One-sided WIPP ‘chat’ fell short

“Let’s chat about WIPP,” said General Manager Reinhardt Knerr (“Letters to the Editor,” July 7) on the day of his planned public forum for the good people of Northern New Mexico.

Well, let’s do chat. Your community meeting for the public was a chat disaster. Chats are back-andforth exchanges of information. Chats don’t gag one side so the other is the only one talking. Your “chat” was a mind-numbing, 48-slide Power Point and lecture advertising the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.

After this, we were told — as if we were children — to write any questions we had on index cards and turn them in to the enforcer — er, I mean moderator. He then chose the questions he wanted answered and, for a few more minutes, a one-way “chat” occurred. After that, “participants” were invited into a room, only a few at a time, to talk one on one with the presenters. This “divide and conquer” strategy meant no one but the two “chatting” could hear the question and the answer.

This wasn’t our first rodeo dealing with the Department of Energy, and we were prepared to ask for what would meet our needs. I stood at the end of the formal presentation to ask if I could speak for a moment — and that’s as far as I got. I was told forcefully, “No ma’am” and, “You need to sit down.” It was eerie to see the previously jolly demeanor of the presenters turn into a vision of your worst high school teacher.

The response was telling. I had no idea the Department of Energy/WIPP presenters were so frightened of the public. The very idea that we might actually try to interact with them turned them into autocratic bullies who were afraid of what we might “chat” about. The Department of Energy is afraid to meet with us as equals.

Because we have no power and are not even allowed to speak to this overbearing agency, we’ve asked our congressional representative to host a meeting between the Department of Energy and the public. We’ve asked the governor to meet with us to discuss this. Instead, we hear the “chatting” of crickets.

The Department of Energy is creating a whole new mission for WIPP that puts the public at incredibly increased risk. That alone should guarantee us a voice. Instead, we’re offered an Orwellian “chat” that insults as it silences.