The New Mexico Environment Department has issued an initial approval of a plan that will leave radioactive and hazardous waste located at Sandia National Laboratories sitting in shallow, unlined pits and trenches over Albuquerque's sole source aquifer next to one of the city's fastest growing urban areas.
Under the plan proposed by the Department of Energy and Sandia National Laboratories (DOE/SNL) the Mixed Waste Landfill, a 2.6-acre Cold War waste site containing an estimated 100,000 cubic ft. of waste, will be left in the ground, covered over with dirt and "monitored forever." The landfill is located just a few miles from the Mesa del Sol residential development planned to be built within the next 10 years.
Sue Dayton, Director of the public interest group Citizen Action which opposes DOE/SNL's plan for the Mixed Waste Landfill, said that she is
extremely disappointed that the New Mexico Environment Department is tentatively supporting a plan that does not protect nearby communities over the long-term and poses a potential threat to Albuquerque's sole source aquifer.
"The landfill has no lining, the inventory is speculative at best, much of the waste will remain essentially hazardous forever, and other landfills at Sandia have already contaminated the aquifer," said Dayton. "Can Sandia, DOE and the Environment Department guarantee that the Mixed Waste Landfill will never contaminate the aquifer as other landfills at Sandia have already done? If not, it needs to be cleaned up - now."
Dayton further pointed out that the Environment Department has ignored the findings of at least 6 independent scientists who have concluded the
Mixed Waste Landfill should be excavated and cleaned up to protect human health and the environment. The studies, citing numerous deficiencies in
DOE/SNL's plan for the Mixed Waste Landfill, were conducted by independent scientists contracted by both Citizen Action (see: www.radfreenm.org) and the Consortium for Environmental Education and Technology Development (WERC) at www.werc.net.
A public hearing has been scheduled for the Mixed Waste Landfill where comments from citizens and testimonies of independent scientific experts will be heard, and representatives from DOE/SNL and the Environment Department must support their positions. Environment Department Secretary Ron Curry will make a final decision for the landfill based on public comments and experts' testimonies received at the hearing.
The public hearing will begin on Thursday, December 2, 2004, 9 a.m., at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center, 2500 Carlisle Blvd. N.E., Albuquerque.
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