Six TRUPACT transport containers sit outside the Waste Receiving and Processing facility (WARP) on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation June 30, 2005 near Richland, Washington. Each container holds 14 55-gallon drums of transuranic (TRU) waste that has been processed and will be sent to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. (Photo by Jeff T. Green / Getty Images)
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) appears to have targeted a building lease for the Carlsbad field office overseeing the country’s only underground nuclear waste disposal site, prompting immediate censure from members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation.
The Department of Energy Carlsbad Field Office is in the Skeen-Whitlock building, a 90,000- square foot facility that houses 200 workers who manage the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant – better known as WIPP.
WIPP itself is not at the Skeen-Whitlock building. The underground waste depository lies in a saltbed about 26 miles east of Carlsbad and is the nation’s only storage site for defense-related nuclear waste. Most of the items disposed of are soiled with elements heavier than uranium – such as plutonium.
The building was listed as one of the more than 7,000 leases listed as terminated by DOGE, but there is no additional information. Members of the U.S. The Department of Energy national and Carlsbad Field Office did not respond Tuesday morning to a request for information.
The building’s potential closure poses risks to both the environment and national security, U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) said in a written statement.
“The abrupt closure of the Skeen-Whitlock building would further strain our ability to manage nuclear waste effectively,” Vasquez said. “It is imperative that DOE and GSA provide immediate clarity on this issue and work collaboratively to ensure that WIPP’s mission is not compromised.”
U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) also issued a statement Tuesday, saying he will fight the closure of the facility.
“WIPP is critical to our national security. Now, Elon Musk and President Trump are jeopardizing WIPP’s operations and its ability to safely manage the disposal of nuclear waste”, Luján said. “The Carlsbad Field Office exists to ensure that WIPP can safely and effectively conduct its operations, and a potential closure could lead to delays in nuclear waste disposal and puts our environmental safety at risk.”
Luján’s statement further noted that closing the field office “would not only undermine the safety protocols at WIPP to protect the public and environment but also will put hundreds of federal jobs in one of the most rural areas of our state at risk.”
Members from Vasquez’s office sent an email Monday to the U.S. General Services Administration, which manages the federal government’s leases, writing that the closure was “deeply concerning.”
“The Carlsbad Field Office has already lost approximately 30% of its staff in the past month. This office is home to WIPP emergency response staff, who play a critical role in ensuring the safe management of defense-related nuclear waste,” legislative assistant Emily Hartshorn wrote. “Closing this facility would pose a serious risk to national security.”
The GSA acknowledged the email from Vasquez’s office early Tuesday, but did not provide any further information about the leases’ status.
A person answering the phones at Cowperwood Company, which owns the Skeen-Whitlock building, said that the company would not comment nor confirm if it had received a termination notice from the GSA, saying: “that’s just not something we’re willing to discuss at this time.”
Don Hancock, the Nuclear Waste Safety program director and administrator at the nonprofit Southwest Research and Information Center, said the potential closure raises questions about where workers would relocate to or if the termination would mean a larger step to closing the site.
“WIPP can’t operate without workers in Skeen-Whitlock and the WIPP site,” Hancock said. “That obviously has major implications for not only Carlsbad, New Mexico, but also for North Carolina, a major shipper of waste and Idaho, which has a legal agreement requiring WIPP to be open and receiving shipments.”
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.