Letter to the Editor, Tracy Press
Patricia Howell
Editor,
I bet you have been checking your budget! Don’t worry! The federal government is on the job! You can cross Bombers, Subs and ICBM’s off your budget list. They’ve increased the Pentagon Budget by 25% for 2027 to $1.5 trillion, largest ever, but don’t cross out War. That is going to be added later at about $50 billion.
You can cross off nuclear weapons. They’ve increased Department of Energy 2027 Budget for nuclear weapons by over $7 billion to a total of $27.5 billion. Within that budget they’ll spend well over $2 billion a year to remediate the radioactive contamination of our nuclear facilities in Hanover, Wash., Savannah River Site, S.C., Los Alamos, N.M., Livermore National Lab, and Site 300 near Tracy to name a few. (All Super Fund sites)
Also you can cross off plutonium pits used in nuclear warheads, because they plan to build special facilities in Savannah and Los Alamos to produce 80 plutonium pits per year to add to our 15,000 (UCS) stored plutonium pits that we currently have. I don’t think they read the Union of Concerned Scientist’s report on Plutonium Production. where they stated that our current supply of “pits” are not presenting security or safety concerns. Viability of the stored “pits” remains intact; the life of plutonium is 24,000 years. However, when preparing for nuclear war, there are never enough warheads for our bombers, subs and missiles.
You’ll want to keep health expenses on your budget list; they’ve not budgeted for workers and others breathing in plutonium, which causes cancer, radiation poisoning, blood disorders, birth defects, etc. You can comment on this budget plan at PitPEIS@nnsa.gov until July 16. Learn more about the program and how to comment at PitPEIS.com. For local impacts, see also www.trivalleycares.org
,Patricia Howell
Tracy