New Mexico, Colorado Lawmakers To Introduce Mining Reform Legislation In Response To Gold King Mine Blowout
U.S. SENATE News:
- Bill will ensure mining companies pay royalties to help prevent future disasters
Today, at 10 a.m., U.S. Senators Tom Udall, D-N.M., Martin Heinrich, D-N.M. and Michael Bennet, D-Colo. and U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M. will hold a press conference call to unveil legislation to reform the nation’s antiquated hardrock mining laws.
The senators are introducing the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2015, which will ensure mining companies pay royalties for the privilege of extracting public resources from public lands so that taxpayers aren’t on the hook Read More
NNMCAB Holds Special Meeting Nov. 12
NNMCAB News:Sea Monsters Planetarium Movie & Talk Nov. 13
Watch 82 million-year-old animals come to life at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13 in the Los Alamos Nature Center Planetarium.
At The Centre Of The Tuning Fork
This galaxy is known as Mrk 820. Courtesy/ESA/Hubble & NASA and N. Gorin (STScI) Acknowledgement.Judy Schmidt (www.geckzilla.com/)
SCIENCE News:
This galaxy is known as Mrk 820 and is classified as a lenticular galaxy — type S0 on the Hubble Tuning Fork.
The Hubble Tuning Fork is used to classify galaxies according to their morphology. Elliptical galaxies look like smooth blobs in the sky and lie on the handle of the fork. They are arranged along the handle based on how elliptical they are, with the more spherical galaxies furthest from the tines of the fork, and the more egg-shaped ones closest Read More
Los Alamos Scientist Part Of NASA’s Select Few Hunting For Meteorites In Antarctica
LANL scientist Nina Lanza at the summit of Hvannadalsnukur, the highest mountain in Iceland, practicing glacier travel techniques similar to those needed for Antarctic fieldwork. Courtesy/LANL
LANL News:
Nina Lanza, of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Space and Remote Sensing group, was selected as one of eight members for the 2015-2016 field campaign of the Antarctica Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) program, which is supported by NASA.
“These meteorites can help us understand the formation and evolution of our solar system,” Lanza said. “They come from planets, their moons and asteroids. Read More
Public Comment Period On Chromium Project Draft Environmental Assessment Extended To Nov. 13, 2015
LANL News:
The Department of Energy Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office (EM-LA) has prepared a Draft Environmental Assessment for the Chromium Plume Control Interim Measure and Plume-Center Characterization at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
This document describes the potential environmental impacts associated with the proposed actions in Mortandad Canyon. The objectives of the proposed actions are to control migration of the chromium plume and to further characterize and study the chromium plume in the groundwater beneath Mortandad Canyon.
The public comment period Read More
From Earth To The Universe Playing At Planetarium This Weekend
From Earth to the Universe movie poster. Courtesy/PEEC
PEEC News:
Enjoy stunning imagery from space as part of a full-dome feature film, From Earth to the Universe, playing in the Los Alamos Nature Center Planetarium at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 7-8.
This full-dome feature film takes passengers on a voyage through space and time. Along the way, adventurers will visit birthplaces and burial grounds of stars and explore beyond the Milky Way.
Tickets may be purchased by phone or at the Los Alamos Nature Center and are $6 for adults and $4 for children. This movie is not recommended for children Read More
LANL: High-energy Physics Detector MicroBooNE Sees First Accelerator-born Neutrinos
An accelerator-born neutrino candidate, spotted with the MicroBooNE detector. Courtesy/Fermilab
LANL News:
- Los Alamos collaboration on target, beamline, aids detection of “ghost particles”
MicroBooNE, a neutrino detector saw its first neutrinos, known as the ghost particles, Oct. 15 in a multi-laboratory experiment at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, near Chicago.
“This is a great day for MicroBooNE, and it brings us closer to addressing the question of sterile neutrinos and short-baseline neutrino oscillations,” said Los Alamos National Laboratory staff member Richard Read More
NMED Joins 5-State Challenge To EPA’s Ozone Rule
NMED Secretary Ryan Flynn
NMED News:
NMED Joins Arkansas, Oklahoma, Arizona, and North Dakota to Challenge EPA’s Ozone Rule Change
SANTA FE – The New Mexico Environment Department with the States of Arizona, Arkansas, North Dakota, and Oklahoma are challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to set more stringent, one-size-fits-all federal air quality standards for ozone (Arizona v. EPA, D.C. Cir., No. 15-1392, 10/27/15).
