SENATE MEMORIAL 34

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

INTRODUCED BY

Gerald Ortiz y Pino

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT TO ESTABLISH A COMPLIANCE SCHEDULE ACCORDING TO WHICH SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES IS ORDERED TO CONDUCT THE FEASIBILITY STUDY REQUIRED PURSUANT TO THE DEPARTMENT'S 2005 FINAL ORDER AND TO REPORT ON THE FEASIBILITY STUDY TO THE PUBLIC AND THE APPROPRIATE LEGISLATIVE INTERIM COMMITTEE.

     WHEREAS, the mixed waste landfill at Sandia national laboratories operated from 1959 to 1988 to receive radioactive and hazardous wastes from nuclear weapons production; and

     WHEREAS, these radioactive and hazardous wastes were dumped in unlined pits and trenches and are leaking into Albuquerque's drinking water aquifer that serves over six hundred thousand residents; and

     WHEREAS, the wastes in the mixed waste landfill include more than one hundred barrels of long-lived plutonium-contaminated wastes, along with tons of depleted uranium and tritium and hazardous wastes such as lead, beryllium and solvents such as trichloroethylene, or "TCE"; polychlorinated biphenyls, or "PCBs"; and perchloroethylene, or "PCE"; and

     WHEREAS, the federal environmental protection agency and other entities have linked these toxins to cancer and other serious health effects in humans and animals; and

     WHEREAS, numerous technical reports and experts have determined that ground water monitoring at the mixed waste landfill did not provide reliable and representative sampling data to support the decision of Sandia national laboratories to leave the wastes in place under a dirt cover; and

     WHEREAS, the wastes in the mixed waste landfill pose a long-term danger to the aquifer that serves Albuquerque residents; and

     WHEREAS, the department of environment's 2005 final order required Sandia national laboratories to undertake a feasibility study every five years of the feasibility for excavation of the mixed waste landfill and the suitability of the dirt cover over the landfill; and

     WHEREAS, the department of environment's 2005 final order also requires the feasibility study to provide an update with current data regarding the fate and transport model for the mixed waste landfill site; and

     WHEREAS, the department of environment's 2005 final order requires the feasibility study to include a reevaluation of the likelihood of contaminants in the mixed waste landfill reaching ground water; and

     WHEREAS, Sandia national laboratories has not performed the required feasibility study although it has been nearly three years since the due date; and

     WHEREAS, the department of environment has not required Sandia national laboratories to perform the five-year feasibility study;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that in order to protect the public health and environment, the department of environment be requested, within thirty days from the passage of this memorial, to establish a compliance schedule according to which Sandia national laboratories is ordered to conduct the feasibility study required pursuant to the department's 2005 final order; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department of environment be requested to report to the public and to the appropriate interim legislative committee on the feasibility study conducted by Sandia national laboratories pursuant to the 2005 final order; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor, the secretary of environment, the mayor of Albuquerque and the New Mexico legislative council.