Nation

Udall, Heinrich Seek Additional Resources For WIPP

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U.S. SENATE News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As Congress finalizes its fiscal year 2015 spending bills, U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich announced they are seeking continued support for funding for the recovery of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad.

In a letter to Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, the senators urged them to provide an additional $113 million above 2014 funding levels to ensure ongoing recovery efforts are maintained and the facility can safely resume operation.

WIPP has been closed Read More

Heinrich Introduces Bill To Boost Tech Transfer

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U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich

U.S. SENATE News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, introduced S. 2932, the Microlab Technology Commercialization Act of 2014, a bill to accelerate technology transfer by establishing off-campus microlabs that would serve as the “front-door” to national laboratories.

The microlabs would give academia, local government, businesses owners, and communities direct access to the equipment, facilities and personnel of our national labs. 

“If Read More

Heinrich Introduces Bill To Modernize Nation’s Electric Transmission Grid

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Sen. Martin Henrich

U.S. SENATE News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Thursday, Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, introduced a bill (S. 2947) to remove barriers to creating a cleaner, more consumer-friendly electric grid.

The bill clarifies that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has the legal authority to require regional grid operators in interstate wholesale markets to allow consumers to be compensated for voluntarily reducing their electricity consumption-a tool referred to as demand response. By providing incentives Read More

Udall Responds To President’s Immigration Decision

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U.S. Sen. Tom Udall
 
WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Tom Udall issued the following statement on the president’s decision to take executive action on immigration: 
 
“Over 40,000 people in New Mexico and millions more around the country are living in immigration limbo while they work and raise families here in the United States. Deporting these children and families isn’t a realistic option. We need to focus our limited resources on securing the border and going after drug dealers, gang members and potential terrorists.
 
“New Mexicans have seen firsthand the problems caused
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Significant Activities Resume At WIPP

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WIPP News:

Two functions that are vital to recovery operations resumed this week at the WIPP site. Over the weekend, crews resumed roof bolting operations necessary for ground control and continued safe access to many areas of the underground facility.

Roof bolts, sometimes as long as 12 feet, are inserted into predrilled holes and tightened to required specifications to help secure the roof and walls of the access routes in the underground facility. Under normal operations, roof bolts are added or replaced on a routine basis, as necessary. This is the first ground control activity to be performed Read More

Atomic Heritage Foundation Releases Audio Interview With Dorothy Scarritt McKibbin

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Dorothy Scarritt McKibbin. Courtesy/AHF
 
AHF News:
Washington, D.C. – The Atomic Heritage Foundation (AHF) is pleased to announce the release of a never-before-heard audio interview with Dorothy Scarritt McKibbin taken in 1965 on the “Voices of the Manhattan Project” website.
 
Known as the “Gatekeeper to Los Alamos,” McKibbin was the first reassuring face that fatigued Manhattan Project recruits saw upon arriving in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The rare, hour-long interview provides novel insight into the mind of the woman who became one of the most beloved figures on “The Hill.”
Read More

NSA Surveillance Reform Bill Blocked

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HSNW News:

The USA Freedom Act, a bill introduced last year aiming to curtail some of the NSA’s data collection programs, especially those focusing on U.S. phone data, failed last night to reach the 60-vote threshold required to cut off debate and move to a vote.

Nearly a year-and-a-half after the Edward Snowden’s revelations, the act was considered the most politically viable effort in four decades to place curbs on NSA activities. The ac was supported by the Obama administration, privacy advocates, libertarian groups, and technology companies, but senators, most of them Republican, Read More

Heinrich Discusses Vote Against Keystone XL Pipeline

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Sen. Martin Henrich

U.S. Senate News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, released the following statement Tuesday after voting against the Keystone XL Pipeline legislation:

“This debate is not about a pipeline,” Heinrich said. “It’s really about market signals. A vote to approve Keystone sends the signal that carbon pollution and climate are not serious economic concerns and that even the dirtiest fuels, such as tar sands, are a good place to invest capital. A vote against Keystone sends Read More

Heinrich, Flake Lead 30 Senators In Call For Monthly Bipartisan Lunches

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U.S. SENATE News:

  • Senators Push To Bridge Partisan Divide To Address Common Issues

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich, D-N.M. and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. led a bipartisan group of 30 senators Friday in calling on their party leaders to schedule monthly lunches between their caucuses in the next Congressional session in the hope of building better and more productive relationships among all members of the Senate.

“We believe that regular bipartisan meetings like the one in July 2013 can help foster the kind of productive relationships that will be critical for Read More

DOE Awards $425 Million In Next Generation Supercomputing Technologies

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Secretary Ernest Moniz learns about the work underway in high performance computing and additive manufacturing. Photo by Sarah Gerrity/DOE

DOE News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz announced two new High Performance Computing (HPC) awards to put the nation on a fast-track to next generation exascale computing, which will help to advance U.S. leadership in scientific research and promote America’s economic and national security. 

 

Moniz announced $325 million to build two state-of-the-art supercomputers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Read More