The five states filed the lawsuit Oct. 27 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
“The Environmental Read More
NMED Questions Independence Of DOI Probe
NMED News:Halloween Skies To Include Dead Comet Flyby
This image, bearing an eerie resemblance to a skull, of asteroid 2015 TB145, a dead comet, was generated using radar data collected by the National Science Foundation’s 1,000-foot (305-meter) Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The radar image was taken Oct. 30, 2015, and the image resolution is 25 feet (7.5 meters) per pixel. Courtesy/NAIC-Arecibo/NSF
JPL News:
The large space rock that will zip past Earth this Halloween is most likely a dead comet that, fittingly, bears an eerie resemblance to a skull.
Scientists observing asteroid 2015 TB145 with NASA’s Infrared Telescope Read More
PEEC Amateur Naturalist: Honeycomb, Dragonfly Eyes, And Lava Columns
The eye of a dragonfly. Photo by Rudi Gunawan
Chamisa Recycle Art Fair & Fashion Show Nov. 4
LAPS News:Gray Matters: Tom Brady And The Orange Flush
Animas River. Courtesy photoWith apologies to the non-football fans, I wish to contrast the problems of Tom Brady and the under-inflated footballs to the recent three million gallon spill into the Animas River near Silverton, Colo.
I call that spill of acid mine drainage the “Orange Flush”, not to be confused with the Denver Bronco football defense, the Orange Crush.
The purpose of this short piece is to examine the facts regarding the spill and the environmental impacts.
But first the connection between the troubles of Tom Brady
Public Astronomy Dark Night At Overlook Nov. 7
PAJARITO ASTRONOMERS News:
The Pajarito Astronomers will be holding their final County-Sponsored Dark Night of 2015 starting at 5 p.m. (sunset) Saturday, Nov. 7 at Spirio Soccer Field in Overlook Park in White Rock.
Weather permitting, the public is invited to come out, wander among the telescopes, and star gaze. The planets Saturn, Neptune and Uranus will be visible.
There will be a tour of the summer and fall constellations, and there will be telescope views of double stars, star clusters, nebulae and galaxies.
The public is invited and encouraged to attend. Viewing will end before Read More
WGN’s ‘Manhattan’ Viewing & Discussion On Tuesdays
At left, a photo of the Historic Tech Area. The covered overpasses were built across what is now Trinity Drive, so that scientists could cross over from one building to the other without having to exit and then reinter the secure areas. At right, a photo of the Manhattan series set as seen on TV. Courtesy/LAHS
HISTORICAL SOCIETY News:
The season premiere for WGN’s Manhattan was Oct. 13. The Los Alamos Historical Society continues to hold weekly viewing parties for the show’s second season.
Join Historical Society members at 7 p.m., Tuesdays at Time Out Pizzeria on Central Avenue in Los Alamos, Read More
Public Talk: ‘Delivering Little Boy’ By Grandson Of Manhattan Project Physician Oct. 27
Little Boy. Courtesy/wikipedia
Jim Nolan, a professor of sociology at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., didn’t know much about his grandfather, James F. Nolan, a physician with training in radiology who played a unique role in the early history of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos.
James L. Nolan, Jr., Professor of Sociology, Williams College
The younger Nolan had a general idea that his father had moved to Los Alamos at an early age but no detailed knowledge about his grandfather. Very few details, that is, until three years ago, when his father Read More
Robert Gibson Speaks On Future Energy Resources For Los Alamos County
COUNTY News:
Robert Gibson, chair of the Los Alamos Future Energy Resources Committee, will present “Future Energy Resources for Los Alamos County” at a meeting of the Sierra Club, 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4 at UNM-Los Alamos, Building 2, room 203.
Los Alamos County’s Board of Public Utilities (BPU) adopted a goal in 2013 to “become a carbon-neutral electric provider by 2040.” This year, BPU appointed an ad hoc Future Energy Resources (FER) Committee to recommend a definition of “carbon-neutral,” future electrical energy resources in that context, and policy regarding distributed energy Read More
NNSA Awards Over $11 Million to Accelerate Development Of Domestic Mo-99 In U.S. Without Use Of Highly Enriched Uranium
Workers prepare a low-enriched uranium machine for the production of Molybdenum-99 (Mo-99). Courtesy/NNSA
NNSA News:
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced Thursday it has awarded more than $11 million in additional funding to its cooperative agreement partners, SHINE Medical Technologies and NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, to accelerate the establishment of new, domestic sources of the medical isotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) produced without the use of proliferation-sensitive highly enriched Read More
Water Attorney/Activist Speaks At Nature Center
Water attorney and activist Kyle Harwood in La Cienega. Courtesy photoPEEC News:
How do we protect our aquifers? Action taken in La Cienega, a nearby community, is the subject of the free talk at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27 at Los Alamos Nature Center.
Kyle Harwood, water attorney and La Cienega resident, will share the challenges facing his community along with their efforts to protect their aquifers.
As dessert residents, water is a precious resource. Nearby, the La Cienega region is already seeing diminishing flow from their local springs. They are not alone. Stories of wells and springs running Read More