The Draft Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement (SWEIS) for Nevada was released and is now closed for public comment. The statement relates to the Nevada Nuclear Security Site (formerly Nevada Test Site). The overseeing entity for the site is now the National Nuclear Security Administration, a separately organized agency within the Department of Energy.

Public comments were due by December 2, 2011.
(original deadline was October 27)

Talking Points & Sample Comment Letter

The SWEIS document on the NNSA website
Review the comments & letter to the editor NDE prepared for the scoping process in 2009.

Thanks to our friends at Healing Ourselves and Mother Earth for providing talking points & the sample comment letter. A Press Release from them follows.

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Test Site Vision – a Project of Healing Ourselves & Mother Earth
News Release: Public has opportunity to weigh in on Nevada Test Site future
Downloadable Version of this press release


For more information: in Las Vegas, call (702) 917-7541 or (702) 646-4814; in Reno, call (775) 348-1986.
Read more about the Test Site and the Environmental Impact Statement
at www.h-o-m-e.org or on Facebook.com/HOME.MotherEarth.

Las Vegas, Nev.: Continued nuclear, biological and conventional weapons testing? Renewable energy
experiments and commercial solar power? Expanded transport, burial and storage of radioactive waste? These are all potential outcomes from a review and re-set of activities at the federal Nevada Test Site, now formally known as the Nevada National Security Site.

Test Site Vision, a project of Healing Ourselves & Mother Earth, a national organization working to make information on the nuclear agency open to the general public, is encouraging public participation in the Test Site’s Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement.

The relationship of the Test Site to residents of Nevada, Utah and California, and Native American
communities is both complex and profound. The Test Site has, for six decades, been the site for much of the U.S. testing of weapons of all sorts, but particularly nuclear weapons in above and below-ground explosions. The testing has contaminated groundwater aquifers and sparked environmental and health concerns. Today the mission of the Test Site, operated by the federal departments of Energy and Defense, has transitioned to a broader national security mandate. Additionally, it has been identified as a possible site for renewable energy research and commercial solar power generation. The Test Site is nearly 1,400 square miles and just 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas on land that is claimed by indigenous Shoshone Indians.

In September, the federal government will hold a series of meetings throughout the region to solicit public comment on the Test Site environmental impact statement. Test Site Vision is a nonpartisan effort encouraging the public to speak out and voice their priorities for the site.

“This process will play a major role in determining the direction of Test Site development for at least the
next decade,” said John Hadder, a Nevada resident who is working with Test Site Vision to encourage public participation. “Our families, the environment and Nevada’s economy will be affected by the outcome of the environmental impact review.”

Members of the public can learn more and speak on the Test Site at public hearings, online or in written
comments until December 2, 2011.

PAST PUBLIC MEETINGS FOR THE SITE-WIDE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT:

St. George, UT: Thursday, Sept 22, 5-8 p.m.
Courtyard by Marriott, 185 South 1470 East

Las Vegas: Tuesday, Sept 20, 5-8 p.m.
Cashman Center, 850 Las Vegas Blvd.

Tonopah: Tuesday, Sept 27, 5-8 p.m.
Convention Center, 301 Brougher Avenue

Pahrump: Wednesday, Sept 21, 5-8 p.m.
Pahrump Nugget, 681 South Hwy. 160

Pahrump Valley Times coverage: Test site public hearing only attracts six speakers

Carson City: Wednesday, Sept 28, 5-8 p.m.
Carson Nugget, 507 North Carson