NMED Secretary James C. Kenney Speaks about LANL Cleanup and WIPP at Fourth Annual Interfaith Vigil

July 23rd, 2026 in Action Alerts / Events / Weekly News Updates
Share
 

On Sunday, July 19th, the Secretary of the New Mexico Environment Department, James C. Kenney, was the keynote speaker at the 81st Anniversary of the Trinity Atomic Bomb Test in central New Mexico.  The event took place at the St. Michael’s High School in Santa Fe.

Kenney has been the Environment Department Secretary for over seven and a half years. https://www.env.nm.gov/general/james-c-kenney/ He has been instrumental in bringing large federal agencies to task for ongoing and legacy pollution in New Mexico.

For example, he and his staff have worked to address PFAS groundwater contamination that has migrated off Cannon Air Force Base near Clovis. https://sourcenm.com/2026/05/13/nm-environment-officials-u-s-air-force-agree-to-pfas-cleanup-plan-around-cannon/

Likewise, Kenney and his staff have challenged how the Department of Energy (DOE) have dragged their feet to ship legacy plutonium-contaminated waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). https://nuclearactive.org/doe-strongly-opposes-nmeds-proposal-to-get-waste-off-the-hill-in-los-alamos-what-now/, https://wipp.energy.gov/

Kenney spoke about his trips to Washington, DC to meet with DOE officials about LANL and WIPP issues.  He told stories about how federal funding was diverted away from a local priority to ship LANL legacy waste to WIPP.

He asked, “Why has LANL’s environmental budget dropped $50 million in the last few years? So if [DOE] is going to tell me [it] is committed to Los Alamos but the budget tells me [it is] not committed to Los Alamos [as shown by a] $50 million reduction in clean up money. I don’t know about you all, but I don’t find that to be honest. I also don’t find it to be honest where DOE-Los Alamos had their contractor N3B and in 2021 they withheld spending $120 million on cleanup and rolled it into the next fiscal year.”

He explained, “So we have multiple enforcement actions related to things like the hexavalent chromium plume at Los Alamos, but when it comes to the legacy waste, we should hold all the cards? We have the only waste repository in the entire country. We agreed as a state to host the nation’s only waste repository: good, bad or ugly. This is where we are. And yet most of the waste going to WIPP is not coming from New Mexico’s legacy waste sites like Los Alamos.”  https://www.env.nm.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2026-02-11-COMMS-NMED-acts-to-hold-DOE-accountable-for-legacy-waste-Final.pdf

Kenney then asked how New Mexico accepted the risk to put that waste repository here when the waste is coming from “everywhere else in the country but our own back yards.”  He said, “It’s insulting – you should be infuriated. I am very angry.”

  1. The new film, An Ordinary Insanity, about the renowned whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and the Nuclear Threat is available for FREE at https://www.anordinaryinsanity.com/. To view the 29-minute film, go to the Screenings Page at https://www.anordinaryinsanity.com/screenings    The film is a powerful wakeup call about the global threat posed by nuclear weapons and advocates how we can dramatically reduce the real and present danger of nuclear annihilation.

PLEASE SHARE ONLINE and SCREEN AT PUBLIC EVENTS.

 

  1. Michael Moore put his film, “Sicko,” about the unequal health care system in America on YouTube. Watch it here for free.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ4TQ9q8rPc

 

 

  1. Friday, July 24th 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.

 

 

  1. Monday, July 27th – Join the Fight! New Mexico v. The Nuclear Industry. The deadline to request a hearing and petition for leave to intervene in the Crownpoint-Churchrock ISL Project. For more information: federalregister.gov/d/2026-10440 and  www.tinyurl.com/nmnuketoolkit

 

 

  1. Tuesday, July 28th from 1 to 7 pm at UNM Student Union Building, Ballroom C – NM Public Regulation Commission Public Comment Hearing regarding the application for TXNM Energy, PNM’s parent company. to be acquired by Blackstone Infrastructure. Visit https://www.pnm.com/ or see Notice of Public Comment Hearing for more details about the hearing.  https://www.reliablepowernm.com/

 

 

  1. Wednesday, July 29th submit public comments to protect the Greater Chaco region through your favorite environmental advocacy organization, such as New Mexico Wild, or directly to BLM at https://eplanning.blm.gov/Project-Home/?id=d949f582-402d-f111-8341-001dd804183b

 

 

  1. Thursday, July 30th at 6 pm at Pie Town Community Center – Town Meeting re: Red Basin Uranium Mine Project. Located about 15 miles northwest of Datil, accessed via US 60 and FR 6/Davenport Canyon.  Approximately 850 mining claims covering approximately 33 square miles of Cibola National Forest. To review the entire application of NovaCore Exploration Inc. – Ane Minimal Exploration Project, go to https://www.emnrd.nm.gov/mmd/ca030em-novacore-ane-minimal-impact-exploration-project/
 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments

No comments so far.

  • Leave a Reply
     
    Your gravatar
    Your Name