Louisiana Energy Services plans to build a facility in Eunice, NM, which is located in the southeast part of the state. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission oversees such facilities, and the National Environmental Policy Act requires government agencies, including NRC, to prepare publicly available Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) for projects that could damage the environment, and acknowledge and respond to public comments.

The process of informing the local community and allowing it to participate in the decision of locating such plants is important. In the past, when uranium enrichment plants have been proposed in communities such as Homer, LA, and Hartsville, TN, residents’ concerns about health risks motivated them to strongly oppose the plants.

However during the process in the Eunice case, the NRC only briefly supplied the EIS for the proposed plant but in October 2004, NRC took down its entire website in response to concerns about access to “sensitive” information. As a result, the Eunice EIS was no longer publicly available.

Then just two weeks prior to the end of the comment period, NRC posted a significantly redacted version of the EIS, removing basic health and safety information, including occupational, transportation and worst-case accident scenarios. This is the information that the public needs the most in order to comment on the placement of such a facility in their community.

The agency’s actions blatantly violate public disclosure laws that have been in place for over 30 years. NRC has intentionally hampered the public’s ability to learn about and provide input on a project that could greatly impact public heath and safety.

These concerns are especially important in the case of uranium enrichment facilities. Existing plants in Piketon, OH, and Paducah, KY, reportedly make plant workers sick and contaminate the area’s soil and water with radioactive uranium.

Please send NRC Chairman Nils Diaz a letter through our action alert system condemning NRC’s process of railroading the location of this facility without properly notifying the public of the associated health risks.