The University Art Museum at New Mexico State University will welcome State Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 17 in Devasthali Hall. Steinborn will be joined by author Alicia Inez Guzman for “Nuclear New Mexico, What’s Next?” a discussion of the history and future of nuclear development in New Mexico.
This is the second panel at the UAM in conjunction with Cara Despain’s, “Specter New Mexico” and Branigan Cultural Center’s juried show “Trinity: Legacies of Nuclear Testing.” These events are free and open to the public.
While Steinborn is the vice-chair of New Mexico’s Legislative Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee, Guzman has written histories of land use in the state while focused on nuclear issues in her current role at Searchlight, a nonprofit news organization dedicated to investigative journalism.
Despain, whose UAM exhibit focuses on the impact of the nuclear industry in the Southwest, spoke earlier this month at the first “Nuclear Legacies” panel.
“I think the injustices on the ground in the entire southwest surrounding nuclearism are relevant to the entire globe,” Despain said. “Certainly, the dawn of the atomic age changed every living thing on Earth. I think the stories of the folks closest to these test and uranium sites need to be told, elevated and not forgotten.”
The two panels accompanying Despain’s exhibit add insight and engage the public in the discussion of nuclear issues impacting New Mexico.
“We started talking to Cara about some of the people that she speaks to, the research that she's conducted, and we utilize that research and the ideas that she has formed to inform who we would bring in for programming,” said Marisa Sage, art museum director. “From filmmakers to politicians who are part of the conversations of nuclear development across the Southwest, the past, the present and the future, from artists and authors to journalists writing about the impact of nuclear colonialism and nuclear development and militarization across the Southwest.”
Steinborn sponsored legislation to ban the storage of high-level nuclear waste in New Mexico and beef up a task force with expanded scope and duties to investigate commercial waste storage facilities. The new law took effect June 15.
“He is a big part of the conversation of what’s next when it comes to nuclearism in New Mexico,” said Sage. “Jeff’s persistence, introducing the ban on high-level nuclear waste during the past two legislative sessions, resulted in this new law being passed.”
“From pulling uranium out of the earth to using it commercially and putting it back into the ground for long-term storage, it’s all about economic development and who gets paid, but at what cost?” Sage asked. “Senator Jeff Steinborn really understands those issues and he advocates for environmental remediation of the impact on all of us.”
The University Art Museum is located inside Devasthali Hall at 1308 E. University Ave. For more information about this event, call 575-646-2545 or email artmuseum@nmsu.edu or go to uam.nmsu.edu .
The full article can be seen at https://newsroom.nmsu.edu/news/nuclear-new-mexico--nmsu-art-museum-hosts-discussion-with-state-senator/s/066041ad-ee9f-4090-8d7a-879e69f93ead