The massive train derailment in East Palestine that blanketed the Ohio town with toxic chemicals and gasses has raised concerns about railroad safety nationwide, and it is of little wonder it has re-ignited concerns about using trains to transport canisters of spent nuclear fuel to New Mexico.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering a 40-year license to Holtec International for an interim nuclear waste storage facility on private land between Carlsbad and Hobbs that Holtec purchased from the Lea-Eddy Energy Alliance, a coalition of elected leaders that wholeheartedly supports the project.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham opposes the $2.4 billion project for its perceived risks to agriculture and the oil and gas industry in the region, and given federal jurisdiction over the project, state lawmakers just passed a dubious law prohibiting state agencies from granting permits for such things as industrial wastewater for the storage site unless the state consents.
Add to those concerns worries many New Mexicans have had about trains with spent nuclear fuel crisscrossing the state.
U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-Albuquerque, is calling on the U.S. Department of Transportation to increase regulations that perhaps could have prevented the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern freight train derailment. She’s asking DOT to enforce uniform standards for different types of wayside defect detectors, which are sensors integrated into railroad tracks that detect axle and signal problems in passing trains, instead of allowing the railroads to self-regulate their detectors.
“Rail workers in New Mexico and across the country have been sounding the alarm on the unsafe practices of rail corporations for years,” Stansbury said. “It is time we listen and act.”
We often take railroad safety for granted until there’s a big accident. Proactively addressing railroad safety with technological advances is the better route. Holtec would be wise to join in that effort and help alleviate concerns about trains that would be headed to its thousand-acre New Mexico site loaded with spent nuclear fuel.
This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
