New Mexicans who took part in a hybrid public meeting Friday, largely expressed support for a new state permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant while urging the New Mexico Environment Department to be vigilant in monitoring Department of Energy compliance.
Too often from 2011 through 2018, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) managers under then- Gov. Susana Martinez (R), acted as “enablers” of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) rather than “regulators,” said Steve Zappe, a former manager with the state agency.
Now retired, Zappe was a NMED manager for WIPP before being reassigned to another job within the department in 2011, he said during the public comment meeting. Zappe participated as an individual in talks that culminated in an August agreement on the new 10-year draft hazardous waste permit.
NMED under Environment Secretary James Kenney, appointed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) has proven a more reliable WIPP watchdog, Zappe said. He added, however, the state is still haunted by one of the prior administration’s last big WIPP decisions, approving DOE’s process for tabulating the volume of transuranic waste at the salt mine.
As part of the new permit, DOE has to report on its progress locating a new underground disposal site for radioactive waste outside of New Mexico. DOE officials in Carlsbad expect the first report in October 2024. That was in response to a question by Don Hancock, nuclear waste director of the Albuquerque-based Southwest Research and Information Center.
Other changes in the permit include enhanced NMED authority to suspend WIPP shipments should there be evidence of a threat to human health and environment, a list of oil and natural gas development in areas surrounding the WIPP property and requirements for WIPP public forums three times per year. That’s according to a summary from NMED’s acting WIPP program manager, Megan McLean.
The state agency expects to issue its written response to permit renewal comments early in October, with the permit actually taking effect in early November. A link to video of Friday’s meeting can be found on the Nuclear Watch New Mexico website.
Meanwhile, the first WIPP public forum, a kind of gathering that has happened from time-to-time over the years but not as part of the permit, is set for Tuesday Oct. 3 in Carlsbad.
