The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is taking comments between now and Feb. 29, 2024, on storm water discharge rules affecting the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and surrounding areas.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to fix water quality standards violations raised in a petition by a Taos-based water advocacy group, Amigos Bravos. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals remanded the issue to EPA for reconsideration, according to a Dec. 1 Federal Register notice. EPA plans a public hearing sometime in January.
EPA says discharges from the Los Alamos Urban Area, as defined by census data, and laboratory property in Los Alamos and Santa Fe Counties, contribute to New Mexico water quality problems. Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems run by Los Alamos County, the national lab, including DOE and its National Nuclear Security Administration prime Triad National Security, “would potentially be regulated as a result of this action,” according to the notice. For more information contact Evelyn Rosborough [email protected].
The Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory has acknowledged a data breach, discovered Nov. 20, caused personal identification information to be stolen for many current and former contractor employees.
The cybersecurity breach within a federally-approved, cloud-based Oracle human capital management system, according to a lab web site. Current and former staff for laboratory prime Battelle Energy Alliance were affected as well as some Idaho Cleanup Project employees between 2005 until mid-2006, when Fluor Idaho was taking over remediation.
“The laboratory is working with DOE, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and other national labs to investigate the breach,” according to the webpage. The laboratory will enroll affected individuals in credit monitoring and identity theft prevention programs at no costs.
The three finalists for the Los Alamos County, N.M., manager post, including the current deputy manager, will take part in a public “meet-and-greet” Dec.7, the county announced last week.
The three finalists to succeed Los Alamos County Manager Steven Lynne are the current deputy, Anne Laurent; Gretchen Cassini, transportation surtax administrator for Broward County, Fla.; and Tracey Jerome, senior deputy city manager for El Paso, Texas, according to a county press release.
Los Alamos County is the home of the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, the birth of which featured prominently in this year’s Oppenheimer movie. The current manager, Lynne, said in July he plans to retire in March 2024, according to the Los Alamos Reporter.
