Dist. 43 Rep. Stephanie Garcia Richard chairs Wednesday’s Radioactive & Hazardous Materials Committee at UNM-LA. Courtesy photo

Committee Chair Sen. Peter Wirth, second from left, and Dist. 43 Rep. Stephanie Garcia Richard at Wednesday’s Radioactive & Hazardous Materials Committee meeting at UNM-LA. Courtesy photo

STATE News:

New Mexico senators and representatives traveled to Los Alamos Wednesday to hold a public hearing on the Radioactive & Hazardous Materials Committee.

Los Alamos’ Rep. Stephanie Garcia Richard chaired the hearing at UNM-LA, which focused on recent developments at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), surrounding waste management, disposal and the impacts current policies and practices have on New Mexico.

“Today’s meeting was a critical one because safety issues around recent events at WIPP and the temporary loss of the nation’s only functioning waste repository, highlight how important it is for the state to find additional ways to address these growing concerns,” Garcia Richard said.