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February 12, 2024 Emergency Rally for Rafah TODAY at UNM Bookstore, Albuquerque / HB 117 died / Please come to a) the Santa Fe City Council THIS WEDNESDAY at 6 pm to oppose pit production and b) the Santa Fe Community College this Thursday to oppose LANL's new electrical transmission line Previous letter, 02/08/24: More ways to testify against HB 117 tonight or tomorrow / Please come to the Santa Fe City Council next Wednesday 2/14/24, at 6 pm
Dear friends -- First, please come if you can to an emergency rally for Rafah at the UNM Bookstore across from the Frontier Restaurant TODAY AT 5 PM. Israel's attacks on Palestinian civilians and infrastructure in Gaza is as most of you know getting worse. Hundreds were slaughtered yesterday during the Superbowl nonsense. It is utterly horrific. Also during the Superbowl the U.S. Senate approved another $14.1 billion for Israel along with $60 billion to continue the Ukraine death factory. This bill now goes to an uncertain fate in the Republican-controlled House, where the leadership supports Israeli genocide but not necessarily the Ukrainian meatgrinder.
Second, HB 117 has died. The House Taxation and Revenue Committee couldn't get to it on Friday and didn't put it on the agenda for today. The Chair's secretary just told Trish that the Committee would not be taking it (or any other bills as yet unheard) up. There just isn't enough time left. Thank you for all who wrote in opposition. A (very) few of us showed up as well. As mentioned previously all the Republican members of the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee voted against it. Something like this may well be back next year. To repeat what we said last time, pit production at Los Alamos has been very much a Democratic Party project. The Democratic Governor, and all the Democrats in our congressional delegation, support it. LANL would not have this mission if senators Heinrich and Udall, supported by the rest of our delegation at the time, had not demanded it in late 2017 and 2018, after NNSA's professional staff signaled that LANL pit production would not be cost-effective or enduring. Third (repeated from last time), please come to the Santa Fe City Council meeting next Wednesday, 2/14/24, at 200 Lincoln Ave. (map) at 6 pm to a) meet about next steps (very important!) and b) at about 7 pm, to show your support for a City resolution opposing all pit production at LANL. We will meet in the hallway to the immediate west of the council chambers. "Petitions from the Floor," when you can speak if you wish (please do!) is likely to be at approximately 7 pm. You can call in as well. The Zoom instructions will be available on the meeting agenda, which will be posted here by Monday at the latest. Virtual attendees should use the “Raise Hand” function to be recognized by the Mayor to speak at the appropriate time. So far we have had an excellent and increasing attendance at City Council hearings, and everyone has spoken eloquently. Despite this, there is no movement on the Council. A combination of forces has demoralized the Council. Not one single councilor is currently willing to introduce a resolution opposing pit production at LANL. In our conversations with city councilors, and also from the lips of the Director of LANL himself last week in Washington DC as well as from an earlier LANL presentation, we have learned that LANL is seeking to build a new laboratory campus somewhere in or near South Santa Fe. We don't know much more than this, but we do know there have been literally thousands of emails passing between LANL and the City. We will get them soon. None of the councilors have bothered to tell anyone about this, or bring it up for public discussion. This new campus is being planned only because of pit production. It enables pit production. Pit production is overwhelming the LANL site as well as local roads and labor markets. Director Mason also said that new LANL hires are snatching up 40% of the new housing units being built in Santa Fe. He said LANL has hired 5,000 new employees (on a net basis) over the last five years, with more to come (although hiring is slowing). This is not all for the pit mission, but the pit mission is the largest growth area. Affordable housing? Fuhgedaboutit. Obviously, if LANL can move some work to Santa Fe the number of housing units in Santa Fe occupied by LANL employees will rise. It will also rise because retiring LANL employees (over 35% of LANL employees are eligible for retirement) tend to stay in Los Alamos if they already live there. The Council, led by the Mayor and his political insider friends and staff, is putting its faith in the growth potential of nuclear weapons. Poor Santa Fe -- so far from God, so close to Los Alamos. Santa Fe is losing its identity, culture, and its livability. LANL is not the only reason but it's a big one. Progressives on the Council -- if there are any real ones -- are failing to see that dreams of social justice are being sacrificed to the Moloch of militarism -- and in our case, plutonium. What City would embrace that horrible element? Santa Fe, apparently. We will be ruled by nuclear compradors until we demand otherwise. The Council needs to hear from you about this. We aren't giving up, but we are hearing a peculiar narrative that social, environmental, and economic justice goals can be reconciled with a new nuclear arms race. The Council needs to understand why this is a mistake. Please come. To repeat, we are going to unveil and discuss next steps this coming Wednesday at 6 pm, outside the Council chambers. Fourth, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is hosting a public meeting about the proposed new electrical transmission line to LANL across the Caja del Rio, from 4 pm to 7 pm in the Jemez Room at Santa Fe Community College (6401 Richards Ave., map). The meeting will start with a poster information session at 4 p.m., followed at 4:30 pm by a presentation on the draft Environmental Assessment (EA) and a comment period. Please see:
Many organizations oppose this power line and are likely to have representatives present. Few of these actively oppose the expansion of LANL pit production. Going on Thursday is a good opportunity to talk to them about this. A hybrid option is available for the meeting and will start at 4:30 pm. The link to the virtual meeting is: http://tinyurl.com/LANLEPCUEA2. The meeting ID is 216 364 231 301 and the passcode is KWf2M2. To join the meeting by telephone, call: 719-283-1404. The phone conference ID is 660 740 035#. Comments can be emailed to EPCUEA@nnsa.doe.gov. Fifth, please help us publicize and recruit endorsers to the Call for Sanity, Not Nuclear Production, currently running at 800 individuals and 178 businesses, organizations, and religious groups. Please understand that being in favor of nuclear disarmament, or nuclear abolition, or nuclear safety, does not imply opposition to building a factory for plutonium pits at LANL. To effectively oppose something like this you actually have to oppose it specifically and actively, at a minimum! It is amazing how many people do not understand this. Thank you, Greg, Trish, Bex |
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