A follow-up to the Department of Energy (DOE) town hall in April 2023 at the

Santa Fe Community Convention Center that nearly 500 people attended in-person or

virtually, will be held Monday, July 22 nd from 6 pm to 7:30 pm at the Hilton Santa Fe

Buffalo Thunder, 13 miles north of downtown Santa Fe on U.S. 84 / 285.

On July 16 th in New Mexico, people commemorate two devastating events: the

first atomic bomb test at the Trinity Site in 1945 in south central New Mexico, and the

world’s largest uranium spill in 1979 when an earthen dam broke at the United Nuclear

Corporation’s uranium mill tailing pond, releasing 1,100 tons of radioactive waste and

94 million gallons of radioactive water into the Rio Puerco, which flowed to Sanders,

Arizona. Both events left sick and dying people, environmental destruction and still

unresolved concerns today.

One of the most beautiful and majestic sights is found by looking across

and down into the Grand Canyon at the spread of the red walls, the patches of

green and the glorious Colorado River. All of this is threatened by an exemption

from a federal law banning uranium mining in the watershed that feeds the

complex river system. Uranium mining is allowed on U.S. Forest Service lands

where the Pinyon Plains Uranium Mine is located less than ten miles from the

Grand Canyon’s south rim.

Nuclear weapons programs divert public funds from health care,

education, disaster relief and other vital humanitarian services. The nuclear-

armed countries spent over $91.4 billion [dollars] on their arsenals in 2023. At

the same time, the corporations fabricating these weapons of mass destruction

and their investors made billions in profit annually.

Daniel Ellsberg was a nuclear war planner – his plans are still in use

today in the United States. He has provided a stark warning about the

dangers of nuclear weapons and above all the intercontinental ballistic

missiles, or ICBMs and his work is being acknowledged this week. Join in

virtual and live activities.

It was announced at the June 5 th Los Alamos County Board of Public Utilities

meeting that there are two proposals to bring approximately 50 or more megawatts of

solar electricity to the County and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), a federal

Department of Energy (DOE) facility. One of the County’s goals is to develop and

strengthen partnerships with Jemez Pueblo and Pueblo de San Ildefonso in their efforts

to develop solar farms.

The Austin newspaper, the Texas Observer, chose Searchlight reporter

Alicia Inez Guzmán, to receive its 2024 MOLLY Prize on May 30 th . Guzmán

holds a Ph.D. in Visual and Cultural Studies from the University of Rochester

in New York. Her article, “Buried Secrets, Poisoned Bodies,” is exemplary

investigative journalism. The prize, awarded to only one journalist a year,

honors Molly Ivins, the Observer editor for six years in the 70’s.

Just as there were problems encountered with air monitoring during the February

14, 2014 explosion and release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), a nuclear

bomb waste dump, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board continues to raise

questions about that issue.

On March 12 th , the Department of Energy (DOE) submitted its Planned Change

Request to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to use new Panels 11 and 12 in

the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) underground nuclear waste facility. The Planned

Change Request also outlines the plans for seven additional panels for waste from

expanded plutonium pit production at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the

Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the disposition of 34 metric tons of surplus

plutonium from that site.

Beginning on Monday, May 13 th , at an in-person and virtual public hearing in

Santa Fe, the New Mexico Environment Department will present its proposal to vastly

expand the reuse of produced water from the production of oil and gas to the New

Mexico Water Quality Control Commission.