The New Mexico Environment Department and the Department of Energy are getting three more months to work on reaching a new deal for legacy cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
U.S. Magistrate Judge John Robbenhaar agreed to the extension in an order Tuesday. The magistrate judge had issued the most recent 90-day extension in October.
“It is the parties’ intent to use the upcoming meetings to resolve the few remaining issues,” with replacing the 2016 Compliance Order on Consent order for Los Alamos, according to the joint status report filed with the U.S. District Court for New Mexico Monday. “The parties thus ask the Court to extend the stay in this case, until April 8, 2024, with another status report due then.”
The state Environment Department under Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) filed suit against the federal government in September 2021, seeking to jettison the 2016 cleanup order negotiated by the prior administration under Gov. Susana Martinez (R).
