New Mexico Environment Department Secretary Ryan Flynn speaks to citizens on the revisions to the Compliance Order on Consent Order which governs hazardous waste cleanup by Los Alamos National Laboratory. Photo by Bonnie J. Gordon/ladailypost.com

Members of the public and NMED staff listen to Katherine Roberts, director of the Division of Resource Protection at NMED, as she gives an overview of the changes  to the Compliance Order on Consent Order which governs hazardous waste cleanup by Los Alamos National Laboratory. Photo by Bonnie J. Gordon/ladailypost.com

Representatives from the New Mexico Environment Department were at the Los Alamos County Council Meeting Room Thursday to meet with members of the public during the 45-day public comment period on the revisions to the Compliance Order on Consent Order which governs hazardous waste cleanup by Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Citizens have until May 16 to comment on the proposed changes, The meeting was the third of a series held in Albuquerque, Espanola and Los Alamos. Members of the public were invited to meet one-on-one with Department Secretary Ryan Flynn and his staff Thursday. NMED is also soliciting comments by email at kathryn-roberts@state.nm.us or visiting https://www.env.nm.gov/

 Visit https://www.env.nm.gov/HWB/lanlperm.html#COOC  to view the revised document.

“The public meetings will provide transparency for the continuing cleanup of legacy waste at Los Alamos that is described in the Draft Consent Order,” said New Mexico Environment Department Secretary Ryan Flynn.

“We’ve gotten a lot of good ideas from members of the public,” Flynn said.”

“Any cleanup work not completed under the former 2005 Consent Order will be carried forward by its inclusion in the Draft Consent Order,” Flynn assured the group. “We are optimistic that the updated Draft Consent Order, once finalized, will serve as a stronger tool for substantiating federal budget requests for greater cleanup funds.”

The major change in direction represented by the revisions is more time and effort spent on near-time planning, Flynn said. “We want to maintain a sense of urgency,” Flynn said. Formerly, reviews were 10 years down the road, or even longer, he said.

Another change is that the public will review the progress of the clean up every year, rather than at the end if a 29-30 year process, Flynn said.

“The Department of Energy and must meet the objectives we’ve set out, but we will only rule on whether they have met them,” said Katherine Roberts, director of the Division of Resource Protection at NMED, which oversees dump sites and hazardous waste areas. “We won’t tell them how to meet the objectives.”