Don't Waste NM! Don't Waste TX! Don't Waste America! Stop H.R. 3053!

Don't Waste New Mexico! Don't Waste Texas! Don't Waste Nevada! Don't Waste America!

Beyond Nuclear has been honored and privileged to spend the past two weeks in New Mexico, with anti-nuclear colleagues and allies. A member of our staff participated in, and presented at, a largely Native American- and youth-led symposium entitled "Dismantling the Nuclear Beast: Connecting Local Work to the National Movement." It was organized by the Nuclear Issues Study Group at the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque on Dec. 1-3. We also took part in, and presented at, a large grassroots gathering in Roswell, NM focused on stopping the irradiated nuclear fuel "centralized interim storage site" targeted at southeast NM on Dec. 9. As shown by the New Mexico Threats Map, prepared by Sacred Trust NM, the "Land of Enchantment" suffers plenty enough already from dirty, dangerous, and expensive fossil fuel, nuclear weapons, and nuclear power industrial activities. The grand total of 160,000 metric tons of commercial irradiated nuclear fuel, targeted for "temporary storage" at the NM/TX borderlands -- already heavily polluted communities, with a large percentage of Hispanic residents -- would make these environmental injustices even worse. H.R. 3053, the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2017, would authorize these de facto permanent, surface storage, parking lot dumps. The bill is poised for a U.S. House floor vote. In addition to rallying cries of "Don't Waste NM!" and "Don't Waste TX!", "Don't Waste America!" is also in order: high-risk irradiated nuclear fuel shipments, by truck, train, and/or barge could travel through most states, en route to "centralized interim storage."

What can you do to help stop this?  Both groups and individuals can take action. An environmental coalition of 120+ organizations has sent a letter to the U.S. House, urging opposition to H.R. 3053. The letter will be sent one more time, when the bill moves to the floor for a vote. There is still time to sign your group on if you haven't already. To sign your organization on, please fill out and and submit this Google form, or else directly email Sean Alcorn at NRDC your name, title, organization name, city and state. Please sign on ASAP, as the bill could reach the House floor for a vote at any time now. Please contact your own U.S. Rep., and urge them to oppose H.R. 3053. Sierra Club has a webform you can fill out and submit to your U.S. Rep. SEED Coalition of Texas has launched a CREDO petition you can sign. You can also phone your U.S. Rep.'s D.C. office, via the Capitol Switchboard, at (202) 225-3121, by following the instructions. Or you can look up your U.S. Rep.'s direct contact info. here, by entering your zip code, clicking the FIND YOUR REP BY ZIP button, and following the links. To learn more about why H.R. 3053 is a dangerously bad idea, see Beyond Nuclear's Yucca Mountain burial dump, de facto permanent surface storage "parking lot dump," and radioactive waste transport risk website sections. If you have taken action already, thank you very much.

Please consider spreading the word as widely as possible, given the grave risks and high stakes! 

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