April 3^rd from noon to 1 pm – Join the nuclear disarmament community at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval in Santa Fe for the weekly peaceful protest in support of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Join with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners.

2. Sunday, April 5^th to Saturday, April 11^th – Spring Action Week – Shut Down Drone Warfare at Holloman AFB, Alamogordo, Southern NM. Nonviolent Resistance to Military Drones & War.  For more information:  https://www.shutdowndronewarfare.org/,  Nmvetsforpeace@gmail.com

3. Friday, April 10^th at 1 pm MT – Hanford Challenge’s 2026 Scholar Series with Myrriah Gómez speaking about Rudolfo Anaya and the Atomic Bomb. Gómez is a professor and author of Nuclear Nuevo México: Colonialism and the Effects of the Nuclear Industrial Complex on Nuevomexicanos
   On Zoom, register here. Even if you can’t make it, register for a link to the recording.

 In this presentation, Myrriah Gómez will discuss how New Mexican Chicano author, Rudolfo Anaya, wrote about the atomic bomb and nuclear culture in much of his work. As one of the world’s most recognized Chicano authors, Myrriah seeks to frame Anaya’s writing in the larger context of nuclear cultural production, specifically literature about atomic weapons.

By interrogating Anaya’s presence in nuclear culture, Myrriah is asking important questions about what his writing conveys about New Mexican Hispanic culture and whether or not nuclear weapons can be considered part of the querencia of nuevomexicanos– that is, the place where one feels most safe, often associated with a deep love of place. Myrriah will discuss several of Anaya’s writings as well as her recent findings from his archival collection held at the Center for Southwest Research.

4. Tuesday, April 28^th from noon to 1:30 pm – WIPP Community Forum, U.S. Department of Energy, Carlsbad Field Office and Salado Isolation Mining Contractors (SIMCO). To register, https://wipp.energy.gov/wipp_news_20260324.asp

Tags: 2008 Final LANL SWEIS, 2026 Final LANL SWEIS, DOE, Federal Register, LANL, LANL SWEIS, Los Alamos National Laboratory, National Environmental Policy Act, NEPA, Record of Decision, ROD, Santa Clara Pueblo, Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy