Nation

Los Alamos Lab Admits Mishandling Toxic Waste, Causing Repository Radiation Leak

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Courtesy/WIPP

HSNW News:

In a letter addressed to the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), lab officials at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have admitted to mishandling toxic waste shipped to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, the nation’s only permanent repository for plutonium-contaminated waste from government nuclear facilities.

The letter, released by state regulators last Thursday, does not confirm whether the violations or LANL’s use of an organic absorption material in waste containers is to blame for the underground radiation leak, which occurred Read More

Firefighters Consider Using Drones to Fight Wildfires

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U.S. Air Force MQ-1 Predator UAV Drone. Courtesy/USAF

BLM News:

Federal wildland firefighting officials are exploring the deployment of drones to assist in surveillance and reconnaissance missions during a wildfire.

Drones sent to survey fire patterns during a wildfire could help keep firefighters out of risky situations by providing real-time information to officials on the ground. Few wildfire officials have used drones in the line of duty, and managers with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service say that while the technology has Read More

AGU: Martian Salts Must Touch Ice to Make Liquid Water

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Mars Atmospheric Chamber at the Space Research Building, University of Michigan. Courtesy/AGU

AGU News:

Researchers from the American Geophysical Union (AGU), partnering with the University of Michigan, have shown in chambers that mimic Mars’ conditions, that small amounts of liquid water could form on the planet despite its below-freezing temperatures.

Liquid water is an essential ingredient for life as we know it. Mars is one of the very few places in the solar system where scientists have seen promising signs of it – in gullies down crater rims, in instrument readings and in Phoenix spacecraft Read More

Public Meeting to Discuss NPDES Stormwater Individual Permit at 5:30 p.m. Today

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LANL News:

A public meeting will be held 5:30-7:30 p.m., Tuesday, July 8, at the Cities of Gold Conference Center, 10 Cities of Gold Road in Pojoaque to discuss the bi-annual update on the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Storm Water Individual Permit.

The agenda is as follows:

  • 5:30 p.m. Poster Session
  • 5:50 p.m. Welcome
  • 6:00 p.m. Flood Event Mitigations
  • 6:20 p.m. Canyon Gage Network
  • 6:40 p.m. Permit Renewal
  • 7:10 p.m. Communities for Clean Water
  • 7:30 p.m. Wrap-up

The Individual Permit authorizes the discharge of storm water associated with industrial activities at

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Energy Communities Alliance Meets With Moniz

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From left, Aiken County Council Chairman Ronnie Young, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, Los Alamos County Councilor Fran Berting, Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan, ECA Executive Director Seth Kirshenberg, DOE Secretary Ernest Moniz, Aiken County Councilor Chuck Smith, Kennewick Mayor Steve Young, SRSCRO Executive Director Rick McLeod, Los Alamos County Deputy Administrator Brian Bosshardt and ECA Deputy Executive Director Allison Finelli. Courtesy photo

DOE News:

The Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) Executive Board met with Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz June 23, to highlight the Read More

DOE Makes $4 Billion in Loan Guarantees Available for Energy Projects

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DOE News:

Washington D.C. — In support of the President’s Climate Action Plan, the Department of Energy has issued a loan guarantee solicitation, making as much as $4 billion in loan guarantees available for innovative renewable energy and energy efficiency projects located in the U.S. that avoid, reduce or sequester greenhouse gases.

This solicitation represents the next step in DOE’s commitment to support the deployment of innovative, clean energy technologies at commercial scale in the U.S. 

“As the President emphasized in his Climate Action Plan, it is critical that we Read More

Fifteen People Become American Citizens at Naturalization Ceremony at Bandelier

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Peace Izabayo listens intently to instructions on how the ceremony will proceed. Photo by Salvador Zapien/ladailypost.com

Bandelier’s Chief Ranger, Tom Betts, explains to the candidates that the flags they are to be given once flew at the US Embassy in each of their home countries. Photo by Salvador Zapien/ladailypost.com

Jerome Daligault’s family wait for him to be declared a citizen of the United States. Photo by Salvador Zapien/ladailypost.com

Michele Jacquez-Ortiz of U.S. Sen. Tom Udall’s Santa Fe Office, reads a prepared statement from the senator. Photo by Read More

Bandelier’s Tom Betts Wins Highest National Park Service Ranger Award

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From left, National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis, Bandelier Chief Ranger Tom Betts with Yount Award, Bett’s son Drew, wife Beth, daughter Dana and mother Kathy. Courtesy/NPS

BANDELIER News:

Bandelier National Monument Chief Ranger Tom Betts, a 32-year veteran of the National Park Service (NPS), has been named the 2013 recipient of the Harry Yount National Park Ranger Award.

The honor, bestowed at a ceremony June 25 in Washington, D.C., is the NPS’s highest accolade for excellence in the art and science of rangering.

Betts, who grew up in national parks as a park ranger’s son, became Read More

New Mexico’s Lujan Grisham Proposes National Homeowners Bill of Rights

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U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham

U.S. CONGRESSIONAL News:

U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, N.M.-01, last week introduced the National Homeowners Bill of Rights Act of 2014 (NHBOR), which will help protect homeowners and ensure working-class families can benefit from the housing recovery.

“This legislation gives homeowners the necessary resources to protect their rights,” Lujan Grisham said. “With one out of 10 homeowners underwater with their mortgage, I want to ensure that these added protections benefit all homeowners nationwide and that we help the 720,000 families still trapped

Read More

Lujan Grisham Marks 50th Anniversary of Civil Rights Act

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U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham

U.S. CONGRESSIONAL News:

U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, N.M.-01, marked the 50th anniversary of the landmark Civil Rights Act July 2 by calling on Congress to pass an update to the landmark legislation, the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction.   

“It could be argued that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the most significant law in this nation’s history, and today’s anniversary is a time to remember the debt all of us owe to all of the courageous leaders of the civil rights movement,” Lujan Grisham said. “Although the Read More