The security gate for the Quivira (formerly Kerr-McGee) uranium mine just north of the UNC uranium mine site, which operated from 1977 to 1982. (Photo Kalen Goodluck for New Mexico In Depth)
New Mexico could soon be cleaning up some of the hundreds of abandoned uranium mines and other contaminated sites around the state and paving the way for continued efforts — if $50 million for that purpose remains in the state budget.
There are at least 302 “orphan sites” in New Mexico, where “known or suspected contamination is causing a threat to human health or the environment,” according to the New Mexico Environment Department. These sites, in addition to about 50 old uranium mines, aren’t eligible for cleanup under any existing programs, and the state can’t identify any responsible parties.
The state would use the funding to begin cleaning up those roughly 350 sites.
In addition to those orphan sites and the 50 or so old uranium mines the state would be targeting, there are another 200 some odd former uranium mines in New Mexico, some in various stages of cleanup. Many of the old mines in the state are on or near tribal lands, and Indigenous communities have advocated for remediation for decades, citing ongoing health and environmental impacts.
Rep. Joseph Hernandez, D-Shiprock, and his family, along with many others in the state, have “gone through numerous doctors appointments, numerous times taking care of our elders who either worked in the industry or are family members of someone” who did, he said last month during a committee hearing. Hernandez recounted stories his mother would tell about his grandfather getting home after long shifts in a nearby mill with uranium dust coating his clothes.
“And this dust today continues to get blown through our communities, not just on Navajo,” Hernandez (Diné) told the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee. “This is communities throughout New Mexico. Many families feel left behind.”
Hernandez and Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, both sponsored bills this year to add in the state budget $50 million for cleaning up contaminated sites, including old uranium mines. That money is now in the $10.8 billion proposed budget the House passed last week.
The funding would be a “drop in the bucket,” Steinborn said in an interview on Friday. The state environment department already has plans for two sites to be remediated, one of which is a uranium mine estimated to cost between $4 and $8 million. The other is a site with chemically contaminated soil and groundwater estimated to cost $5 million to clean up, the agency reported in a bill analysis.
The money would allow the state to “begin to characterize more of the sites, do some cleanup work, and then lay the groundwork for a plan to do much broader efforts,” Steinborn said.
He wants more specifically for uranium cleanup. He’s sponsoring Senate Bill 276, a proposal to put $75 million in the uranium mine reclamation revolving fund.
Since Steinborn was first elected to the Legislature nearly two decades ago, lawmakers have been talking about the need, he said, but weren’t making progress — until 2022. During that session, lawmakers mandated the state develop a strategic plan for cleanup and created the revolving fund.
But the fund has sat empty in the three years since then.
Money deposited in the fund would be used for “site assessments, safeguarding, closure designs, surface reclamation, groundwater remediation, and monitoring, where appropriate,” reads a November presentation state environment department staff gave lawmakers on the interim Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee.
For some of the abandoned mines, there are owners that the state, including the attorney general, could go after legally, Steinborn said. But some of the companies don’t exist anymore, and some of the mines aren’t eligible for cleanup under any federal programs.
That’s where the state should step in, he said.
With just a few weeks left in the session, Steinborn said he continues to advocate for $75 million for the revolving fund, but “we’re going to have to fight to ensure” $50 million for cleanup of contaminated sites more broadly — which would include abandoned uranium mines but wouldn’t be exclusive to cleanup of those sites — stays in the budget.
The Senate is “having to make budget adjustments and fill some budgetary holes, as it’s been explained, that weren’t addressed in the House,” said Steinborn, who sits on the Senate Finance Committee, tasked with reviewing the budget.
“If they’re having to come up with money to fill some holes, a $50 million pot of money sitting there, it could be attractive to some to say, ‘Hey, let’s make that number a little smaller and help fill a hole somewhere else.’ So it’s going to require continued advocacy and education to preserve that, which I will be doing and others should as well,” he said.