December 12, 2023

Resolution opposing all LANL pit production at Santa Fe City Council tomorrow evening, Wed. 12/13/23; web version of full-page ad on pit production available; help if you can and stay tuned for more

(Previous letter, 11/07/23): Call for ceasefire in Palestine Thurs 11/9; halt LANL pit factory and expansion at the Santa Fe City Council Wed 11/ 8; come to the panel in Santa Fe on a new arms race Thurs 11/16)

Good morning friends --

My apologies for not writing sooner to this special, mostly local list. We've been busy as can be. We try to write only on relatively important occasions, or with ways to participate we think are particularly valuable locally, which we are doing today. Content of wider national interest goes to our main mailing list, which you are also on.

First, with the help of Santa Fe City Council members Renee Villarreal and Jamie Cassutt, a pretty good City resolution opposing all pit production at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) will be introduced at the Santa Fe City Council meeting tomorrow evening. It is item 16c on the agenda. The operative part of the resolution echoes the "Call for Sanity, Not Nuclear Production."

We are asking interested people to come to City Hall (200 Lincoln Ave, map) at about 6 pm. It is especially important for representatives of organizations, businesses, and churches who have endorsed the Call to come. Bring a small sign if you like with an appropriate message; we will bring extra signs also.

We aren't sure exactly when this resolution will be come up, as the order of business can be (and often is) changed. "Petitions from the Floor" usually happen close to 7 pm. We will also have a chance to meet among ourselves in the hallway west of the Council chambers. Trish and I will be happy to see everybody, and you will be able to meet our part-time organizer Bex Hampton as well. Bring your questions -- and insights!

There won't be a vote at this meeting. As you can see on the agenda, it won't be voted upon until 1/10/24, with a new Council in place, after it goes through the Quality of Life Committee on 1/3/24. This meeting will be a chance to show the Council, and the news media, how much support there is for preventing construction and operation of a new plutonium warhead factory in Greater Santa Fe, before it goes into committee.

As you can see on the agenda, you can also attend virtually or submit written comment. If you are local, your physical presence would be more impactful than a virtual presence.

Contact information for the Mayor and current City Council is on this page. On January 1, Alma Castro will be replacing Renee Villarreal and Pilar Faulkner will be replacing Chris Rivera. Two of the incumbents were reelected and four others did not need to run. To reach Ms. Castro or Ms. Faulkner before the City's web site is updated, the City Clerk's office will surely hold postal mail for them.

This resolution is non-binding, of course. Should it pass, and until it passes, we anticipate making good use of it however!

Second, tomorrow's Santa Fe Reporter will publish a "centerfold" ("double-truck") ad of ours, which can also be downloaded here as a pdf. In it, we try to lay out some of the basic issues -- local, national, and implicitly international -- involved in accelerating pit production in order to increase the U.S. nuclear stockpile of accurate, modern warheads. This ad can function as a sort of "primer" for your use. We have lacked an up-to-date, quasi-comprehensive, popular introduction to these issues. This was the cheapest way we could find to disseminate that information.

Of particular note is the role of LANL and therefore Santa Fe in enabling -- or not enabling -- an early increase in deployable accurate nuclear warheads, to use on a new missile system. Effective local resistance to this new mission has great national and international significance.

A second ad will follow next week.

Third, please help us recruit more endorsers for the Call for Sanity. If everyone on this list signed up one more person or organization, that would be outstanding!

Fourth, please contact us if you want to more involved. Just call or write any of us (Greg, Trish, Bex), or call the office and leave a message (505-265-1200).

We will send updates on other issues to the larger list in a little while, which you will also get.

Thank you for your participation and support,

Sincerely,

Greg and Trish