HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 5

51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2013

INTRODUCED BY

Carl Trujillo and Carlos R. Cisneros

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING FULL FEDERAL FUNDING FOR CLEANUP OF AREA G IN LOS ALAMOS.

     WHEREAS, area G on the Los Alamos national laboratory property remains a prime focus of media and public concern; and

     WHEREAS, the summer of 2012 was marked by the one- thousandth transuranic waste shipment from Los Alamos to the waste isolation pilot plant near Carlsbad; and

     WHEREAS, every Los Alamos shipping record was shattered in 2012; and

     WHEREAS, Los Alamos met all regulatory milestones in 2012; and

     WHEREAS, area G on the Los Alamos national laboratory property originally contained three thousand seven hundred six cubic meters of aboveground, non-cemented, dispersible transuranic waste; and

     WHEREAS, area G on the Los Alamos national laboratory property still contains approximately two thousand six hundred cubic meters of aboveground, non-cemented, dispersible transuranic waste; and

     WHEREAS, various local government, tribal government and business leaders traveled to Washington, DC, in 2012 to lend support for funding clean-up efforts at the laboratory; and

     WHEREAS, the governor's office has made the cleanup of area G its highest environmental priority; and

     WHEREAS, to ensure public health and safety, removal of the remaining waste at area G should be the United States department of energy's highest priority;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that congress be requested to fully fund completion of cleanup and remediation of area G; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States department of energy be requested to provide a status report to the radioactive and hazardous materials committee during the 2013 legislative interim; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the New Mexico congressional delegation, the United States secretary of energy, the director of Los Alamos national laboratory and the governor.

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