As reported by the Roswell (New Mexico) Daily News, as well as the Associated Press (reprinted in the Santa Fe New Mexican), opponents to the proposed centralized interim storage facility (CISF, a.k.a. MRS, short for Monitored Retrievable Storage site, previously called AFR, short for Away from Reactor storage) for highly radioactive irradiated nuclear fuel targeted at southeast New Mexico have dominated U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) public comment meetings thus far.

In fact, on April 25th, during a call-in/webinar mtg. held at NRC's Rockville, MD HQ, opponents skunked proponents of the de facto permanent, surface storage, "parking lot dump," by a count of 25 to 0.

On April 30th in Roswell, NM, opponents at the microphone outnumbered dump boosters 36 to 6. (The dump boosters included a spokesperson from Holtec, and five University of New Mexico nuclear engineering students.  One of the latter said, ironically and revealingly enough, that he hoped Holtec would open the dump, so that he could get a job there, and continue living in New Mexico, because of its natural beauty.)

On May 1st in Hobbs, NM, opponents outnumbered dump boosters 33 to 13. (The 13 dump boosters included the same Holtec spokesperson as above, plus an ELEA spokesman (Eddy-Lea [Counties] Energy Alliance), a Chamber of Commerce type, and the rest, local area elected officials. All are already addicted to such dirty nuclear industry money as flows from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP is a dumpsite for military plutonium), URENCO uranium enrichment, and other nuclear activities in the s.e. NM area.) Dump opponents so outnumbering dump advocates is very significant, as Hobbs is a company town.

(ELEA is a joint venture of the cities of Hobbs and Carlsbad, as well as Eddy and Lea Counties. The Holtec CISF would be located about equi-distant, halfway between Hobbs and Carlsbad (32-34 miles from each).)

Altogether then, dump opponents have outnumbered dump proponents 94 to 19 at the three meetings held thus far. A fourth meeting will be held in the company town of Carlsbad, NM, near the WIPP site, on May 3rd.

[Update: at the Carlsbad meeting, anti-Holtec speakers outnumbered pro-Holtec speakers by a count of 34 to 27. This was quite a victory for anti-Holtec folks, as Carlsband is THE company town, the home base of Holtec/ELEA!

But in addition to this, Leona Morgan of Nuclear Issues Study Group, turned in 1,300+ signed letters of opposition to Holtec during her public comment in Carlsbad, as well!]

{MORE updates!

On May 21st, at the Gallup, NM NRC mtg., opponents outnumbered supporters of the Holtec/ELEA CISF by a count of 36 to 1.

At the May 22nd Albuquerque, NM NRC mtg., opponents outumbered supporters of the Holtec/ELEA CISF by a count of 69 to 6.

The overall count, from six NRC public comment meetings, is now 233 opposed, to 53 in support, a nearly 5 to 1 ratio!}

But not only have dump opponents quantitatively dominated dump advocates, the qualty of anti-dump voices has been very powerful and moving. For example, at the Roswell mtg., 11-year old Pai Marquez spoke powerfully against the dump -- getting applause from the entire room, including the law enforcement officers present! Her father, Noel Marquez, a muralist and farmer in Artesia, NM, is a leader of Alliance for Environmental Strategies (AFES), a lead anti-dump grassroots group.

(Here, by the way, are the slides NRC devotes the first 45 minutes of each meeting to.

At the meetings, dump opponents from a broad coalition of numerous local grassroots, NM state-wide, regional, and national groups -- including Beyond Nuclear -- also set up info. handout tables, countering those of Holtec and NRC.)

On May 1st, anti-dump protesters greeted NRC, ELEA, Holtec, NM Fish & Game, and other officials at the CISF site. The public had not been invited to the 1pm site tour, but showed up anyway! Local law enforcement (Lea County Sheriff's deputies), although quite friendly enough, nonetheless did not allow protesters any closer to the ex parte meeting, than the side of the county road (which is publicly accessible, by law).

On the lighter side, a protester dressed in an endangered prairie chicken costume, holding a sign reading (in (Chick-fil-A style) "No Mor Nukin Prairie Chikin Habitat," greeted the pro-dump entourage as it arrived in a convoy. The prairie chicken then bird-dogged them during their tour.

The endangered prairie chicken inhabits the region, but its habitat has been devastated by fossil fuel, nuclear, and other dirty, dangerous industries in the area. The Holtec scheme would only worsen the prairie chicken species's plight, making it impossible to ever return to its habitat at that site.

TAKE ACTION!

Please help block the Holtec/ELEA nuke waste dump, by submitting comments to NRC by the May 29th deadline. See how to do so, including sample comments you can use to help prepare your own, at this link.