Water, Air, and Land: A Sacred Trust
The uses of water, air and land are diverse in New Mexico and will change dramatically with climate change. For caretakers of this sacred trust, this map offers a bird’s eye view of the health of our environment in southeastern and south central New Mexico. It documents primarily energy-related sources of pollution, though in New Mexico other polluting factors are also at work. This map does not cover abatement sites, most solid waste facilities and voluntary remediation sites, among other things, and shows major water basins only.
There is a concentration of high cancer death rates and low life expectancies in southeastern and south central New Mexico. Despite these health problems, both the federal government and the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) continue to promote new sites and expand existing ones, including the expansion of the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) and the addition of two Consolidated “Interim” Storage Facilities (CISF) in SE New Mexico. Holtec International, near WIPP, and Waste Control Specialists – WCS (Currently, Interim Storage Partners – ISP) just over the border in Texas, have applied for NRC licenses to store every spent fuel rod from every nuclear reactor in the U.S. These facilities include tens of thousands of shipments of transuranic and high level nuclear waste which will also all end up in SE New Mexico. The WIPP transportation phase already accounts for almost all of the negative health effects of that entire project during normal operations. Though WIPP transportation is by truck and CISF transportation by rail, there is no reason to believe the CIS record will be any better. Though the SE and South Central areas have more than their fair share of pollution, contamination, and health problems, other areas of the state like the Northwest corner with the methane spot, the Uranium Mining Belt and the area around Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) are also heavily polluted and contaminated. A more complete picture of these environmental threats throughout the state can be seen in the full Sacred Trust/New Mexico Threats Map.
Note that fallout from the 1945 Trinity test may very well extend south and west from the “official” plume shown on this map. Adequate testing has never been done, but thousands of people in Lincoln, Sierra, Otero and Socorro counties were exposed and suffered ill effects from that explosion. After the test, General Groves, military director of the Manhattan Project, stated that any future site for further atomic testing should be “preferably with a radius of at least 150 miles without population.” Though the Nevada Test Site originally met this requirement, even more than 150 miles was not enough, as virtually every part of New Mexico has been covered by fallout clouds from the numerous aboveground nuclear detonations that took place in Nevada.
Credits: We are grateful for project funding from the Mercy Sisters - Northeast Community and for additional project funds from the New Mexico Community Foundation in 2013. Maps created by Deborah Reade, Deborah Reade Design. Research by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Deborah Reade Design, Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment, Partnership for Earth Spirituality, and New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light. Research and data interpretation by Carlos Bustos, Resource Consultant and GIS Specialist. For more information, references, additional credits and action you can take to protect water, air and land, please visit www.earthspirituality.org, www.swuraniumimpacts.org, and www.nuclearactive.org.
There is a concentration of high cancer death rates and low life expectancies in southeastern and south central New Mexico. Despite these health problems, both the federal government and the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) continue to promote new sites and expand existing ones, including the expansion of the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) and the addition of two Consolidated “Interim” Storage Facilities (CISF) in SE New Mexico. Holtec International, near WIPP, and Waste Control Specialists – WCS (Currently, Interim Storage Partners – ISP) just over the border in Texas, have applied for NRC licenses to store every spent fuel rod from every nuclear reactor in the U.S. These facilities include tens of thousands of shipments of transuranic and high level nuclear waste which will also all end up in SE New Mexico. The WIPP transportation phase already accounts for almost all of the negative health effects of that entire project during normal operations. Though WIPP transportation is by truck and CISF transportation by rail, there is no reason to believe the CIS record will be any better. Though the SE and South Central areas have more than their fair share of pollution, contamination, and health problems, other areas of the state like the Northwest corner with the methane spot, the Uranium Mining Belt and the area around Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) are also heavily polluted and contaminated. A more complete picture of these environmental threats throughout the state can be seen in the full Sacred Trust/New Mexico Threats Map.
Note that fallout from the 1945 Trinity test may very well extend south and west from the “official” plume shown on this map. Adequate testing has never been done, but thousands of people in Lincoln, Sierra, Otero and Socorro counties were exposed and suffered ill effects from that explosion. After the test, General Groves, military director of the Manhattan Project, stated that any future site for further atomic testing should be “preferably with a radius of at least 150 miles without population.” Though the Nevada Test Site originally met this requirement, even more than 150 miles was not enough, as virtually every part of New Mexico has been covered by fallout clouds from the numerous aboveground nuclear detonations that took place in Nevada.
Credits: We are grateful for project funding from the Mercy Sisters - Northeast Community and for additional project funds from the New Mexico Community Foundation in 2013. Maps created by Deborah Reade, Deborah Reade Design. Research by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Deborah Reade Design, Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment, Partnership for Earth Spirituality, and New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light. Research and data interpretation by Carlos Bustos, Resource Consultant and GIS Specialist. For more information, references, additional credits and action you can take to protect water, air and land, please visit www.earthspirituality.org, www.swuraniumimpacts.org, and www.nuclearactive.org.