NGOs Apply for Appropriations Funding to Protect Communities from LANL’s Migrating Hexavalent Chromium Plume

On November 18th, 2025, the New Mexico Environment Department withdrew its temporary authorization to the U.S. Department of Energy and ordered it to cease the injection of “treated” groundwater back into the regional sole source drinking water aquifer. Elevated levels of hexavalent chromium above regulatory standards had been detected for the first time in the deep regional drinking water aquifer beneath Pueblo de San Ildefonso. It had migrated through the complex geology of the Pajarito Plateau, where Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is located, to deep groundwater below the Pueblo’s lands. The discovery was made during the drilling of a new monitoring well, known as SIMR-3, or San Ildefonso Mortandad Regional – 3, located just south of the boundary between LANL and the Pueblo.  https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/Attachment-54-November-18-2025.pdf

The discovery that hexavalent chromium is migrating across the boundary has raised new concerns about how communities, tribes, land grants, acequias, mutual domestic water associations, and others can protect their waters from migrating contamination.

This week two non-governmental organizations, CCNS and Common Ground Rising, submitted funding requests through the office of U.S. Representative Teresa Leger Fernández to the U.S. congressional appropriations committees under the Safe Drinking Water Act.  Their intention is to protect the designated Española Basin Sole Source Aquifer from migrating LANL contamination. https://fernandez.house.gov/ , https://www.epa.gov/dwssa

According to the 2020 Census, 135,000 people now rely on this aquifer for drinking water — double the 65,000 recorded in 2000. Surface water dependence has declined as rising temperatures, reduced snowfall, and diminished spring runoff have created persistent drought conditions.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The aquifer was designated in 2008 when Zane Spiegel, Ph.D., and Elaine Cimino of Common Ground Rising worked together to submit an application to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to protect the aquifer. At that time, the EPA had funding for tribes and communities to do mitigation work when the aquifer was threatened by contamination.

It also provided for tribal mitigation and emergency water management, replacement water-supply assistance, immediate remediation support and source-water protection planning.  Soon thereafter the mitigation funds stopped, leaving a protection framework without the financial tools needed to implement it. This situation represents a regulatory gap at precisely the moment when federal involvement is most needed. https://commongroundrising.org/

Now is the time to restore the mitigation funds; thus, the requests for funding to protect the tribes and communities that rely exclusively on the aquifer for drinking water.

To support this effort, please sign the community support letter 260311 Community Coalition Letter, and email it to: https://fernandez.house.gov/contact/

1. Friday, March 13^th from noon to 1 pm – Join the nuclear disarmament community at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval in Santa Fe for the weekly peaceful protest in support of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Join with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners.

2. Saturday, March 14^th at 11 am – New Energy Economy and co-host Collected Works Bookstore host Karen Hao, an award-winning reporter and bestselling author of Empire of AI, at St. John’s United Methodist Church at 1200 Old Pecos Trail (and virtually via zoom).

3. Wednesday, March 18^th from 5 to 7 pm MDT at Cities of Gold, Tribal Room, Pojoaque – EM-LA and N3B will discuss the Hexavalent Chromium Campaign at a hybrid meeting. For more information and to join the meeting, go to https://n3b-la.com/public-meeting/emcf-3-18-2026/

4. Monday, March 23 – Wednesday, March 25^th at New Mexico State Capitol in Santa Fe – New Mexico Environment Department, Air Quality Bureau, virtual public hearing before the Environmental Improvement Board to increase the permitting fees for oil & gas operations. The fees have not been increased in 20 years and 70% of the increased fees would go for accountability for industry for air pollution.  Case No. EIB 25-77 (R) – Repeal and Replacement of 20.2.71 NMAC, Operating Permit Emissions Fees, and 20.2.75 NMAC, Construction Permit Fees. For more information, go to https://www.env.nm.gov/public-notices/ and scroll down to EIB 25-77 (R).

5. Saturday, March 28^th at 11 am at NM State Capitol Roundhouse for Protest, March and Distribution of Whistle Kits. Sponsored by Indivisible Santa Fe.

6. Saturday, April 4 to Saturday, April 11^th – Shut Down Drone Warfare at Alamogordo and Holloman AFB.  Nmvetsforpeace@gmail.com

Tags: CCNS, Common Ground Rising, DOE, drinking water aquifer, Elaine Cimino, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Española Basin Sole Source Aquifer, hexavalent chromium, LANL, Los Alamos National Laboratory, mitigation funding, New Mexico Environment Department, NMED, Pajarito Plateau, Pueblo de San Ildefonso, Safe Drinking Water Act, San Ildefonso Mortandad Regional-3, SIMR-3, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Representative Teresa Leger Fernández, Zane Spiegel Ph.D.