HOUSE MEMORIAL 71

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

INTRODUCED BY

Stephanie Garcia Richard

A MEMORIAL

RECOGNIZING THE CRITICAL IMPORTANCE OF NEW MEXICO'S NATIONAL LABORATORIES AND UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY FACILITIES TO NEW MEXICO'S ECONOMIC WELFARE AND URGING THE NEW MEXICO CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO SUPPORT FEDERAL FUNDING FOR THE STATE'S NATIONAL LABORATORIES AND DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY FACILITIES.

     WHEREAS, New Mexico has been at the forefront of scientific endeavors for over seventy years and has achieved recognition as the home of the finest multi-program scientific research laboratories in the world; and

     WHEREAS, the research laboratories have made an enormous contribution to the safety and national security of the United States; and     

     WHEREAS, New Mexico's national laboratories continue to spur innovation and industrial applications that benefit the nation and private industry; and

     WHEREAS, the waste isolation pilot plant has frequently been lauded as one of the United States department of energy's most compelling success stories due to its successful and safe cleanup of legacy transuranic waste in twenty-two sites around the country; and

     WHEREAS, Los Alamos national laboratory and Sandia national laboratories, together, annually purchase well over one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000) in goods and services from suppliers in the state; and

     WHEREAS, in 2013, Los Alamos national laboratory will celebrate its seventieth anniversary; and

     WHEREAS, Los Alamos national laboratory is crucial to New Mexico's economic health, creating close to a three-billion-dollar ($3,000,000,000) impact on the state's economy each year and supporting over twenty-four thousand jobs; and

     WHEREAS, the direct, indirect and induced economic activity associated with Los Alamos national laboratory's operations and construction generated eighty-five million dollars ($85,000,000) in gross receipts tax revenues for the state in 2012, and those tax revenues helped all areas of the state; and

     WHEREAS, Sandia national laboratories is vital to New Mexico's economic health, employing approximately ten thousand regular and temporary employees, eight thousand of whom work at the New Mexico site; and

     WHEREAS, Sandia national laboratories' operations and construction generated close to sixty-five million dollars ($65,000,000) in gross receipts tax revenues for the state in 2012; and

     WHEREAS, in 2012, Sandia national laboratories expended over two hundred fifty million dollars ($250,000,000) in contract-related payments to New Mexico small business suppliers; and

     WHEREAS, the waste isolation pilot plant offers professional, meaningful employment to thousands of New Mexico residents; and

     WHEREAS, these federal institutions recruit and employ a significant portion of their work force from New Mexico's higher education institutions; and

     WHEREAS, for over ten years, New Mexico small businesses have benefited from the New Mexico small business assistance program, which allows them to access cutting-edge technologies, solve technical challenges and gain knowledge from laboratory experts at Los Alamos national laboratory and Sandia national laboratories; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico is highly dependent on federal spending in the area of nuclear technology and throughout the state's economy, and the threat of deep automatic federal spending cuts or "sequestration" may cause tens of thousands of New Mexicans to lose their jobs through direct and indirect job losses at Los Alamos national laboratory, Sandia national laboratories and the waste isolation pilot plant, and those job losses would have cascading negative impacts on the statewide economy;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the members of the New Mexico congressional delegation be urged to support continued or increased federal funding for New Mexico's national laboratories and United States department of energy facilities so that they can continue their national missions and remain critical partners in the economic welfare of New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the members of the New Mexico congressional delegation, the United States secretary of energy, the Carlsbad field office of the United States department of energy, the director of Los Alamos national laboratory, the director of Sandia national laboratories, the manager of the waste isolation pilot plant and the governor.

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