If we listen to community then clean power in New Mexico won’t include nuclear energy

Last year our nation’s leaders called for landmark action nationwide to reduce carbon pollution through the Clean Power Plan. It’s clear that unified action is sorely needed to curb the worst impacts of climate change. However, one of the solutions proposed in the Clean Power Plan is extremely problematic for New Mexico: the plan identifies nuclear energy as one of four carbon-neutral energy platforms that it encourages states to adopt.
At the same time, Governor Martinez’s administration unveiled their vision for New Mexico’s energy future – dubbed the “state energy plan”. The plan directs decision-making bodies to adopt a slate of dirty energy policies – from exporting coal to more natural gas fracking. The state plan also calls for expanding New Mexico’s Renewable Portfolio Standard after 2020 to include nuclear energy as a solution to carbon pollution.
Communities like mine, Gallup and Church Rock, know all too well that the fuel life cycle of nuclear energy is far from clean. That’s because northwestern New Mexico was a key corner of uranium extraction and production from the 1940s until the 1980s, and is home to over 259 uranium mines. Shockingly, an astounding 137 of those mines have no record of any clean up. As a result, northwestern New Mexico families are plagued with daily exposure to radioactive tailings piles, mining waste and contaminated equipment left behind after the mining boom turned bust.
 This is especially true among the Indigenous communities of the Southwest. We have witnessed culture, spirituality, health, communities and land be desecrated and sacrificed in the name of extractive industry — an industry that many do not want, as demon- strated by a ban on uranium mining passed by the Navajo Nation in 2005. “…We are exercising our right to live our sustainable lifestyles in our own lands. The nuclear industry, which has waged an undeclared war, has poisoned our communities worldwide. For more than 50 years, the legacy of the nuclear chain, from exploration to waste has been proven, through documentation, to be genocidal and ethnocidal and a most deadly enemy of Indigenous Peoples.” (Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director, Indigenous Environmental Network)
Yet, policies like the Clean Power Plan and Martinez’s energy plans call for decision-makers to again sacrifice people for the sake of industry by pushing for more investment in nuclear energy. Furthermore, the voices at the table shaping those plans do not include the communities that have been living with the impacts of poor energy policy. As a result, those that are at the table aren’t talking about the horrific legacy of uranium mining, and that instead we should be creating a different vision for New Mexico’s future – one that doesn’t choose industry over people.
This is a defining moment for all of us. We have a choice. We can break the cycle of devastation and harm that one-sided policies have created in our communities by choosing another road. Together, we must push the state to adopt a vision for our energy future that is developed by the people. If our leaders truly care about creating a healthier New Mexico for all, they need to demonstrate their commitment to change by working with local communities to develop solutions. The first step is to listen.
Join us in pushing for a clean energy future that comes from the ground up— by the people of New Mexico. Visit www.CVNMEF.org to sign our petition.
By Talia Boyd, Western NM Organizer