FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Leona Morgan 505-879-8547
January 22, 2019
Coalition Challenges World’s Most Radioactive Waste Site Targeted at New Mexico
Federal Hearings on Holtec License Application Begin Jan. 23 in Albuquerque
High-Risk Shipments Would Pass Through Most States for Decades
Albuquerque, N.M.– The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is holding hearings beginning tomorrow on a proposed high level nuclear waste storage site in southeastern New Mexico. Opponents held a press conference today to outline the reasons they are fighting this application They point out that this proposal to store the nation’s deadliest and most dangerous radioactive waste between Hobbs and Carlsbad is an environmental injustice, could lead to contamination of soil and water, could disrupt the local economy, and will create grave transportation risks across the country and at the proposed site. It is highly likely this waste will be abandoned and New Mexicans will have to pay to try to take care of it for hundreds of thousands of years. Over a dozen cities and counties have passed resolutions opposing importation of this waste and more than 27,000 people submitted comments to the NRC opposing this site. The hearings will determine which parties get standing and what issues will get discussed.
Legal counsel for environmental and environmental justice (EJ) groups are squaring off against the license application for the world's largest radioactive waste dump, targeted for New Mexico. More than 40 legal objections have been filed against the Holtec/Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance (ELEA) Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF) license application by the groups which are official parties in the NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) proceeding. The groups include (with representing attorneys): Alliance for Environmental Strategies (Nancy Simmons, Albuquerque, NM), Beyond Nuclear (Diane Curran, Washington, D.C.; Mindy Goldstein, Turner Environmental Law Clinic, Emory University, Atlanta, GA); Sierra Club (Wally Taylor, Sierra Club Nuclear-Free Campaign, Cedar Rapids, IA); and a seven-group coalition including Don’t Waste Michigan, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination (MI), Public Citizen (TX and DC), San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace (CA), Nuclear Energy Information Service (IL), Citizens’ Environmental Coalition (NY), and Nuclear Issues Study Group (NM) (Terry Lodge, Toledo, OH). Two industry groups are also intervening in the license application.
The environmental, public-interest groups and their lawyers are challenging the fatal flaws of the Holtec nuclear dump proposal. They are charging that the entire licensing process is against current law, violates Environmental Justice principles, and threatens the environment, people and communities along the routes to and from the site and at the site.
On January 23 and possibly 24th, the NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) will hold oral arguments in Albuquerque regarding the Holtec/ELEA license application to construct and operate a CISF for 173,600 metric tons of commercial irradiated nuclear fuel and other highly radioactive waste, targeted at southeastern New Mexico. That quantity is 2.5 times the amount targeted for a permanent repository, which does not exist. This would also mean 10,000+ high-risk, high-level radioactive waste truck, train, and/or barge shipments -- over the course of not years, but decades -- on roads, rails, and/or waterways in most states, many major cities, and the vast majority (approximately 87%) of U.S. congressional districts.
The environmental coalition first filed their petitions to intervene, and requests for hearing, in opposition to the Holtec/ELEA CISF proposal, on September 14, 2018. Forty technical and legal contentions of opposition, many backed up by expert witness testimony, range from environmental justice violations, to lack of legal authorization for such a CISF, and a broad range of concerns regarding public health, safety, security, and the environment. (For the complete list of legal contentions, please see the OVERVIEW below).
Rose Gardner, co-founder of Alliance For Environmental Strategies (AFES), a grassroots group of local residents, wants to protect New Mexico. She stated that "New Mexico is a wonderful, beautiful state with its mountains, rivers, deserts and open grassy plains. We must not let a company like Holtec come in bringing dangerous, toxic and long-lasting radioactive waste from over 100 nuclear power reactors around the country to our state. We did not benefit from the generation of the nuclear electricity. Why must we accept this dangerous nuclear power waste? I do not consent!"
Noel Marquez, also with AFES stated that, “The industry and government are hiding the dangers and how long the dangers will last--which is truly many generations--a million years according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They tout false promises of jobs and economic progress that have never come to fruition at nuclear waste sites."
Nancy Simmons, attorney for the Alliance for Environmental Strategies, AFES, described the objections they filed against the license application, chief among them being that, "Holtec did nothing to investigate the impact of additional and cumulative nuclear waste dumping on the local minority and low-income community in southeastern New Mexico. Instead, Holtec exclusively targeted an isolated rural area of New Mexico as a dumping ground, in violation of federal anti-discrimination regulations and guidelines. We're asking Holtec to do its job, to do the homework they're required to do.”
"Holtec would store two and a half times more high-level radioactive waste than is targeted for burial at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. That would mean tens of thousands of high-risk shipments of irradiated nuclear fuel, by road, rail, and waterway, over decades, passing through most states, many major cities, and the vast majority of U.S. congressional districts. When it comes to high-level radioactive waste transportation, we all live in New Mexico. Holtec is a national threat," said Kevin Kamps, radioactive waste specialist at Beyond Nuclear, a watchdog organization on the nuclear power industry based in Takoma Park, Maryland.
Diane Curran, lawyer for Beyond Nuclear stated, “By planning on the U.S. Department of Energy to take ownership of spent, irradiated fuel stored at its proposed facility, Holtec is attempting an end-run around the federal Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA). The NWPA is the public’s best protection against a de facto permanent radioactive waste dump. Therefore, Beyond Nuclear is seeking dismissal of the entire proceeding.”
Wally Taylor, attorney from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, representing the Sierra Club explains, "Nuclear waste is a problem with no good solution. We need to find the least bad solution. First, we need to stop making more radioactive waste by closing down nuclear power plants and transitioning to renewable energy. New Mexico, especially, has abundant wind and sun that could make the state a leader in renewable energy. There is too much risk in transporting over 173,000 tons of radioactive waste across the country to a site that is not properly designed for long-term storage–perhaps permanent storage. We need to find better alternatives."
Terry Lodge, attorney for organizations and individuals from California to New York, Illinois and Michigan to New Mexico stated, "In the midst of the longest federal government shutdown in history, Holtec and the federal NRC deny that the required flawless oversight needed for this dangerous material will ever fail or fall victim to future shutdowns–when government commitments are not fulfilled. In this light, if this license is granted and high level nuclear waste comes in, we predict it could become the largest permanent nuclear waste sacrifice zone on the planet."
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Recording of press conference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOl2Z6hfXJk
Please note, due to technical difficulties, the audio does not begin until 2 minutes and 20 seconds into the video recording.