Yesterday, at a meeting of the Santa Fe Council on International Relations, retired Los Alamos National Laboratory engineer Arvid Lundy spoke on a range of subjects related to the very salient theme of Iran’s nuclear weapons project.

After close to an hour of photos, statistics, histories and thoughts on Iran, SFReeper asked Lundy to clarify a point to which he had alluded: that were no one to intervene in Iran’s nuclear plans (for power or otherwise), Iran would end up with nuclear weapons “sooner.” So…no matter what happens, they’ll have nuclear weapons at some point?

“I think it’s likely,” Lundy replied.

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The New Mexico “Green Jobs Cabinet report” was released yesterday. It’s 98 pages of wonkery not intended for the casual reader.

Not to nitpick—or fearmonger—but there’s a word missing in the report. It’s kind of important. The word is earthquakes.

Although the report spends a good amount of space assessing New Mexico’s potential for geothermal energy—and exploring “Synergies with the Oil and Gas Industry”—it fails to mention, even in passing, one major potential downside of this particular “green” power source: It can cause earthquakes. Continue reading »

Here’s the news from tonight’s Santa Fe City Council meeting. I’ll update throughout the meeting (until I split, that is. Then you can follow the webcast here).

Railyard Cinema

One of this week’s more controversial items was placed, oddly enough, on the consent calendar, intended for pro forma matters set for a unanimous vote: That is, the Railyard Cinema proposal.

Granted, the resolution itself has been tamed since Councilor Matt Ortiz initially introduced it. The substitute resolution, by Councilor Rosemary Romero, does not automatically start the process to issue a $35.4 million city bond for a private company with a questionable record to build a new theater downtown. Rather, it directs the city manager “to Initiate Discussions” with the key public and private players at the Railyard, in order to “Deveop a Variety of Ideas and Viable Financial Options” for development “in Accordance With the Railyard Master Plan.”

Weird capitalization, yes. Publicly financed cinema? Not necessarily.

Romero’s resolution passed without comment.

400th Funding

Also up for a vote tonight: Whether to give the struggling non-profit that’s organizing the city’s 400th anniversary celebration another $750,000. This should be interesting.

5:55 pm: Fresh off their anniversary gift to the city, KSFR’s Dan Gerrity is pitching the station’s latest idea to save the 400th.  The idea? A special edition Farolito to be gifted to the White House.

5:59 pm: My bad. This item got postponed. Which is to say: Punt!

Why LANL’s latest media dust-up shouldn’t be taken lightly.

On Monday, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board released a damning report on the safety of the main plutonium facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The crux of the report is that in the case of a “seismic event,” or major earthquake, along the geologic fault that underlies the lab, the ensuing damage (think earthquake triggers fire triggers big radioactive explosion) would be more than 100 times the allowable federal standard.

Unfortunately, that’s not the worst of it. Continue reading »

By Tiana Finney, SFR Intern

There are more than a few kinds of people who reside in the Land of Enchantment—among them are the native-born who know their side of New Mexico like the back of their hand, and the newly christened New Mexicans hailing from distant locations across the country and globe.  In La Ranfla and Other New Mexico Stories, Martha Egan, a transplant from Wisconsin, depicts both newcomers and longtime locals alike with earnestly drawn characters.

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