CCNS Update

On February 14 th , 2014, one or more drums of radioactive and hazardous waste exploded in the deep underground disposal site of the Waste Isolation

Pilot Plant (WIPP). To raise public awareness, non-government organizations are joining together on Tuesday, February 14 th at 1:15 in the Rotunda at the New

Mexico State Capitol for a press conference.

On Wednesday night, the Santa Fe City Council heard from dozens of people, both in person and virtually, about the proposed rezoning of 22 acres of

open space on South Meadows to housing. Dave Englert, a retired New Mexico Environment Department geologist, and Joni Arends, CCNS Executive Director,

urged the City Council to prioritize cleanup of the Eberline site that borders the 22 acres to the south. Arends asked the Council to use its emergency powers to

install a tent with HEPA filtration over the building now.

The Santa Fe City Council will hold a special meeting on Wednesday, February 1 st at 7 pm to consider the proposed rezoning of the 22 acres of open

space on South Meadows. CCNS urges you to contact your city councilors and encourage them to vote no on the rezoning proposal. There are too many

unanswered questions about possible contamination of the open space remaining from decades of operations of the industrial Eberline / ThermoFisher

radiation detection manufacturing facility to the south.

On Tuesday, January 24 th and Thursday, January 26 th , the Department of Energy will hold in-person public hearings in Carlsbad and Los Alamos,

respectively, about their plans to handle, treat and dispose of surplus plutonium in New Mexico.

Two in-person public hearings in New Mexico and one virtual public hearing will be held about the Department of Energy’s plan to ship more than 30

tons of surplus radioactive plutonium for processing at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).

On Tuesday, January 10 th , CCNS and Honor Our Pueblo Existence (HOPE) will return to the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission to ask it

to vacate the decisions in which former Commission Chair Stephanie Stringer was involved. CCNS and HOPE have appealed the issuance of the groundwater

discharge permit, DP-1132, for the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to the Commission.

In May 2022, CCNS, Honor Our Pueblo Existence (HOPE), and Veterans

for Peace appealed the federal Clean Water Act discharge permit for Outfall 051,

which is connected to the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility at Los

Alamos National Laboratory, to the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board (EAB).

On December 28 th , the three-judge panel in Washington, DC ruled unanimously

to remand the federal permit, or send it back, to EPA’s Region 6 office in Dallas.

CCNS and Honor Our Pueblo Existence (HOPE) request your support of our request for sanctions in the appeal of the groundwater discharge permit DP-

1132, issued to Los Alamos National Laboratory for operation of the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility. The appeal is before the New Mexico Water

Quality Control Commission, which has the authority to order sanctions. We seek sanctions requiring the Permittees, the Department of Energy / National

Nuclear Security Administration, to pay our expenses caused by DOE/NNSA’s unethical behavior.

On Thursday, December 8th, the New Mexico Environment Department released its fact sheet for the draft Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Hazardous

Waste Permit. The draft fact sheet is a way to let New Mexicans and the Department of Energy (DOE) know about the Environment Department plans for

the ten-year renewal of the permit.

Under the banner of “Diplomacy is the Path to Peace,” diverse organizations are holding nationwide activities the week of December 19 th to end

the war in Ukraine, not life on Earth.