ALBUQUERQUE, NM – State officials on Tuesday released a draft permit that includes stricter rules for the US government if it wants to continue dumping radioactive waste from decades of nuclear research and bomb-making in the New Mexico desert.
The public will have the next 60 days to do so comment on the proposal. Watchdog groups have already expressed their support for measures that include forcing the federal government to consider developing another dump elsewhere in the US and reporting annually on those efforts.
Senior state officials have accused the federal government of exploiting New Mexico over the decades. They are also concerned that the waste isolation pilot plant in southeastern New Mexico has an indefinite lifespan.
State Senator Jeff Steinborn, a Las Cruces Democrat who chairs the Legislature’s Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee, said the permit proposed by the New Mexico Environment Department adds definition and meaning to the state’s agreement with the federal government to operate the underground repository.
“I think there’s this mentality that New Mexico can just be the forever home for all the garbage in the nation. It’s an exploitative mentality towards our state,” he said in an interview. “So it’s good to see that our state is setting limits.”
New Mexico wants to raise the bar by requiring federal officials to provide a complete inventory of materials that have yet to be cleaned and shipped to the repository from labs and defense-related sites across the country. The state also tells Congress that if lawmakers expand the type of waste accepted at WIPP, the permit would be revoked.
Currently the underground landfill Carved from an ancient salt formation, it is licensed to dispose of transuranic waste, or waste generated by the nation’s nuclear weapons program and contaminated with radioactive elements heavier than uranium. The barrels and special boxes buried there are packed with lab coats, rubber gloves, tools and other contaminated debris.
The US Department of Energy said in a statement that it looks forward to attending the comment period.
The comment period will be followed by negotiations with the Department of Energy and a public hearing.
State officials and watchdog groups expect the Department of Energy to push back on several conditions, and it could take a year to get final approval and approval.
Don Hancock of the Southwest Research and Information Center said his group is concerned that the limit on the amount of waste that can be disposed of at WIPP is not being enforced and that the permit does not include a definitive end date for deliveries.
Hancock said the state’s proposed conditions could be strengthened. For example, the Department of Energy could include timelines and milestones in the report of efforts to develop another repository and make that information publicly available.
The permit negotiations follow Congress’ approval last week of a defense bill that would pave the way for more money to be used to manufacture key plutonium components for the nation’s nuclear arsenal. The waste produced during the new production would have to be disposed of.
Democratic members of the New Mexico congressional delegation have supported expanding production at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the once-secret facility that helped develop the atomic bomb. The mission comes at an escalating price, promising to bring jobs to the state.
While federal officials have described the project as essential to national security, critics have expressed their concerns on uncontrolled spending, the lab’s history of security breaches, and the environmental impact of ramped-up production.
Steinborn said he recognizes the economic benefits of facilities like Los Alamos and WIPP.
“And at the same time, we should never make sacrifices or be willing to look the other way or take the soft approach to vigorously defending our public health or safety on any of these projects — or for that matter, any industry in the state of New Mexico,” he said.
Steinborn noted that New Mexico also struggles with contamination from past uranium mining, oil and gas development, and the use of toxic firefighting chemicals known as PFAS at air force bases across the state.
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