Major Victories
Successfully settled a Clean Water Act citizens’ lawsuit against the US Department of Energy for the toxic discharges occurring at LANL.
Ensured that the EPA issued one of the most stringent individual storm water permits in the country, which required LANL to halt the migration of toxins at 400 of the worst sites at the Lab within 5 years, with 63 of the “worst of the worst” sites required to be completed in 3 years.
Through a Clean Water Act citizens’ lawsuit, mandated that LANL engage the public in a dialogue, including a stormwater-specific website and biannual public meetings, about its current efforts to prevent toxins from migrating from legacy waste sites.
Our campaign to protect Santa Fe’s drinking water from toxic threats from LANL caused the board of the Buckman Direct Diversion (source of 40% of Santa Fe’s drinking water) to request that LANL take steps to prevent LANL-origin contaminants from entering the water supply. Read more about the Buckman Diversion’s request and LANL’s response and the Memorandum of Understanding here.
Other Victories
Created dialogue and information-sharing on LANL issues between all 19 New Mexico Pueblos, the Apache Tribes, and the Navajo Nation.
Secured funding for technical experts representing community interests to monitor LANL’s permit compliance and advocate for Low Impact Development/ Green Infrastructure (LID/GI) approaches for addressing storm water discharges.
Submitted a petition to EPA demanding they hold LANL accountable under a permit for ongoing storm water discharges of copper, zinc, mercury, and PCBs from urbanized sites at LANL and Los Alamos County.
Through cooperative technical meetings with LANL staff, successfully advocated for the implementation of Low Impact Development/ Green Infrastructure (LID/GI) projects at the Lab. Several of these projects have been already been constructed.
Successfully advocated for monitoring and reporting requirements for radionuclides in the Rio Grande.