Hi,
The Stopforever WIPP coalition has put together this petition to gain the attention of the governor to the dangerous proposal which would expand WIPP to take in surplus plutonium.
The pu would come from Texas to Los Alamos accompanied by armed guards, where it would be processed from metal to powder, trucked to South Carolina still under armed guard, reprocessed and then shipped back to WIPP. In many ways this is a very risky process.
If you are willing to print out and get signatures on this petition, please send to CCNS, PO Box 31147, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87594 by February 8.
Thanks in advance,
Dave
Petition to Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham
We, New Mexicans, call on our Governor to protect the public health and our environment by taking all necessary actions to stop the expansion of the nuclear waste facility called the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in southeastern New Mexico.
We oppose this nuclear waste expansion at WIPP because:
-The federal government's expansion plans would transport each shipment of deadly waste past our homes twice, over and over for the rest of the century.
- The plutonium nuclear waste in the WIPP expansion is a different and more dangerous form, will remain dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years, and endangers the health of my family and future generations.
- Unless New Mexico says NO to WIPP expansion, other disposal locations will not be developed, and WIPP will always be the only dump site, which is not fair. New Mexico never agreed to bear the burden of being the only site.
- The federal government's plans would expand the size of the nuclear weapons dump to more than twice its current size and more than is allowed.*
- The federal government is not being transparent about expanding WIPP, even though it has clearly admitted its intention in published documents. By repeatedly refusing to discuss its plans with the public, most New Mexicans are not even aware of those plans.
We will strongly support our Governor taking all necessary actions, including denying permits for the piecemeal expansion.
Name Zip Code Signature
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* Federal law and legal agreements with New Mexico clearly limit the amount of waste at WIPP, but the expansion would allow more than that capacity, as described in the April 2020 National Academy of Sciences Report - Review of the Department of Energy's Plans for Disposal of Surplus Plutonium in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
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