When the County decided to sue the DOE/NNSA on potential NEPA violation grounds, I was a big supporter of this effort, as I think most citizens were at the time. If anything, I thought the County should have gotten involved sooner. At the time, we had no idea what the new Lab security layout would be like. There was fear that it might be like Stalag 13, a nightmare for our community, with intimidating armed military, boarder crossing guard gates and intrusive mandatory vehicle inspections.
I believe that the County did the right thing by pursuing the suit and protecting our access to the Jemez Mountains. None of what I present here should be assumed to indicate that I believe the County made any mistake by perusing the Bypass settlement. It was necessary at the time, especially with the DOE/NNSA telling us so little about their plans.
But things have dramatically changed since that time. It's now clear that the security portals are no worse for the vast majority of travelers than a New Jersey Toll Booth Fast Pass entrance - you stop, wave and GO! We now have a good bypass road around the security portals with the FEMA paid for Ski Hill Bypass / West Road connection.
Right now, TODAY, everyone is pretty much getting where they need to go, without the need for yet another costly Bypass to get there. Dr. Evil's question is a question we should all be asking ourselves.
Manny Baca created a petition against the Bypass and I assisted by collecting the majority of the signatures (we collect nearly 70, you need only 5). We submitted the petition to the County and our petition was added to a recent Council Agenda. Before the Council meeting was held, Council members asked that we wait to present our petition presentation until a special meeting could be held. We agreed. That meeting will be on March 2nd, where I will present our petition presentation against the Bypass. These slides will make up most of that presentation.
[Note to readers: I will be adding new slides over the next few days, re-arranging slides and adding/changing exiting slides. Some slides may appear out of order, temporarily, until I have a chance to rearrange them.]
Right on target with your comments Greg. I access West Jemez Rd, the ski hill or State RD 4 at least 4 days per week with no hassles. I saw lots of out of town/out of state plates in the ski hill parking lot over xmas break when the snow conditions were great.Like you, I was also quite concerned when DOE announced their plans for the Bypass in 2006 & spoke at a public mtg. I am not employed at the lab. My employer, Precision Surveys, does some work @LANL. I am not working on those projects so my LANL badge is inactive at this time. Let's take that $12 million & provide bus service to Pajarito Mountain during the ski season.I'll happily sign your petition if you want still need more signatures. Mike Engelhardt e-mail=MBE6614250@aol.com
ReplyDeleteThanks Mike,
ReplyDeleteWe have already turned in the petition, but what we need is public comment at the special Monday March 2nd 7pm Council meeting at the Community Building at Ashley Pond.
I've heard from others that the ski hill had many non-local folks over Christmas. They seemed to find their way and for the few that had trouble ... a set of good signs would help for a price tag that is magnitudes smaller the 12 million.