The Department of Energy is emphasizing that it self-reported many of the violations at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant after New Mexico announced over the weekend $54 million in fines linked to the noncompliances. When asked to comment about the massive fines levied by the New Mexico Environment Department, a DOE spokesperson said in a statement: "The Department of Energy and its contractors self-identified and self-disclosed non-compliance with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act to the New Mexico Environment Department. We continue to actively address these issues and are firmly committed to the safe, compliant and effective remediation of all our legacy wastes and to recovering Waste Isolation Pilot Plant operations as safely and expeditiously as possible." DOE “was unable to provide someone for an interview,” according to the spokesperson. NMED has stressed that cleanup funds cannot be used to pay the fines, but DOE did not respond yesterday to questions about where the funding for the fine may come from.
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