October Is Getting Spooky for the Grown Ups

By R. Gabriel Villalobos

With the cool weather setting such a fine mood at the beginning of each day, it can be easy to overlook the problems of the moment. On a beautiful Sunday morning, Eric Leudendorf was enjoying some coffee at Starbucks with his wife and kids. A casual conversation turned to the all too familiar topic of problems at work.

WIPP (Waste Isolation Pilot Plant) is where radioactive waste from nuclear research and weapons development is stored. It’s a deep geological repository that’s licensed to hold radioactive waste for the next 10,000 years. It’s located 26 miles outside of Carlsbad and employs more than 1,000. Eric does geotechnical survey work there and has been part of the project for six years now.

Eric got some troubling news at work and was willing to give our readers some insight. The project is federally funded and because of its importance to national security, funds exist to cover payroll and other expenses in the case of a shutdown or funding gap. The problem is that this money will run out in November. If congress doesn’t pass a continuing resolution or make other provisions, workers will start being furloughed.

Government shutdowns are part of the American experience. There have been five in the past 50 years that lasted more than one day. As of the time this article is being published, the government has been shut down for 24 days. The longest government shutdown in US history was 35 days and happened in 2019. Eric doesn’t want to see this happen again.

“There is a plan, but it hasn’t been agreed on yet,” said Eric. His uncertainty surrounding the immediate future weighs heavy on him even as he does his best to enjoy time with his family on the weekend. “If we’re furloughed and hired back later, there will be no back pay,” Eric said with resignation. The look on his face revealed that even a relatively brief lapse in pay would likely hurt his family.

Politicians Have Us Playing a Game of Hot Potato

Eric confessed that he understood the current political showdown was larger than what he and his coworkers are experiencing. He gets that the stakes are high, and many people’s livelihoods are being eliminated or threatened. The nature of the work WIPP does means that this is what Eric called an “everyone problem.”

“We’re so far away from Washington, and I just don’t think they realize how much this is affecting our lives.” Eric’s family and the families of his coworkers are foremost on his mind.

When thinking about the facility being licensed for its purpose for the next 10,000 years, it can be difficult to dismiss thoughts of a worst-case scenario. The political instability of the government, even on a quarterly scale, makes the long-term safety of this project seem pretty ambitious.

The Fight on Capitol Hill Hits Really Close to Home

It’s clear that Eric isn’t trying to conjure up the image of Charlton Heston dropping to his knees at the beach in front of the ruins of the Statue of Liberty, but he isn’t trying to minimize the issue either: multiple waves of furloughs with the first starting next month. Sending people home from their roles at WIPP would mean that WIPP would not have the full staff that works to ensure proper monitoring of the hazardous radioactive waste.

His thoughts immediately go to families and their homes. “We could start to see people missing their house payments and leaving the area.”

The scenario has obviously been playing out in Leudendorf’s mind. He went on to say that by the end of these planned rounds of furloughs, the project could see seven out of eight of the positions currently held get cut.

His parting words ended up being, “You don’t want a large number of unemployed people to start getting desperate.”