Dear Tri-Valley CAREs supporter,
Let me offer my deepest appreciation for your participation and support for our collective work to change nuclear and environmental policy locally, nationally and globally.
Today, I invite you to help us achieve success on all three levels with a single, tax-deductible donation by clicking here or by sending a check to our office at 4049 First Street, Suite 243, Livermore, CA 94551.
Your gift now will simultaneously help us:
- Stymie Livermore Lab’s efforts to gut health and safety measures in pursuit of new plutonium experiments for its new nuclear warhead designs;
- Preserve the independent oversight authority of the federal Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, which is facing a broadside attack from the Trump Administration; and
- Support the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by sending our Executive Director, Scott Yundt, and our Staff Attorney-Fellow, Raine Gordon, to the United Nations for the inaugural, formal Review Conference of States Parties to the Treaty.
As you know, Tri-Valley CAREs and allies won a lawsuit forcing the government to conduct a nationwide programmatic environmental review of its plans to produce new plutonium bomb cores, called pits, starting with hundreds of them for Livermore Lab’s new warhead for the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program.
You may also know that we and colleague groups organized public comments here in Livermore and around the country – and thousands of you from across the country spoke out to oppose new plutonium pits!
As we await the final review document, your donation this month will allow us to take an important new step in the campaign.
Livermore Lab and other sites in the nuclear weapons complex are trying to make it easier to fast track plutonium pit production and related programs by eliminating reporting requirements and loosening forty-six health and safety standards, including critical nuclear safety protections.
This rollback, produced in secret with heavy Livermore Lab authorship, was dubbed “Project Velocity.” It is a recipe for nuclear accidents.
Tri-Valley CAREs is playing a lead role, with colleague groups in the national Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, in alerting Congress to the dangers of “Project Velocity” and the need for them to take action.
Senator Patty Murray, Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, along with her counterpart in the House, Rep. Marcy Kaptur, recently sent a blistering letter to The Secretary of Energy outlining its dangers. We will continue meeting with congressional offices, now and after the November election, to make sure that “Project Velocity” becomes project stymied.
This is the type of effective watchdog action for which Tri-Valley CAREs is known. Your tax-deductible contribution in any amount will enable us to devote the staff time and conduct the outreach and advocacy we need to win.
Moreover, you may have seen our e-news last month inviting members to a public meeting with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. What you may not have seen is the full impact of our work to push back on the Trump Administration’s efforts to hamstring the Safety Board and eviscerate its congressional mandate to oversee Livermore Lab and other sites in the nuclear weapons complex.
We met with the Safety Board in Livermore and in Washington, DC. Further, during “DC Days 2026” we conducted dozens of meetings with Congress on this issue – and we came to our meetings armed with documents showing how the White House and its Department of Energy are denying the Safety Board access to the nuclear facilities it needs to inspect and to the information it needs to have in order to carry out its mission.
We told Congress the stories of how Safety Board inspections at Livermore found criticality violations and other potentially catastrophic situations, including the Lab stuffing too much plutonium together in a confined space and allowing ripped-open plutonium ventilation ducts. We impressed upon members of Congress just how dangerous the future could be without the Board’s fully-functioning independent oversight.
And, I want to tell you, too, that there is a connection between “Project Velocity” and the assault on the Safety Board. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is supposed to evaluate and provide expert recommendations when safety procedures in the nuclear weapons complex are altered or eliminated – yet the Department of Energy refused to allow the Board access to the changes it was making in “Project Velocity.”
Your Tri-Valley CAREs team is on it!
We have put together a detailed action plan for Congress and the public to reinstate the full authority of the Safety Board. We are working with colleague organizations on a letter to relevant congressional committees, among other actions. We will continue our work throughout the holidays and ramp up when the new Congress is seated.
As you may recognize, Tri-Valley CAREs promotes progress on nuclear disarmament internationally with the same vigor we use to stop dangerous U.S. nuclear programs. I’m happy to let you know that your support now will accompany our Executive Director and Attorney-Fellow as they travel to the UN in New York this November to support the first Review Conference of the States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Upon arrival, Scott Yundt and Raine Gordon will participate in a day-long strategy session with other non-governmental organizations in the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), in which we are a longstanding member group.
During the critical first week of the Review Conference Scott and Raine will meet with delegations from the 75 countries who have ratified the Treaty (another 26 have signed are in the process of ratifying). These meetings will focus on expanding the number of countries who are part of the Treaty as well as its implementation measures, verifications for nuclear weapons prohibitions and positive requirements to address the victims and environmental damage wrought by nuclear weapons.
What Scott and Raine accomplish at the UN – and what they learn there – will inform our 2027 actions to promote the Treaty and its global abolition goal!
Tri-Valley CAREs work is unique. It begins by demanding openness and stopping U.S. nuclear weapons where they start, at Livermore Lab. We connect issues of peace, environmental justice and government accountability. Moreover, our local, on-the-ground knowledge provides a foundation for our work to change U.S. nuclear weapons policy and achieve the global elimination of nuclear weapons.
It’s an exciting journey. We invite you to join us – and to contribute financially in any amount you are able to give. Your donation is tax-deductible. Thank you!
With appreciation,
Marylia Kelley
Senior Advisor
On behalf of your Tri-Valley CAREs’ team of staff, board members and volunteers
P.S. We know many of you may donate money to the campaigns of your choice, and we applaud your involvement in our democracy. But, we would also like to ask you to please dig deep for our nuclear watchdog work that needs to keep on continuing beyond the election season and whoever is in power. Thank you for considering us.