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Parking Lot Dumps for Rad Waste Not Welcome in Texas or New Mexico

Fall Quarterly 2018

Radioactive waste storage proposals have gained renewed vigor under the Trump administration but are facing an uphill battle. Congress is attempting to revive the Yucca Mountain waste repository in Nevada for up to 110,000 tons of waste reactor fuel, and to proceed with lesser-known “Centralized Interim Storage” (CIS) proposals. Two private CIS sites are currently seeking licenses from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, even prior to Congressional approval: Holtec International/Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance’s facility in New Mexico, for 173,600 metric tons; and Waste Control Specialists’ (now known as Interim Storage Partners) expansion of their Texas facility to allow storage of 40,000 metric tons.

The type of dump that Holtec is proposing, (referred to as an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation) is currently illegal in the US. Nevertheless, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is allowing Holtec’s licensing process to move ahead. In April a public comment period opened regarding the scope of the Environmental Impact Statement. It met fierce opposition from the low income and people of color being targeted for the “parking lot dumps” as well as a large nationwide coalition.

Hundreds of participants gathered at public scoping meetings to oppose Holtec.

During a short comment period, the efforts to raise public awareness were far-reaching. Twenty-one members of the New Mexico House of Representatives and nine state senators sent letters to the NRC opposing the Holtec dump. The two largest cities in New Mexico, Albuquerque and Las Cruces, both passed resolutions opposing the dump, along with Bernalillo County and the cities of Lake Arthur and Jal. Additionally, the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association passed a resolution opposing the dump after not being consulted or considered by Holtec. Gubernatorial candidate Michelle Lujan Grisham has expressed opposition to the dump. In all, 25,000 comments against the dump were submitted to the NRC. A draft Environmental Impact Statement is expected in the summer of 2019.

The application for the other CIS proposal, the expansion of the Interim Storage Partners facility 40 miles from the Holtec site in Texas, was accepted by the NRC on August 27. Dallas, Bexar and Midland Counties passed resolutions opposing the dumps and radioactive waste transport.

The next step for both proposed CIS facilities is to establish standing for legal interventions. A coalition led by Beyond Nuclear is currently submitting formal “contentions to the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board. —KL

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Kings Bay Plowshares 7 Update: Federal Court Considers Defense Motions

Fall Quarterly 2018

Editor’s note: This update by defense attorney Bill Quigley has been edited for space for our print version. 

The Kings Bay Plowshares participants from left: Clare Grady, Patrick O’Neill, Elizabeth McAlister, Fr. Steve Kelly SJ, Martha Hennessy, Mark Colville, and Carmen Trotta.

Early on the morning of April 4, 2018, seven nuclear abolitionists were arrested inside the Kings Bay Naval Base in St. Mary’s, Georgia. Kings Bay is the Atlantic homeport for six Trident nuclear ballistic missile submarines. The “Kings Bay Plowshares 7” were indicted on four felony charges: Conspiracy, Destruction of property on a naval station, Depredation of government property, and Trespass.

All seven were held without bail for six weeks. As of September, Liz McAlister and Fr. Steve Kelly remain in jail at the Brunswick County Detention Facility. Liz has decided not to bail out at this time, but will wait to see if the severely restrictive bail requirements can be reduced. Steve was not given the option of bail, because he has a pending case in Washington State for a protest at the Trident submarine base. Martha Hennessy, Patrick O’Neill, and Carmen Trotta raised bail and were released May 24. Clare Grady made bail July 11, and Mark Colville was released in Sept. The five all have to wear ankle bracelets and are confined to their homes.

On Aug. 2, 2018, the activists appeared before US Magistrate Stan Baker in federal court in Brunswick, Georgia to argue that all charges against them be dropped. They set out six reasons why the charges should be dismissed, and detailed arguments are available at kingsbayplowshares7.org.

The first argument is that Trident nuclear weapons are illegal under US domestic law. The weapons on one of the several Kings Bay submarines have destructive power 2,500 times greater than the US atomic weapons dropped on Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Any use or threat of use violates US criminal law prohibiting war crimes, violates the laws of war, and violates the legal requirements of the US Naval, Air Force and Army service manuals.

The Kings Bay Trident submarine’s missiles cannot possibly be targeted to destroy only military targets, so any launch will destroy tens if not hundreds of thousands of civilians within minutes—and millions more in the nuclear winter aftermath.

Second, these weapons of mass destruction are illegal under US/international law. The US constitution specifically incorporates international treaty law into US law and international treaties prohibit the use of weapons which will kill civilians. The Navy’s  Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations also requires command authorities to follow international law.

Third, the property protecting these illegal weapons, which was damaged in the symbolic disarmament, is not deserving of legal protection. Much like the pesticides used to murder millions under the Nazis, these weapons’ only use is illegal and immoral and the fences which protect them are likewise illegal.

Fourth, the fact that government chooses only to prosecute those who seek to disarm nuclear weapons while turning a blind eye to presidential threats to use these illegal weapons demonstrates this prosecution is selective and vindictive.

Fifth, because the government charged people with two counts of felony damage to property and conspiracy to damage property, some of these charges must be dismissed because they allow the government to criminalise the same conduct several ways.

