The following letter sent to Governor Luan-Grisham was initiated by Citizen Action and signed by dozens of organizations in New Mexico.  The letter requests that the Governor bolster state opposition to the disposal of nuclear reactor waste at the Holtec site in southern New Mexico:

“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.”

October 2, 2020

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 Holtec'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 September 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 would 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.

• Opposition for the waste to be transported a second time outside New Mexico will be opposed by other states and there is no known funding.

     Moreover, existing 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 millions 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,

Cc: Hector Balderas, NM Attorney General

Stephanie Garcia Richard, NM State Land Commissioner

Sarah Cottrell Propst, NM Secretary Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department

James Kenney, NM Secretary of Environment