Rotarian Bob Hull briefs the Rotarians on the Northern New Mexico Citizens Advisory Board at their regular weekly meeting Feb. 4 at Cottonwood on the Greens. Photo by Linda Hull
BY LINDA HULL
Rotary Club of Los Alamos
Rotarian Bob Hull, Principal Engineer for Los Alamos Technical Associates and Vice-Chair of the Northern New Mexico Citizens Advisory Board, spoke at the Feb. 4 Rotary Club meeting, describing the work and goals of this board.
The Northern New Mexico Citizens Advisory Board (NNMCAB) was chartered as a
site-specific advisory board for Los Alamos in 1997. There are eight of these boards around the country in communities potentially affected by Department of Energy (DOE) environmental management operations cleaning up legacy waste created before 1990.
The mission of the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) is to address cleanup of the US Cold War environmental legacy resulting from decades of nuclear weapons production and government-sponsored nuclear energy research. DOE-EM has been charged with cleaning up 107 sites whose area is equal to the combined area of Rhode Island and Delaware. DOE-EM has completed cleanup at 91 of these sites.
The goal of these site-specific advisory boards is to involve stakeholders through awareness and education. The NNMCAB has representatives from the northern Pueblos and communities such as Las Vegas, Española, Los Alamos, and Taos. In addition to input from state and federal agencies and non-government organizations, any member of the public may participate by attending and being heard at the NNMCAB meetings.
The NNMCAB submits the recommendations of its members, representing the concerns of its diverse community views, to the local DOE Environmental Management office (DOE/EM-Los Alamos). The NNMCAB strives to keep the public informed about key DOE issues, upcoming decisions, and its recommendations to DOE.
The NNMCAB is dedicated to increasing public involvement about environmental
remediation and legacy waste management activities at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), including the hexavalent chromium groundwater contamination plume at LANL beneath Sandia and Mortandad canyons near the boundary with Pueblo de San ldefonso.
The NNMCAB does not address current operations for waste cleanup at LANL that are currently the responsibility of TRIAD. It addresses only legacy waste that was generated from 1990 or before. It also is not responsible for addressing environmental issues at Sandia National Laboratory or the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) site.
The NNMCAB is looking for members from organizations including, but not limited to, the following: County/City/Tribal governments, public or private educational institutions, minority groups, labor organizations, civic groups, environmental groups, public health and health care organizations, business groups, and neighborhood groups. Note that membership in an organization is not a requirement for membership in the CAB.
If you are interested in becoming a NNMCAB member, please contact: Menice
Santistevan, NNMCAB Executive Director, menice.santistevan@em.doe.gov, (505)
989-1662. The NNMCAB office is located in Pojoaque at 94 Cities of Gold
Road.