Sixth, the prosecution violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act under which the government cannot interfere with religious faith or practices unless it shows compelling interest in doing so and proves that it has chosen the least restrictive way of doing it. Defendants pointed out that the government charged them to the maximum extent of the law when they could have sued them civilly or taken less punitive action.

The hearing also discussed discovery requests by the defendants and the government about how much it actually cost the military to replace the lock on the fence, repair the fence and clean and repaint the places on the base where defendants wrote biblical and peace statements. The Magistrate also heard objections to the electronic monitoring shackles which each of the people not in jail are required to wear 24/7.

—Bill Quigley is a law professor and Director of the Law Clinic and the Gillis Long Poverty Law Center at Loyola University New Orleans

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Walkatjurra Walkabout to Ban Uranium Mines in Western Australia

On the Bright Side
Fall Quarterly 2018
Kado Muir, at left, of the Western Australia Nuclear-Free Alliance joined the walkabout. Photo by the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

In the state of Western Australia a group that reached over 50 at times left Wiluna by foot led by Wangkatja Indigenous elders of the Goldfields region. For the eighth year in a row the Walkatjurra Walkabout hiked through four areas threatened with uranium mines to amplify the voice of indigenous traditionals and local organizations that have struggled for decades to remain nuclear-free.

In 2017, a state ban on uranium mining was declared by the government of Western Australia except for four proposals at Kintyre, Yeelirrie, Wiluna and Mulga Rock. The strength of local anti-mining movements has set back all four mining plans, none of which have received final approval. While there is no uranium mining in Western Australia, the walkers want it banned completely before any of the proposals are developed. The 155-miles walk ended in Leonora Sept. 3. Along the way walkers met with communities that could be impacted by the mines and shared stories from their struggles. “The Walkatjurra Walkabout is a pilgrimage across Wangkatja country in the spirit of our ancestors, so together, we as present custodians, can protect our land and our culture for future generations. My people have resisted destructive mining on our land and our sacred sites for forty years,” said Kado Muir, one of the walkers.

—To support or join the Walkabout next year see: walkingforcountry.com

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Get Your Money Out of There!

For help divesting from nuclear and other WMD

Don’t Bank on the Bomb is a project of PAX that produces detailed, international annual reports on major weapons producers and their investors.

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute The leading think tank on global arms trade research.

Costs of War Project facilitates debate about the costs of US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria.

National Priorities Project is a research organization that examines how much of our taxes go to wars and militarism.

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Two from US Detained Inside Büchel Air Base during “Nuclear Weapons Inspection”

“Weapons Inspectors” Susan Crane and John LaForge break onto German Air Force Base housing US nuclear weapons.

BÜCHEL, Germany — Two US citizens calling themselves “Weapons Inspectors” were detained Monday August 6, after they gained access to the Büchel Air Force Base, a reported deployment site for 20 US nuclear weapons near here. Monday was the 73rd anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan.

The two, Susan Crane, 74, from the Redwood City, California Catholic Worker, and John LaForge, 62, from the group Nukewatch in Wisconsin, clipped through exterior fencing and NATO wire around 5:30 p.m. to gain access to the inner security area of the base.

“Nuclear weapons are immoral and illegal because they indiscriminately kill everything in their wake,” said Crane. “Their effects, the fires and radiation, can’t be controlled in any way, so any use of them violates the rules of war,” she said.

LaForge added, “Any deployment of US nuclear weapons in Germany also violates the Nonproliferation Treaty which prohibits any transfer of nuclear weapons between parties to the treaty.” “The NPT also requires signatories like the US and Germany to pursue negotiations for nuclear disarmament, like the recently adopted Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons of July 7, 2017,” he said.

“We hoped to confirm that the US has removed its nuclear bombs in compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, but our investigation was halted by the military,” Crane said. Once inside, the two located several “protected airplane shelters” surrounded by another barrier of NATO wire, and that they spent one hour on top of one shelter to take radiation measurements.

After climbing down to inspect a second bunker, the two were observed and detained by a large number military personnel. “The extra razor wire around the bunker, the near access to the jet runway, and the massive heavily armed military reaction to us, indicates the US nuclear weapons are here,” Crane said. Nuclear weapons experts including Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists have reported that the highly secure shelters in this area of the base contain underground “vaults” capable of holding the US B61 gravity bombs.

Crane and LaForge noted the national security threat of wild fires in Germany brought on by record-breaking heat and draught. “The German government continues wasteful training missions for nuclear war here , and intends to spend billions on a new Eurofighter, while the country had no planes available 12 days ago for fire suppression efforts in the eastern part of Germany” (as Annalena Baerbock, the head of the Greens in the state of Brandenburg, said in a television interview August 5).

The US activists wore signs reading “Weapons Inspector,” and searched part of the base with a radiation monitor for signs of nuclear weapons deployment. The two were eventually observed, detained, and kept face down in the grass for an hour. After being searched, identified, and turned over to local police, they were released without conditions around 20:45 p.m.

The Hiroshima Day inspection came toward the end of a 20-week-long series of protests which began March 26, organized by “Büchel is Everywhere: Nuclear Weapons-Free Now!”, a nation-wide coalition of 50 peace and justice groups and organizations working for nuclear disarmament. The campaign’s three goals are removal of all nuclear weapons from Germany, cancellation of plans to replace the B61s with new weapons, and Germany’s ratification of the new Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

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