BY RANDALL RYTI
Democratic Candidate for
Los Alamos County Council

Protecting the environment has always been a priority for me – not just preserving and protecting the environment by implementing the recommendations of our resiliency, energy, and sustainability task force and environmental sustainability board. I also keep a close eye on LANL legacy waste cleanup progress by participating in the Department of Energy Environmental Management (DOE EM) Technical Work Group and attending community meetings with the New Mexico Environment Department. Successful cleanup protects human health and the environment and provides the opportunity for beneficial re-use of lands. In fact, cleanup to re-use is one of the objectives of the DOE EM program nationally and successes in this area have been highlighted at the recent National Cleanup Workshop.

Protecting the environment also includes the careful and pragmatic development or redevelopment of available or underutilized land and buildings in the County to best meet the needs of the community. This way we can continue to protect open spaces for community benefit. 

This is why I propose that the County has an environmental review process that includes expert analyses and is open for public dialog and addresses impacts to open space or other resources. This environmental review process would address the potential for impacts on the plants, animals, current users and potential new users and attempt to reconcile any conflicts. I am in favor of making this process a County policy document, which would lead to more consistency in the process and how it is applied.

It benefits everyone to ensure the long term sustainability of the local environmental, which includes water resources. I think we can continue tp be more efficient in our use of groundwater, which serves all current and planned future uses for the County.

If you want more information on my priorities for a second term, please visit my website https://www.ryti4council.com/.  You can contact me there or send an email with any campaign questions to ryti4council@gmail.com. I thank you for reading this letter and I ask for your support in the general election.