Stop Holtec from dumping nation's radioactive waste in NM

As your constituent, I urge you to support legislation to prevent permitting of an “interim” storage site for all the nation’s high-level radioactive waste, which would be transported by rail across the state to southeast New Mexico. None of the 33 states where nuclear power plants operate have stepped forward to provide either temporary or permanent storage, nor has any other state, so the proposed Holtec site would likely become a permanent storage site, though it is not licensed for it. High-level nuclear-fuel rods contain dangerous uranium. There are more than 80,000 metric tons of uranium waste in U.S. nuclear fuel, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has advised the Federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Congress that New Mexico does not consent to storing high-level nuclear waste. I don’t want our communities — or those just over the border in Texas — to be forced into being the nation’s dumping ground for nuclear waste. Transportation to and storage of this waste in this state, which is over 48% Hispanic and 12% Indigenous, is an environmental injustice, as well as an economic injustice to the entire state, which relies on its agricultural, ranching, tourist, industrial and recreational economy. There is no plan to reimburse New Mexico for jobs, revenue and businesses lost due to leaks or accidents at the Holtec facility. Please protect all New Mexicans by supporting legislation to prevent New Mexico from being the nation’s nuclear dumping ground.