New Mexico officials say federal chromium cleanup deal is stuck in limbo
State leaders claim the Department of Energy is delaying the signing of a settlement that would restart work on a toxic plume under Los Alamos.
By Andrew Kovalenko ·
State officials in New Mexico say the U.S. Department of Energy is dragging its feet on a critical agreement to clean up a toxic plume beneath Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The contamination is a mile long and more than 2,000 feet wide. It sits under Sandia and Mortandad canyons and has been present for decades. No physical cleanup work has happened since November 2025.
State Environment Secretary James Kenney said the federal agency has had nine weeks to sign updated settlement documents drafted after an August meeting. He argued that the delay suggests the Energy Department is no longer acting in good faith. Kenney warned that if the agency refuses to formalize the agreement, the state will move to enforcement litigation to protect the public and the San Ildefonso Pueblo.
The plume was first detected in 2004. A 2016 consent order started the official cleanup process. The Energy Department originally planned to pump, treat, and reinject the water. That method was paused in 2023 when regulators found high contamination levels in nearby wells. Work resumed in 2024 with changes but stopped again in November 2025. State regulators determined the plume had spread below San Ildefonso Pueblo and ordered the department to stop reinjecting water.
Stanley Pyram, the acting manager of the Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office, told the state Legislature’s Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee on Thursday that the plume is not an immediate threat to drinking water. He noted the plume is still moving slowly and that doing nothing is not a solution. The department is currently spending $400,000 to maintain a treatment system that has been idle since the 2025 order. Pyram said there are some disagreements on specific terms of the settlement but that his team is doing technical work to be ready when the deal is signed.
Kenney disagreed with the assessment that the situation is stable. He described the plume as uncontained and a threat because it is still migrating. He emphasized that the state needs a legally binding framework with milestones and deadlines to ensure real work begins. Sen. Jeff Steinborn, the committee chair, said the lack of an agreement means there is no commitment. He is exploring whether the Legislature can step in to legally dictate the cleanup if the parties do not resolve the dispute themselves.
The state also began revising the federal plan for legacy waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad earlier this year. Lawmakers signed a letter in September asking federal officials to restore access to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. The Energy Department did not respond to questions by deadline Thursday.
