HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 9
52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2015
INTRODUCED BY
Stephanie Garcia Richard and Richard C. Martinez
A JOINT MEMORIAL
REQUESTING FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL AGENCIES, PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS AND TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS TO IDENTIFY STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT EFFORTS FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF AWARDED CONTRACTS AND TO INCREASE LOCAL BUSINESS PROCUREMENT PERTAINING TO ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP FOR LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY.
WHEREAS, effective economic planning on behalf of New Mexico residents requires a strategic collaboration by the state of New Mexico, the state's vital institutions, the private sector, local municipalities and counties and Indian nations, tribes and pueblos; and
WHEREAS, Los Alamos national laboratory is a major economic driver throughout New Mexico, having a direct impact on the economies of New Mexico's local communities; and
WHEREAS, many local businesses benefit from contracts with Los Alamos national laboratory and with its major subcontractors, which have a positive impact on local economies, increase the state's tax base and directly employ thousands of people in communities throughout New Mexico; and
WHEREAS, the consortium of major Los Alamos national laboratory subcontractors is an organization made up of all Los Alamos national laboratory subcontractors with contracts of five million dollars ($5,000,000) or more; and
WHEREAS, the consortium of major Los Alamos national laboratory subcontractors generates hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenues, expands the state's tax base and employs thousands of New Mexico residents; and
WHEREAS, every subcontractor that is a member in the consortium of major Los Alamos national laboratory subcontractors is required to maintain local facilities and implement a community development plan that supports community giving, education and economic development in northern New Mexico; and
WHEREAS, over the past four years, the membership of the consortium of major Los Alamos national laboratory subcontractors has directly contributed over fourteen million dollars ($14,000,000) of funds and services to northern New Mexico communities and nonprofit organizations; and
WHEREAS, contributions from the consortium of major Los Alamos national laboratory subcontractors have provided schools with equipment and resources for students in need; provided computers and training to local youth organizations; rebuilt acequias for local farmers; and provided heavy earthmoving equipment to flood-ravaged pueblos; and
WHEREAS, the consortium of major Los Alamos national laboratory subcontractors contributes funds to and administers a grant pool that has provided over five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) in grants to dozens of economic development projects with local nonprofit organizations and local governments, including ninety-five thousand dollars ($95,000) in grants awarded in 2014 to organizations throughout northern New Mexico; and
WHEREAS, forty-six percent of the membership of the consortium of major Los Alamos national laboratory subcontractors is directly involved in cleaning up the legacy of past laboratory operations; and
WHEREAS, four major task order agreement contracts for environmental cleanup, worth a collective contract ceiling of nine hundred fifty million dollars ($950,000,000), were put out to bid nationwide; and
WHEREAS, with national nuclear security administration review and approval, Los Alamos national security, limited liability company, awarded each of the four master task order agreements to three or four companies with strong local connections and staff; and
WHEREAS, each of these contracts was awarded for five years and was valued at several hundred million dollars each; and
WHEREAS, several northern New Mexico small businesses were awarded subcontracts in 2012 and 2013 by Los Alamos national security, limited liability company, the current management and operating prime contractor; and
WHEREAS, the goal during the bid process was to award these contracts to firms that understood Los Alamos national laboratory's environmental programs; had the knowledge and experience; had the technical personnel based in northern New Mexico; and could best address the local clean-up goals; and
WHEREAS, to date, the contracts have not been used as expected, bidding opportunities have been few and most of the companies awarded the contracts have been forced to lay off staff and are considering closing offices because of the lack of environmental work; and
WHEREAS, preparing complicated proposals like those submitted are expensive for small businesses, and the lack of bidding opportunities directly affects their ability to maintain thriving offices and personnel in northern New Mexico and to contribute to the local economy and community; and
WHEREAS, clean-up commitments to New Mexico continue to be delayed because of Los Alamos national laboratory's funding priorities with limited budgets to remove transuranic waste from the laboratory's waste management site, and, most recently, because of an accident in which a drum packed with plutonium waste in Los Alamos later ruptured while stored at the waste isolation pilot plant in southeastern New Mexico; and WHEREAS, investigations and recovery from the plutonium waste spill are anticipated to take years for the United States department of energy and those responsible to resolve; and
WHEREAS, during the same time period, almost all other environmental work at Los Alamos national laboratory has stopped; and
WHEREAS, the transition of the environmental mitigation work from the national nuclear security administration to environmental management oversight has the potential to further negatively impact nearly half of the consortium of major Los Alamos national laboratory subcontractor's collective employees, their families and all residents of New Mexico;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the economic development department, the workforce solutions department, the regional development corporation, the regional coalition of Los Alamos national laboratory communities and representatives of county, municipal and tribal governments of north-central New Mexico be requested to work with the consortium of major Los Alamos national laboratory subcontractors to study the prospective impact of the federal department of energy's decision to transition the environmental mitigation work at Los Alamos national laboratory from the national nuclear security administration to environmental management oversight and to identify strategies to mitigate the impact on local New Mexico businesses; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico congressional delegation be requested to support efforts by state and local stakeholders to maintain contracts awarded and to increase local business procurement by federal department of energy institutions; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the members of the New Mexico congressional delegation, the secretary of economic development, the secretary of workforce solutions, the consortium of major Los Alamos national laboratory subcontractors, the regional development corporation, the regional coalition of Los Alamos national laboratory communities, the boards of the county commissioners of Rio Arriba, Santa Fe and Taos counties, the mayor of the village of Chama, the mayor of the town of Taos and the governors of the pueblos of Cochiti, Jemez, Kewa, Nambe, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Picuris, Pojoaque, Taos and Tesuque.
- 6 -