New Mexico hopes to have more say in where radioactive waste is stored

*Editor’s note: This story has been updated with information from the New Mexico Governor.

SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – New Mexico’s nuclear roots go back decades, and decisions over radioactive materials are often driven by the federal government. But the state’s politicians hope New Mexico will have a stronger voice in future decisions.

Among the many bills passed during the legislative session, lawmakers approved Senate Bill 53. And Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has already signed the bill, which seeks to give New Mexico stronger negotiating powers with the federal government over the storage of nuclear waste.

Under the new law, the state will make a task force to negotiate with the federal government over when and where waste is stored. The task force will include representatives from key state agencies, including the Department of Health, the Department of Public Safety, and the Environment Department.

Those representatives will try to negotiate with the federal government over future storage of nuclear materials in the state. Already, tens of thousands of drums of transuranic waste have been stored underground in southern New Mexico, and some stakeholders think New Mexico shouldn’t be the nation’s nuclear dumping ground.

“This is a momentous step forward to show the world that we can protect ourselves from never-ending radioactive waste. Our communities will no longer allow our Sacred Homelands to be sacrificed and contaminated by nuclear colonialism,” Leona Morgan, a Diné anti-nuclear activist and community organizer, said in a press release.

On Tuesday, March 21, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham sent a letter to the federal U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission re-affirming the idea that New Mexico doesn’t want to be home to a proposed nuclear disposal facility currently being planned in Lea County. “The State of New Mexico remains steadfast in its opposition to the issuance of a license by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the proposed Holtec International (Holtec) facility in Lea County, New Mexico,” the Governor wrote.