Public Comment Opportunities about LANL’s “Final Remedy” for the Hexavalent Chromium Plume

In an utterly confusing move, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) released an environmental assessment for public review and comment that claims it contains the final remedy for the cleanup of the hexavalent chromium plume in the regional drinking water aquifer.  CCNS says it is confusing because a final remedy cannot be proposed before a full determination is made of the lateral and vertical nature and extent of the contamination in the plume.  It is premature for LANL to ask the public to provide comments on a proposed “final” remedy because LANL does not know the nature and extent of the contamination.

LANL claims it prepared the draft environmental assessment to evaluate the potential environmental impacts from a combination of treatment options.  From there, LANL “would use adaptive site management (ASM) to select, implement, and manage removal of hexavalent chromium from source areas and the groundwater.”  But, again, such a statement is premature because LANL does not know the nature and extent of the contamination in the regional drinking water aquifer.

Nevertheless, LANL released an over 200-page, two-volume draft environmental assessment for public review and comment.  Public comments must be received by Monday, February 12, 2024.

LANL offers four “final” remedy options.

In the first option, LANL would install up to 15 new injection wells, 15 new extraction wells and 15 new groundwater monitoring wells into the 1,000 foot deep regional drinking water aquifer and extract and inject treated waters, up to 550,000,000 gallons per year, back into the aquifer.

The second option facilitates mass removal of the hexavalent chromium with land application of the treated waters.  There are ongoing concerns about where the land application would take place.

The third option is mass removal through in-situ treatment to supplement treatment of contaminated groundwater.

The fourth option is monitored natural attenuation that relies on natural physical, chemical or biological processes to reduce contamination over time.  This option may result in the drinking water aquifer never being cleaned up.

Be sure to bring your questions to the LANL in-person and virtual public meetings the week of January 22nd.

On Monday, January 22^nd, LANL will host an in-person meeting at the Cities of Gold Hotel and Casino Ballroom, at 10 Cities of Gold Road, in Pojoaque, from 6 to 8 pm Mountain Time.

On Wednesday, January 24^th, LANL will host a virtual meeting from 1 to 3 pm Mountain Time.

Connection details are available at nuclearactive.org.

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2. Friday, January 5, 2024 from noon to 1 pm MT ***  NEW LOCATION DUE TO RECONSTRUCTION OF GUADALUPE BRIDGE.  ***  Join the weekly peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament on the corners of Alameda and Sandoval in downtown Santa Fe with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, Pax Christi, Nonviolent Santa Fe, and others.

3. Monday, January 8^th – NM Public Regulation Commission hearing about the proposed New Mexico Gas Company LNG plant in Bernalillo County – public comments needed. For more info:  https://www.newenergyeconomy.org/lng , https://calendar.google.com/calendar/event?eid=MHU2N3B1ZTY3NXJ1dmU3bmw3M3BqN3ZyM2ggbm1wcmMxQG0&ctz=America/Denver

4. Tuesday, January 9^th – Santa Fe Board of County Commissioners will consider sending a letter to LANL asking for an extension of time to submit comments. Please ask your Commissioner to support the letter.  https://www.santafecountynm.gov/committees/board-of-county-commissioners-bcc

5. Wednesday, January 10^th – City of Santa Fe Council will consider the amended resolution opposing plutonium pit production at LANL to include concerns about the proposed Electric Power Capacity Upgrade, EPCU, Project at its first meeting of 2024. Ask your councilors to support the amendments to include the EPCU Project concerns.   https://santafe.primegov.com/public/portal

6. NEW DATE: Holloman 5 Anti-Drone Trial rescheduled to Thursday, January 11^th in Otero County, NM.  https://www.veteransforpeace.org/our-work/working-groups/drones-robots-and-future-weapons-working-group      http://www.shutdowndronewarfare.org/     https://www.codepink.org/shutdowndrone

7. Wednesday, January 17, 2024 – Public Comments due about Los Alamos National Laboratory Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade Project Draft Environmental Assessment (DOE/EA-2911) for construction and operation of a new 115 kilovolt (kV) power transmission line and upgrading LANL’s existing infrastructure. A sample public comment letter you can use to ask for an extension of time is available at http://nuclearactive.org/ .   The Draft EA is available in the NNSA NEPA Reading Room at: https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/nnsa-nepa-reading-room or directly at https://energy.gov/nepa/doeea-2199-los-alamos-national-laboratory-electrical-power-capacity-upgrade-project 

Tags: adaptive site management, ASM, draft environmental assessment, extraction wells, final remedy, groundwater, groundwater monitoring wells, hexavalent chromium plume, in-situ treatment, injection wells, land application, LANL, Los Alamos National Laboratory, monitored natural attenuation, nature and extent, regional drinking water aquifer