Dear friends and colleagues -- 

Troubled times, in which we certainly find ourselves, present us with real opportunities if we care enough -- and are confident and discerning enough -- to see them. But beware: bullshit abounds. 

    1. Now that the hearings are over, don't bother with the pit PEIS -- do real disarmament and peace work alongside others if the spirit moves you.

Now that the hearings are over, the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for plutonium pit production (pit PEIS) is not a real opportunity for effective intervention. 

The in-person, face-to-face hearings were an opportunity to speak -- to one another, as we said, not so much to NNSA! 

Those hearings are now past. What is left is the empty shell of a process entirely devoid of democratic agency. This process is more than a waste of time. It is an exercise in fantasy, and -- as we are seeing in our correspondence -- a distraction from doing the real work of resistance to nuclear weapons, empire, and the war machine. Not just the Trump Administration but also Congress is pushing the U.S. and the world backwards vis-a-vis nuclear weapons. They are completely unaware that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) even exists (to the extent it still does) and they will pay zero attention to your comments. 

The whole concept that comments offered in the comfort of one's home or office, with minimal risk and commitment -- especially comments aligned with somebody or other's "talking points" -- can somehow shift national nuclear weapons priorities is ludicrous. Like so much these days, it is a strategy that wistfully hearkens back to the 1990s. I am sure you have noticed that we are not in the 1990s any more, and that was not how it worked then either. NGOs that explicitly or implicitly suggest that public comments on the PEIS will make a difference, as opposed to more substantive uses of your time, are really engaged in a kind of malpractice. Often such strategies are devised in tandem with big foundation funders who actually don't want to shake up the status quo. There is a lot of pretending going on.  

The pit PEIS -- an outcome sought in lieu of postponing pit production, which would not require a PEIS -- is itself a mistake, as we explained in our 2024 amicus motion and declaration (see "Study Group files 'friend of the court' motion in South Carolina plutonium  'pit' lawsuit; One pit factory instead of two would fully resolve this lawsuit while preserving strong environmental law," press release, Oct 30,2024).

The goal of the litigation that produced this PEIS, as was clearly stated in the plaintiffs statements if it was not also obvious from the venue and choice of plaintiffs, was to 1) shut down pit production preparations in South Carolina and 2) continue preparations for pit production in New Mexico -- in other words, to drive all pit production to Los Alamos. (This was and may still be a goal of Senator Heinrich and the rest of the delegation.) We explained this in our amicus motion referenced above, and in the Memorandum we sent to the plaintiffs prior to settlement. We never heard back from them. 

There was no solidarity expressed by the litigating groups to those of us opposing pit production at Los Alamos "first and foremost," as so many endorse. Nor was there any response to our technical analyses, which we still believe were and are correct. 

Two of the plaintiffs, Nuclear Watch of New Mexico (a project of the Southwest Research and Information Center in Albuquerque) and Tri-Valley CAREs in Livermore, had previously worked to consolidate all nuclear warhead activities in New Mexico and the Pantex plant in Amarillo. That consolidation was a ridiculous idea overall, but the plutonium pit portion of the plan continued through the lawsuit that led to this PEIS and down to the present day. 

(The plaintiffs actually lost nearly all of the SC lawsuit, by the way, though they claim otherwise. They lost four out of five claims and on the one claim they "won," they did not win the "pause" they sought in preparations for pit production in South Carolina, a "pause" which would have been fatal to the project. They did win this PEIS process as a sort of consolation prize. Preparations for pit production in South Carolina meanwhile continue apace. Since the legal settlement was filed, the role of the Savannah River Site in pit production has been cemented in statute. Now, although we are trying to prevent it, Congress is likely to more than double the pit production requirements at both sites in this year's legislation. There is no congressional opposition that we can see. It's not just Trump doing this, in other words.) 

For background and suggestions please see:

• Hearings on plutonium warhead factory coming, opposition ramps up, A firm “NO!” to nuclear production here and now in Los Alamos is a NO to the war machine and a YES to national renewal, Santa Fe Reporter, May 6, 2026
• Bulletin 380: Comments to the National Nuclear Security Administration, the public, and media on NNSA's pit production choices right now, May 6, 2026
• Pit PEIS comments/handout by Greg Mello in Livermore, CA, May 12, 2026
• Greg Mello, comments on NNSA's pit production choices, Santa Fe, NM, video, May 14, 2026

By the way, most of the comments we heard at these hearings were irrelevant to NNSA's choices. An old friend in Livermore remarked to me, after hearing my comments, "Greg, you sound like a rational manager." This concerned him, but after 37 years in nuclear disarmament circles, working mostly full-time, I will say that rationality is more important, and rarer, than ever. 

    2. New billboard facing northbound I-25 traffic north of Albuquerque

This is a "tri-blade" billboard (i.e. a time-share, with two other advertisers) in an excellent location, seen by all the traffic going north from Albuquerque and Rio Rancho toward Santa Fe, Los Alamos, and other points north. It went up on May 15 and will soon have nighttime illumination. It is clearly readable from hundreds of yards away. Look for it immediately past the Santa Ana Pueblo vineyard on the south side of the highway. 

This billboard is part of our "resistance rising" campaign to push back on accelerated nuclear weapons production regionally and nationally, to the best of our collective ability and financing. If you want to help us financially please do. "Many hands, light work." 

(larger)

It seems billboards can leap across oceans in a single bound. Who knew? Resistance against the proposed "plutopian" future does cut through issue "stovepipes" and geographies. (A few of you may recall the 1985 BBC nuclear thriller "Edge of Darkness," once available on Netflix. Here's the "plutonium lunacy" scene, which given Trump's plan to give 20 tons of weapons-grade plutonium to private industry in the quest for "global energy dominance" seems not too outdated.) 

    3. Discussion and tour at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History in Albuquerque this Thursday 6/18/26 at 10 am. 

Please join us if you live nearby. Our summer program has begun and we are offering this guided tour as its first public event. 

This is quite a good museum if you are interested in nuclear weapons and their history, with many nuclear warheads, bombs, and delivery systems on display among other things. 

If you have any questions about nuclear weapons, or want to be involved with the Study Group, this is a good place to start. 

Free tickets can be obtained by library card holders at any branch of the Albuquerque Public Library (two tickets per card-holder). We have a few free tickets. When those run out, the cost will be $34 per adult 18 and older. 

    4. Join the Study Group in Los Alamos on alternate Tuesdays, including Tuesday June 23, at 11 am for community dialog and discussion. 

For more about this and as well as other aspects of the summer program, please see our June 2 friends letter. 

Greg Mello, for the Study Group