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TUES: US regulators delay decision on nuclear fuel storage license, + More

KUNM | By KUNM News
Published March 21, 2023 at 5:09 AM MDT
A mock-up of the design of Holtec International's proposed spent nuclear fuel storage site in New Mexico
Courtesy U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
A mock-up of the design of Holtec International's proposed temporary spent nuclear fuel storage site in New Mexico

US regulators delay decision on nuclear fuel storage license - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press

U.S. regulators say they need more time to wrap up a final safety report and make a decision on whether to license a multibillion-dollar complex meant to temporarily store tons of spent fuel from commercial nuclear power plants around the nation.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a new schedule Monday, citing unforeseen staffing constraints. The agency was initially expected to issue a decision by the end of March. It will now be the end of May.

The announcement comes just days after New Mexico approved legislation aimed at stopping the project. It's expected that supporters of the storage facility will take the fight to court.

New Jersey-based Holtec International already has spent an estimated $80 million in its pursuit of a 40-year license to build and operate the complex in southeastern New Mexico. Company officials said Tuesday that the delay in licensing would have only a minimal impact on the original timeline.

"With a project of this complexity, we understand the need for the regulating and licensing authority to have all the time and resources necessary to issue a licensing decision," Holtec spokesman Patrick O'Brien said in an email.

Holtec, elected officials from southeastern New Mexico and other supporters have been pushing hard to offer what they call a temporary solution to the nation's problem of spent nuclear fuel, which has been piling up at commercial reactors for years.

Since the federal government has failed to build a permanent repository, it reimburses utilities to house the fuel in either steel-lined concrete pools of water or in steel and concrete containers known as casks at sites in nearly three dozen states. That cost is expected to stretch into the tens of billions of dollars over the next decade.

The legislation signed by New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham last week requires that the state provide consent for bringing in such radioactive material. Consent from the Democratic governor would be unlikely, as she has argued that without a permanent repository, New Mexico stands to be the nation's permanent dumping ground.

Similar battles have been waged in Nevada, Utah and Texas over the decades as the U.S. has struggled to find a home for spent fuel and other radioactive waste. The proposed Yucca Mountain project in Nevada was mothballed and a temporary storage site planned on a Native American reservation in Utah was sidelined despite being licensed by the NRC in 2006.

That project would have been located on land belonging to the Skull Valley Band of Goshute. Utah's governor at the time — Republican Mike Leavitt — was among those fighting the effort. He and others were successful in getting Congress to amend a defense spending bill, essentially landlocking the site by creating the Cedar Mountain Wilderness and blocking a rail spur that would have delivered casks.

But it was only six weeks later that the NRC issued a license for the project.

Don Hancock with the nuclear watchdog group Southwest Research and Information Center pointed to the Utah case.

"If congressional action doesn't affect NRC decision making, there's no reason to think that New Mexico action has an effect," he said in an email Tuesday.

Elected leaders in Texas also were unsuccessful in keeping a similar project from being licensed by the NRC in 2021. Integrated Storage Partners LLC's initial plans call for storing up to 5,000 metric tons of spent fuel and about 230 metric tons of low-level radioactive waste for 40 years. Future phases could boost that capacity to 40,000 metric tons of fuel.

Holtec officials are disappointed in the New Mexico legislation and argue that their project is safe, would be an economic boon for the region and would not affect ongoing operations in the Permian Basin, which is one of the world's most productive oil and gas plays.

"Passing a bill that is pre-empted by federal law and will be adjudicated accordingly in the courts is a counterproductive action that inhibits the state's growth in the area of clean energy," O'Brien said, adding that local support has solidified the company's belief that the project is still viable.

President Joe Biden has received dueling letters from supporters of the project and from Lujan Grisham and others in opposition. The administration has acknowledged the role nuclear power will have to play in reaching its carbon emission goals and earlier this year put up $26 million in grants for communities interested in studying potential interim storage sites.

A new law aims to strengthen rural water systems - By Megan Myscofski, Source New Mexico

Anita LaRan has sat on the board of her water system in Mora County that connects dozens of homes to clean water since 2008.

A few hours south in San Ysidro, Ramón Lucero used to help run the system in the community where he raised his family and now works with people in the same position across the state to keep their water flowing, even as the manpower dwindles.

These two New Mexicans live in different communities and are connected by more than the water streams that provide fresh water for residents and agriculture, while also responding to the destruction caused by wildfires. They’ve seen crucial work go unfinished because people age out, pass on, cannot juggle their paying jobs with the volunteer work, or are left displaced by the wildfire destruction.

“I kind of got stuck with everything, and it’s kind of like a full-time job,” LaRan said.

Legislation passed by lawmakers in Santa Fe this year, and signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham last week could allow hundreds of small water systems that exist in the state to create associations that can collectively seek funding for repair work and, among other priorities, find the expertise to fill out required paperwork by state and federal entities.

Lucero saw the need for rural residents in his northern New Mexico community to move away, and then how that impacted the work to keep water flowing to residents.

“It left very few people in the community that were actually keeping up with maintenance,” he said.

HOW IT WILL WORK

The new law called the Regional Water System Resiliency Act was sponsored by Sens. Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe) and Liz Stefanics (D-Cerillos) along with Rep. Susan Herrera (D-Embudo).

Lujan Grisham signed the bill into law on March 13.

It creates the framework for these communities to efficiently pay people to work across multiple systems and ensure these places get reliable, safe water.

