12/18/2007
The news is no less bleak for more than 500 families facing layoffs from Los Alamos National Laboratory. But Capitol Hill negotiators, the not-so-lame duck Pete Domenici among them, appear to have fended off further cuts at LANL — for now, anyway.
A House-Senate conference Sunday night restored more than $400 million of the $600 million that might have been slashed from the nuclear-weapons budgets of Los Alamos, Sandia and California's Lawrence Livermore national labs.
The agreement covers several energy agencies, and faces a week of slogging through a far bigger congressional spending package before the Bush White House decides whether it likes what the bare-majority Democratic Congress has agreed on.
But give Domenici and the rest of New Mexico's congressional delegation credit for fighting back a bunch of representatives and senators nationwide who've had the long knives out for the labs and what they see as wholesale waste on the Hill.
Domenici notes that what came out of conference is no "bed of roses" for our labs — but it could've been lots worse: 11,000 other LANL employees, for the moment, remain employed, and lab leaders have bought a bit of time.
Time for what? Well, for what we hope will be another look at their mission.
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Rest of the article: http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Story/Editorial_Lab_dodges_worst____mission_must_broaden
3 comments:
"...no less bleak for more than 500 families facing layoffs from Los Alamos National Laboratory."
Where did this 500 come from? Aren't there about 500 people between the voluntary and those that left this FY before the voluntary?
It's true. Udall and Anastasio can mouth the words that "LANL needs to diversify", but if NNSA and DOE don't want non-weapons WFO, then it is not going to happen.
We'll see what D'Agostino has to say today. I'm betting there will be little mention of LANL, except in general terms regarding pit production, and perhaps by inference when he repeats the goal of consolidating redundant activities like weapons design which is clearly going to Livermore.
The LANL community hardcore will never admit it has to change...ever! Arrogant butt-head cowboys don't take friendly advise very kindly; criticism even less. By definition the best and brightest can never be wrong. That's just who we are at Los Alamos.
Now here are the standard comebacks to a post like this one.
1) This person doesn't know what he's talking about.
2). He obviously doesn't work at the Lab, so ignore him.
3). He probably got RIFed in the last layoff and is bitter.
4). I know who this is. He is (fill in the blank) and hates the Lab. So there.
5). Must be one of the anti nuke Santa Fe liberals.
6). WTF! Ass hole!
7). He mispelled a word! Poor grammar, so must be an idiot to boot!
What you won't hear on this blog:
Hmmm, maybe she's got a point!
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