A plan to protect the Rio Grande River from contamination from ash and other toxic materials should be implemented as soon as the embers have cooled. The trees and vegetation that slow stormwater runoff are gone. There is a serious danger that stormwater runoff will scour the canyon bottoms, which served as dumping grounds in the early years of LANL's operations. Children, the elderly, pregnant women, and the infirm, and other vulnerable populations are more susceptible to the dangers of inhaling or ingesting radionuclides and hazardous air particulates. Radioactive and hazardous wastes that are not currently in safe, secure, fireproof storage, especially the thousands of drums of WIPP waste at TA-54, should be moved into secured, fireproof facilities as soon as fire conditions allow them to be safely moved.
Plastic domes are inadequate protection against sparks.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency has set up its portable laboratory at the National Guard Station in Espanola to take samples and analyze them on-site. Call 989-7342 for more information. Fact sheets are available at the downtown public library, the Marketplace, and the Ark. A community forum about framing our concerns about the Los Alamos fire will be held at Cloud Cliff Bakery on Thursday, May 18 at 7 p.m. Call 983-6254 for more information.