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Tuesday, November 24, 2009
State Hits LANL With $960,000 Fine
By Kiea Hary
Journal Northern Bureau
SANTA FE — Los Alamos National Laboratory was hit with a $960,000 fine on Monday by the New Mexico Environment Department.
State officials say the lab has failed to live up to its obligation to install a groundwater monitoring network and provide adequate data for the laboratory's main waste management area.
New Mexico Environment Department Secretary Ron Curry said he hoped the penalty would "serve as call to action for the lab to wake up, clean up and live up to the environmental promises it has made to New Mexico."
"I am extremely disappointed that the laboratory would rather pay penalties or fight legal battles than do the right thing and install the monitoring system that the city, county and state have asked for repeatedly," he said in a news release.
LANL spokesman Fred deSousa said in an e-mail to the Journal on Monday that "both sides agree that protecting the public and the environment is the top priority" and lab officials hope to move forward with remediation.
The state Environment Department noted Monday that the state, the city of Santa Fe and Santa Fe County have repeatedly asked the lab to develop a monitoring system that can measure the effectiveness of the cleanup plans. The department also complained that LANL and the Department of Energy have refused to submit to enforceable state-required monitoring for radionuclides in lab watersheds.
"This case is an excellent example of why DOE self-regulation of dangerous radioactive pollution does not work. We may be forced to seek a separate enforcement action against DOE and the laboratory operator, especially given the potential impacts on downstream communities and the threat to human health and the environment," Curry said.
In his e-mail, LANL's deSousa wrote: "We thought we had agreement on how much data are needed to design that remediation. NMED approved a work plan describing that data in 2007. At NMED's request, and in good faith, we drilled new wells and added that data in reports submitted on time in 2008 and 2009."
He continued, "We agree that improving the network is the right thing to do. Seven additional new wells are planned, and some are being drilled as we speak. We believe we have done what NMED has asked us to do."
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