Good afternoon, friends --

If you went anywhere over the Labor Day weekend, welcome back.

The Santa Fe City Council is again meeting this coming Wednesday evening (9/9/26), in its normal location (200 Lincoln Ave., map). Once more some of us will speak there at circa 7 pm during "Petitions from the Floor" in favor of a Council resolution opposing plutonium warhead core ("pit") production at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). 

A virtual attendance option is available (see the agenda), but in-person attendance is much better. You can bring your own sign; we will also have some. You will have two minutes to speak.

We hope to see some of you there! 

There is definitely interest on the Council but also hesitancy, even from supporters. At the moment, everything is stalled because some councilors aren't hearing from enough people, or seeing enough support for this resolution. So if you haven't written or called your councilor (better: all of them), please do.         Their contact information is here. 

What we are asking for is this:

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF SANTA FE that the governing body, on behalf of its constituents, states its opposition to all plutonium warhead core (“pit”) production at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL);

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Governing Body opposes, within the limits of state and federal law, the expansion of LANL activities in the City of Santa Fe;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Governing Body calls on the New Mexico Congressional Delegation to:

1. Oppose further preparations for quantity plutonium pit production at LANL;


2. Oppose all plutonium pit production at LANL, limiting any production activity to the lowest level consistent with technology demonstration and training only;


3. Oppose the Trump Administration’s new requirement for LANL to produce at least 60 pits per year;


4. Remove the current statutory requirement to produce at least 80 pits in 2030 and prevent other new statutory pit production requirements;


5. Prioritize the removal and disposal of legacy plutonium waste from LANL over the production of additional such waste from nuclear weapons activities, including pit manufacturing and preparations for pit manufacturing;


6. Work to decrease the level of federal spending currently allocated for nuclear weapons activities;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Governing Body directs the City Clerk to send copies of this resolution to the members of the New Mexico congressional delegation, the Governor, the Secretary of the Department of Energy, the Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, and the Secretary General of the United Nations.

We discussed some of the "whys" here: Will Santa Fe aspire to be a "City of Peace," or will it be a City of War?; Without formal City opposition, a factory for weapons of mass destruction will continue to harm Santa Fe's identity. "Without a vision, the people will perish." Other ads in the same series provide more background.

Now for some bad news. In our last note, we warned that the LANL situation was not static. 

Now we see that the New Mexico Consortium (a consortium of NM's three research universities and LANL) is writing that LANL's Plutonium Workforce Development Institutional Partnerships (PWDI) (why is it not PWDIP?) is funding Santa Fe Community College (SFCC) to launch "a new engineering and manufacturing training program at Santa Fe's Midtown Campus," in the "New Mexico Innovation Hub and Aspect Media Village." 

The 50,000 sq. ft. Innovation Hub is already filled. Tenants include various LANL-related national security contractors, besides 4,800 sq. ft. for training plutonium machinists. The Hub's proprietor is already leasing space in a yet-to-be built 140,000 sq. ft. addition to the Hub to be built in 2027, which is to be followed by another 50,000 sq. ft. office and residential development the following year. 

LANL already leases two buildings on Pacheco Street, a mile east on St. Michael's Drive, and one across the Santa Fe River from the Guadalupe Parish church.  

The "in-your-face" normalization of weapons of mass destruction into Santa Fe's economic and social life is proceeding apace. That is part of why we need this resolution. 

It is a terrific opportunity, arising from our proximity to what is objectively among the very worse places in the country in which to stick a plutonium processing and manufacturing plant. In World War II, General Groves assessed that New Mexicans would not object to Site Y. He was correct. That lack of objection from the public and its elected leaders is LANL's main asset for this dirty job. That, and the fact that LANL has an old plutonium facility and some people who know how to make pits. 

There's a bit more news in the last letter about some of the decisions Congress is about to make. Of note, the House is going to adjourn on September 17 until after the election, which will give more time for all of us to marshal support for opposing yet MORE weapons of mass destruction. 

Our civilization and our country cannot afford the folly of more "plutonium jobs." The "polycrisis" is here, now. The Rio Grande is dry. Lake Mead on the Colorado is at a historic low. Forests are burning and will burn. Interest payments on the public debt are sky-high. We need to demand that our politicians face reality rather than spin up more boondoggles like pit production and "fusion energy" (which is not for "energy" at all, except nuclear weapons energy). 

Thank you, 

Greg

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Permalink for this letter; prior activist letters.