New Mexico environmental regulators are concerned that the Department of Energy won’t have enough funding next year to meet cleanup obligations at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. In a letter sent late last week to members of the state’s Congressional delegation, New Mexico Environment Secretary David Martin said he had been informed by officials with DOE’s Office of Environmental Management and the National Nuclear Security Administration that the anticipated FY13 funding level for cleanup work at Los Alamos “will be insufficient to achieve our mutually agreed upon goals.” While Los Alamos needs approximately $239 million next year to meet commitments, Martin said he had been told to anticipated a funding cut of at least 10 percent below the lab’s FY12 funding level of $188 million because of the Continuing Resolution introduced this week in Congress and the looming funding cuts known as sequestration set to take effect early next year. In his Sept. 7 letter, obtained by WC Monitor, Martin wrote that “it appears that the federal government is not living up to its commitments to provide the necessary resources to reduce and eliminate the contamination at LANL, and this is another example of the federal government not recognizing its obligation to New Mexico and its citizens.”
Martin asked members of New Mexico’s Congressional delegation for aid in obtaining a minimum FY13 funding level of $219 million for cleanup work at Los Alamos, warning that without adequate funding the New Mexico Environment Department may have to look to more punitive measures to ensure compliance with agreements. “Anything below this level will putt NNSA remediation commitments to NMED in jeopardy and will force my office to consider a different strategy going forward in how we enforce environmental compliance,” Martin wrote, adding, “I do not believe fines are a good way to drive compliance, but when my office is essentially ignored after all of our proactive efforts to help get LANL into compliance with an agreement that DOE signed, I have little recourse remaining. Continued, bad faith action by DOE that fails to provide a respectable level of reciprocity will be dealt with accordingly.” NMED did not respond to requests for additional comment on Martin’s letter yesterday. Both the NNSA Los Alamos Site Office and Los Alamos National Security, LLC, referred questions to DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, which did not respond to requests for comment late yesterday.