Letter from New Mexicans to their governor, urging even stronger state government efforts to block environmentally unjust Holtec high-level radioactive waste dump

See a PDF of the letter, here, listing all of the New Mexico signatories.

Here is the full text of the letter:

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham

State of New Mexico

490 Old Santa Fe Trail

Room 400

Santa Fe, NM 87501

Dear Governor Lujan Grisham:

The undersigned organizations are in firm opposition to the plan to bring the nation’s High - Level Waste for “temporary storage” in southern New Mexico at the Holtec site between Hobbs and Carlsbad. We thank you for persistent courageous opposition to Holt ec's proposal to bring commercial spent fuel to New Mexico. We also thank you for the in depth comments submitted by your Environment Department to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) working Draft Environmental Impact Statement ( DEIS) and the Septemb er 22 comments of the Environment Department and the Radioactive Waste Consultation Task Force on the many deficiencies in the DEIS.

Nevada succeeded in the battle against becoming the nation's high - level waste dump by creating a division of government to defeat the high - level waste proposal. The undersigned groups would support such an entity and respectfully ask you to form such an agency within state government.

The NRC DEIS fails to consider the state's position of non - consent and considers only a non - credible time span of 40 years for what would be a long - term toxic nuclear dump imposing serious financial, environmental, resource and health burdens on New Mexico, among many other inadequacies.

If the radioactive waste is brought to New Mexico, it wou ld be for all time because of many technical reasons, including:

• The claim that the site is for temporary storage is nothing more than sleight of hand because no permanent geological repository is developed or under consideration.

• The containers would be risky and not transportable due to gamma ray deterioration, spent fuel leakage and potential criticality.

• There will strong opposition by other states to transporting it again, and there is no funding for such shipments or another site.

Moreover, e xisting state law prohibits high - level waste and spent fuel disposal in New Mexico. We suggest that you invoke that statute against Holtec:

74 - 4A - 11.1. Condition.

No person shall store or dispose of radioactive materials, radioactive waste or spent fuel in a disposal facility until the state has concurred in the creation of the disposal facility, except as specifically preempted by federal law. As used in this section, "disposal facility" means an engineered facility designed primarily for the isolation of radioactive materials, radioactive waste or spent fuel other than tailings or other waste from the extraction, beneficiation or processing of ores and minerals.

New Mexico’s people and our environment deserve better treatment than a plan offering milli ons of years of a public health menace from radioactive waste spreading into our soil, air , water, and rivers.

Please consider what more aggressive steps can be taken to defeat the Holtec plan.

Respectfully,

[See PDF of letter for full listing of New Mexican signatories]