Action Alert: Submit Public Comment on LANL’s New Sitewide Environmental Impact Statement (SWEIS)

ISSUE: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) plans to expand their facilities for plutonium pit production — to increase the nation’s stockpile of nuclear weapons to 30 pits a year by 2026. It appears that this expanded pit production will not be included in the new Sitewide Environmental Impact Statement (SWEIS).

IMPACT: Continued and increased devastation of water, air, land, and community wellness in Tewa and Pueblo communities, as well as all communities in the vicinity of Los Alamos National Labs.

ACTION

Submit your comment by October 18 to oppose the exclusion of critical facts and planned activities from LANL’s new Sitewide Environmental Impact Statement (SWEIS)

The Department of Energy is accepting public comment on the updated LANL Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement (SWEIS) from now until October 18, 2022. The new SWEIS analyzes the potential environmental impacts of the “reasonable alternatives” for continuing operations of LANL for approximately the next 15 years, and includes plans for campus expansion, and an uptick in weapons production. The SWEIS will also analyze environmental impacts of legacy waste remediation.

The main message for your comment:

The updated SWEIS must address LANL’s plans to increase plutonium pit production, and must analyze the environmental impact of this expansion on the wellbeing of our communities.

Submit your comment by:

Email: LANLSWEIS@nnsa.doe.gov

Mail:

LANL SWEIS Comments
3747 West Jemez Road
Los Alamos, New Mexico 87544

Please mark envelopes and emails as: “SWEIS Comments”

Comments must be received or postmarked by October 18, 2022.

NNSA will issue a draft SWEIS sometime in 2023 which will be followed by another public comment period.

For more background, see this page from Nuclear Watch New Mexico, it contains a great deal of detail and more talking points you may want to include in your comment.