Group seeks more scrutiny of Sandia National Labs radioactive waste dump

By Bryant Furlow 6/30/10 10:14 AM

An aerial view of the mixed waste landfill circa 1987. A nuclear waste watchdog group says the state hasnt done enough to make sure radioactive and toxic waste isnt leaking from Sandia National Labs mixed waste landfill. Rebuffed by regional U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials, Citizen Action New Mexico now wants agency brass in Washington, D.C. and New Mexico Attorney General Gary Kings office to review the state Environment Departments regulation of the site. The mixed waste site is an unlined landfill on the southern edge of Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque. It contains radioactive waste, solvents and other chemicals that were buried between 1959 and 1988. Because the pit is not lined, toxic waste from the site could leak and contaminate Albuquerques groundwater, Citizen Action director David McCoy told The Independent. The group wants that waste removed from the site. Groundwater could be in danger, group says McCoy said problems with Sandias groundwater monitoring efforts mean nobody can be sure pollution is not leaking from the site. The monitoring wells fail by design, he said.

But the state Environment Department, tasked with oversight of pollution at the national labs, does not agree. The Department has permitted Sandia to leave the waste in place and to cover it with dirt. A November 2006 Environment Department staff study concluded the labs groundwater monitoring efforts at the site would detect any migration of pollution from the site. And EPA officials declared the Environment Departments oversight of the mixed waste site sound in 2007. But in December 2007, citing evidence groundwater flows in a different direction than reported in the Environment Department study, McCoy enlisted Sen. Jeff Bingamans help in an effort to have the departments report reviewed by the EPAs National Risk Management Research Lab in Ada, Okla. Officials at EPA Region 6 in Dallas, Texas, who oversee the state Environment Department, denied that request. EPA intentionally hid information, inspector general found Following up on a complaint from Citizen Action NM, the EPA Inspector General concluded this April that EPA Region 6 officials had intentionally hidden information about the waste site from the public. EPA Region 6 conducted its 2007 and 2008 review of the site by phone and in-person specifically to withhold information from the public and avoid creating public records that might be obtained by Citizen Action, the report states. EPA Region 6 officials also classified their review of the Environment Department oversight of the landfill as confidential to prevent its public disclosure, the report states even though the report contained no classified information. The inspector generals report released in April stopped short of calling for a new review of the sites pollution monitoring. Since 2007, Sandia has installed three new monitoring wells around the landfill, but McCoy believes they were drilled to the wrong depth to detect water pollution. They were improperly installed well below the water table, McCoy said. In light of the inspector generals report, Bingaman and Citizen Action in May again asked the EPA to review the Environment Department water monitoring study. New wells show waste isnt leaking, EPA says

In a letter dated June 10, EPA Region 6 again denied Bingamans request, arguing that the new monitoring wells show no evidence that groundwater pollution is spreading from the landfill. Our position on Mr. McCoys request remains the same, EPA Region 6 administrator Al Armendariz wrote in the letter to Bingaman. The monitoring wells continue to show no indication of groundwater contamination from the landfill. We believe the current configuration of the wells is adequate and protective of human health and the environment. Armendarizs letter reiterated that the Environment Departments overall actions and decisions were technically sound. Now that EPA Region 6 has twice refused to review groundwater monitoring at the site, McCoy has asked EPA headquarters and the state AGs office to step in. He hopes the AG will refer the Environment Department study directly to the EPA lab for review, bypassing EPA Region 6. Weve been pretty frustrated about getting to the truth of the situation, McCoy said. We asked for the AG to send the report to be reviewed by the EPA Kerr Research Laboratory in Ada, Oklahoma. The report was used to dismiss public comments regarding the monitoring wells at the Sandia mixed waste dump (but) never received peer review. The Kerr Lab is capable to provide the required peer review. The group has not yet received a final decision from either EPA headquarters or the AGs office about whether or not they will become involved.