Wilson: Lab funding threatened by two extremes

LOS ALAMOS -- Los Alamos National Laboratory faces funding challenges from two political extremes as the nation's leaders struggle to agree on the role of nuclear weapons in a post-Cold War world, U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., told LANL workers on Wednesday.

Democrats last year wanted to gut lab funding from the budget "because they no longer believe in the lab's mission," she said. On the other side of the aisle, "there are members of the Republican party who know nothing about what the Department of Energy does, or your mission or your work, who are just seeking to slash government no matter what that does to our national security."

Wilson, who is seeking the U.S. Senate seat soon to be vacated by retiring Republican incumbent Sen. Pete Domenici, did not mention the senate race in her speech. But some might interpret her remarks as veiled shots at her Republican primary opponent, U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, and the likely Democratic nominee, U.S. Rep. Tom Udall. (To listen to a brief excerpt from Wilson's speech, go here.)

Republicans have widely criticized Udall for supporting an appropriations bill last year that would have cut approximately $400 million from LANL's budget. He later voted for a successful final compromise budget bill that restored the lab's funding. Pearce voted against that final bill, citing irresponsible government spending.

A Pearce spokesman on Wednesday defended that vote, saying Pearce has always supported specific lab funding measures, but that he opposed the $3 trillion final budget last year because it contained too much wasteful spending unrelated to the national labs.

"Congressman Pearce feels strongly that Americans have to live within their means and Congress should live by the same rules. We can't be here spending without restrictions," spokesman Brian Phillips said. "We have always voted to give adequate funding to the labs in specific bills."

Wilson also voted against the budget bill, citing a lack of funding for troops in Iraq. But according to a spokesman, she supported a final budget that restored the Iraq funding. Udall's office disputes that characterization of the legislative process, saying the Iraq funding amendment was essentially a separate measure that was voted on after the House passed the part of the budget that included LANL funding.

"She and Steve Pearce voted the exact same way," Udall spokeswoman Marissa Padilla said.

Meanwhile, Udall's campaign emphasized his efforts "to expand the role the labs play in both national security and clean alternative energy, the latter an emerging industry where New Mexico and the United States can lead the world for decades to come."

Many lab critics and anti-nuclear activists believe that by shifting the lab's mission away from nuclear weapons work to other kinds of research, like renewable energy, LANL and its $1.8 billion budget can continue to provide thousands of jobs in northern New Mexico. LANL currently employs about 11,000 people.

But at least one lab critic, the Los Alamos Study Group's Greg Mello, calls such a transformation a "hippie fantasy." Renewable energy research can and should be an important part of New Mexico's economy, but it should emerge in the private sector or institutions that are less prone to the "politicization of science," he said.

"I think the political gods will smile on the candidate who can articulate an energy-based New Deal that creates jobs in our community that are separate from the lab," Mello said in a phone interview.

In her prepared remarks, Wilson did not address the controversial issue of plutonium work at LANL, which would expand under a National Nuclear Security Administration plan to consolidate the country's nuclear weapons complex. Wilson did, however, emphasize her belief that a strong nuclear deterrent - albeit a smaller one - will be a crucial weapon against 21st century threats. LANL scientists, who are tasked with making sure the country's nuclear stockpile is reliable in the absence of nuclear testing, will continue to play a vital role in maintaining that deterrent, according to Wilson. The United States has not conducted an underground nuclear test since 1992, and has since relied on non-nuclear tests and computer simulations to ensure that stockpile weapons would work if needed.

"You do things here that cannot be done anywhere else in the country or the world, for that matter," she said in her prepared remarks. Lab officials, citing privacy concerns of workers, did not allow a New Mexico Independent reporter to listen in on a question-and-answer session that followed the speech.
"It would change the chemistry of who feels free to speak about what," LANL spokesman Jeff Berger said.

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