Author: gpabqmetro

National Guardsmen attacked protesters at the University of New Mexico in Albu(r)querque, New Mexico. Eleven people were bayonetted. Despite a lawsuit, the no one was held accountable. Many protesters inside the Student Union Building (SUB) refused to leave after occupying the building; 131 were arrested by local law enforcement officers. The arrests were peaceful and orderly, contrasted with the mayhem created by the National Guard out on the plaza. The protests were part of the anti-war protests of the era, supercharged by the killing of four students at Kent State University on May 4. Jane Fonda was on campus that week as a student strike was in effect, and the University was shut down for a time.

GPAMA, Veterans for Peace-ABQ, and students at Media Arts Collaborative Charter School were working on a 50th Anniversary commemorative event that had to be postponed because of the public health order. We expect to reschedule the event for the Fall Semester. We will let you know the particulars when we have them. The event will be free, educational, and perhaps a bit healing for some.  We hope to have a trailer video soon to give you a preview of the public event.

On March 23, 2021, NRC staff issued a letter to Holtec International transmitting its third request for additional information (RAIs), in connection with its detailed safety review of the application for a license to construct and operate the proposed HI-STORE Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF), in Lea County, New Mexico. View letter https://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/webSearch2/main.jsp?AccessionNumber=ML22062B669

On May 20, 2021, NBC staff issued a second request for additional information (RAI) to Holtec. More information was requested about its assumptions about pipelines and gas clouds. Written justification was requested for several mechanics of materials claims with regard to structural integrity as well. Read the letter below.

On March 25, 2021, NRC staff issued a letter to Holtec International informing them that NRC will not complete its safety review of the license application to construct and operate the proposed HI-STORE Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF), in Lea County, New Mexico, by its previously published date of May 2021.

The effort to place a Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility in Lea County continues.   The public comment deadline for the draft Environmental Impact Statement has been extended to July 20, 2020.

A national webinar and five public meetings in New Mexico during the public comment period to present the staff’s preliminary findings and receive public comments are planned.  As the COVID-19 public health emergency evolves, the NRC staff will continue to re-evaluate these plans for engaging the public and will consider additional extensions to the comment period.

The draft EIS can be accessed at https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML2006/ML20069G420.pdf

A summary (Reader’s Guide) of the EIS report can be accessed at:   https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML2007/ML20073P254.pdf

• Submit comments on line at https://www.regulations.gov/ (Docket ID NRC-2018-0052).
• Mail comments to the Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN-7-A60M, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC 20555-0001.
• E-mail comments to Holtec-CISFEIS@nrc.gov.

There is a global celebration happening amidst a global pandemic.  Earth Day Live 2020 streams April 22-24.  Perhaps two truths will finally emerge from the fear and uncertainty of 2020:  we have to take care of the earth, and we have to take care of each other.

While maintaining your social distancing, think about future local food production and plant something in your yard or on your balcony.  Realize the simple pleasure of taking a walk alone or with a loved one.  A deep breath in less-polluted air can be calming.

Here is a little reminder of the 20th Earth Day:

New Mexico Greens are invited to visit with Dario Hunter on Wednesday, April 22, and Howie Hawkins on Thursday, April 23, and Dario Hunter on Friday, April 24.  Both are candidates for the Green Party presidential nomination.

Owners of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) must halt operations

The full Environmental Impact Study must be completed PRIOR to any further work on the pipeline.

Federal Judge Strikes Down DAPL Permits

The 42-page memorandum opinion is here.

The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers is now required to prepare a full environmental impact statement.  Greens in New Mexico support a moratorium on new hydraulic fracturing permits.

The Green Party of New Mexico filed an IPRA request last year to finally get the Climate Change Strategy released to the public.  Part of the plan deals with methane emissions.  We must be vigilant and make sure the state is not simply going through the motions.  Public input must be welcomed and engagement meaningful. NMED and NMERD are moving the public meetings on community impacts from the oil and gas industry on line because of the prohibition on large gatherings.  The meeting scheduled for Farmington on March 19 will start on line at 2:00 p. m.  Must register at the webinar site.  See details below.

The Four Pillars of the Green Party (Ecological Wisdom, Social Justice, Grassroots Democracy, and Non-Violence) support the platform on which Greens run for public office and work to create peaceful, just, and sustainable societies.  Greens recognize that humans are part of the natural world shared by many other species.  We promote equitable and fair solutions to the problems of a complex world.  We seek open and inclusive electoral systems that invite broad participation of voters and candidates.  We strive to end the use of violence as a means of social control and foreign hegemony.

In New Mexico, a commitment to the preservation of natural water sources includes protecting water quality, reducing waste, and allotting usage according to historical rights and advancement of habitat preservation and regenerative agriculture.  We support a requirement for lapel cameras for all on-duty law enforcement officers.  Minor political parties are a necessity in the era of rule by a corporate duopoly; more choices and more voices are required if the hope of a responsive democracy is to exist.  Greens recognize that acts of cruelty are often multifactorial and range from animal abuse to illegal military invasions, and we support legislation to eradicate the causes of violence.

The Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations is the highest decision-making body with regard to the framework to address climate change on a global scale. The 25th meeting started this week in Madrid, Spain. You can find lots of information at the web site, https://unfccc.int/cop25.

A major focus of COP25 will be effects on the ocean and coastal areas. New Mexico is far from any ocean, but we are still affected since we breathe.  https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/oceanproduction.html

After the Green Party of New Mexico submitted an IPRA request last month for the New Mexico Climate Strategy that was due on September 15, the document was released to the public on November 21. You may find the document at https://www.climateaction.state.nm.us/.

A major methane plume hangs over the Four Corners, which includes northwestern New Mexico. The Permian Basin in southeastern New Mexico is a hot bed of oil & gas activity. Methane adds many times the amount of damage to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. The air quality that results from methane emissions and other pollutants from fracking and conventional drilling has been associated with respiratory problems, cancer, and possible harm to pregnancies.

A series of public comments meetings in Farmington, Albuquerque, and Carlsbad were conducted for the public to learn about methane rules to be proposed by the state. The new rules would regulate venting, flaring and leaks of natural gas and promote capture of the natural gas now lost in the atmosphere. The benefits of increasing natural gas capture include larger state revenues, greater profits for the oil and gas industry, and less methane pollution for communities. The new approach has been described as a win-win-win for all stakeholders, including the public good. Below is a report from the meeting in Albuquerque.

During the meeting, the state was represented by the heads of the Environment Department (ED) and the Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resource Departments (EMNRD). The two departments will work together on writing the rules, although the ED sees methane as pollution while the EMNRD sees methane as waste [of a natural resource].

The public in attendance was standing room only in a large lecture hall and posed many technically sophisticated questions, many critical of the state approach. Native Americans wanted to know about tribal consultations and a timeline for writing and implementing the rules. It was pointed out that the public comments phase was at the beginning of the process though actual rule creation may begin in November. A question and answer section went on for an hour. Also there was a sign up sheet for two-minute public comments. Several elected officials were also in the audience. It was a meeting with quite a different flavor from the meeting earlier the same week in Farmington with contentious input from opponents to any change of the methane regime.

Public comments are invited. The Environment Department can be reached at sandra.ely@state.nm.us The Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department can be reached at adrienne.sandoval@state.nm.us

References:
http://www.climatechange2013.org/images/report/WG1AR5_Chapter08_FINAL.pdf
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/361/6398/186
https://wiki2.org/en/Methane_emissions
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0131093
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009Sci…326..716S
https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/full/10.1289/EHP2553
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.02.018