A New Mexico Senate committee on Tuesday passed a bill that would create a statewide task force to negotiate with the federal government over the siting of nuclear-waste storage sites in the Land of Enchantment.
The state Senate Conservation Committee passed SB 82, introduced by state Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D), on a 5-2 vote and recommended that other lawmakers also pass the measure. New Mexico’s legislature allows committees to advance bills with or without recommendations. Tuesday’s vote resolved the gridlock from a Feb. 11 hearing in which the bill drew two tie votes and got stuck in the committee.
The bill’s next stop is the state Senate Judiciary Committee, which had not scheduled a hearing on the measure at deadline for Weapons Complex Morning Briefing.
If it became law, SB 82 would assess the effects of nuclear waste storage sites on nearby communities, populations and property and coordinate state investigations into these effects. It also would require an annual report to the state legislature on these investigations, Conservation Committee chair Elizabeth Stefanics (D) said last week.
The task force the bill would create would include the state secretaries of: energy; minerals and natural resources; health; environment; public safety; homeland security and emergency management and Indian affairs.
Prior to the Feb. 11 session, debate on the bill was delayed several times. The measure was initially supposed to be heard by the committee on Feb. 2 but time constraints and a “food fire” that forced an evacuation of the state house held back discussion, said last week.
Meanwhile, nuclear services company Holtec International is attempting to get a federal license to build a consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) in southeastern New Mexico. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is working on an environmental impact statement for the proposed site, which the agency has said will take until the summer to complete.