Under the law, two or more water associations in New Mexico can create an authority to form economies of scale and get more done. It allows them to elect leadership, run water facilities, create fee structures and use that money to keep up with maintenance, including road work to access acequias. They can also hire people to meet administrative demands across multiple systems, which is key in applying for federal or state money.

But it doesn’t require anyone to do it.

The water associations must be recognized by the New Mexico State Engineer and are ultimately approved by the Secretary of State.

Herrera said this is one of the most important pieces of legislation this session for her district in northern New Mexico.

“Because we have climate change, we have drought, we have fires, we have aging water systems and people don’t have the money or resources to fix them,” she said.

CONSOLIDATING WATER DISTRICT NEEDS

In 2016, LaRan helped form the Mora County Water Alliance, which connects five water systems.

The workload became so great, she and her colleagues began looking around for other small water systems to combine forces with, hoping that together, they could get more done and afford more services to address needs that weren’t being met.

Seven years later, they haven’t been able to lock in the team needed to keep the systems intact, test water health and file state-required reports.

Some systems took a hit with the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire last year. And she doesn’t believe the alliance in Mora is ready for a future with more instability brought on by climate change.

“We still don’t have someone on board to do the reporting, billing and bookkeeping,” she said.

She said there are also fewer people to do the manual work, like shoveling debris in ditches and access points in some of the water systems, especially acequias.

Lucero noticed similar problems.

“As we started moving from that generation to future generations, they got further from the day-to-day operations of the water system and further especially from all the reporting requirements,” Lucero, who works as a field manager for the Rural Community Assistance Corporation, said.

He said the problem began in the early 20th century, as Northern New Mexicans moved away for jobs in bigger cities and other states.

As people continue to move out of those communities, age out of the work or simply don’t have time to do it alongside full-time work and caring for family, or have been displaced by the massive fire, these systems don’t receive vital maintenance.

The infrastructure aged, and the new people running it couldn’t get funds from the state to fix it because they hadn’t been meeting the reporting requirements, which they didn’t understand. Lucero said at this point, the system requires a lot from volunteers that just isn’t sustainable.

His job is to help them navigate the reporting system so they can get the money to keep their water systems in shape. He said his organization has fewer than ten employees working with about 80 communities in the state alongside two other technical assistance providers.

“We just can’t keep up with that anymore. There’s just too many compliance issues, too many communities that lack the capacity to keep up,” he said.

A few communities in the state have dealt with this problem by combining resources to hire staff to work across a number of small systems. Lucero said those were a model for the Regional Water Resiliency Act, which he helped write.

Herrera, one of the bill’s sponsors, said this new law will help consolidate the patchwork relief she’s relied on as a legislator.

“In the past, I would put $50,000 Band-Aids on $5 million projects,” she added. To get money for these systems, she’d have to support separate legislation for each. Once they join together, they can go after state and federal money together through legislation or grants.

Herrera said that the New Mexico Finance Authority will incentivize mutual domestic water associations if they regionalize, or create the authorities.

In Mora County, LaRan has not only advocated for this type of cooperation between water systems, but saw firsthand the complications it can bring.

“Sometimes we don’t want to give up control,” LaRan said about the water associations in Mora County. “But I believe that a water system should be run like a business. It should be able to meet financial burdens. It should be able to have some funds available for major breakdowns.”

And she emphasized that while she sees this law as a help to that cause, there’s still a lot of work to do. Most importantly, the Mora County Water Alliance needs funds.

She said once that happens, the group can start to make plans not just for survival, but long-term resiliency.

“At the community level, a lot of people are still reacting,” she said, referring to damage caused by the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire. “But I think our goal should be to plan way ahead in the future because with climate change, we’re liable to have many more disasters.”

After 60 days, New Mexico lawmakers send more than 200 bills to governor - Austin Fisher, Megan Gleason And Shaun Griswold, Source New Mexico

By the end of the 2023 session on Saturday, the New Mexico Legislature had passed 241 bills.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has until April 7 to sign or veto legislation. After that date, any bills she leaves untouched will be “pocket vetoed.”

Lujan Grisham had signed 25 bills by noon on Saturday, which are marked with an asterisk (*).

Passed legislation is listed below and categorized by broad policy area. We have included explanations of key bills, with names and descriptions of those we couldn’t get to during the 60-day session.

ECONOMY

House Bill 505 would allocate $1.2 billion across thousands of capital outlay projects. Normally an uncontroversial piece of legislation, many Republicans lawmakers voted against the bill because it includes $10 million for a reproductive health care clinic.

YAZZIE-MARTINEZ

EDUCATION

ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE CHANGE

Millions would be allocated for environment and cultural conservation efforts among different state agencies if the governor signs Senate Bill 9 into law. This bipartisan effort would create a Conservation Legacy Permanent Fund, which could eventually funnel money into a Land of Enchantment Legacy Fund for environmental work.

This bill that once would have stopped prescribed burns during springtime completely is now a measure to ban them when the National Weather Service sends out red flag warnings, alerts that mean extreme weather conditions like hot temperatures, high humidity and strong winds are present.

Senate Bill 176 would allow acequia and irrigation associations to use dollars from the state’s acequia and community ditch infrastructure fund for disaster recovery needs. The legislation as introduced would have doubled the annual amount in that state fund from $2.5 million to $5 million, but Senate Finance removed that.

Aiming to diversify the Interstate Stream Commission, SB 58 would add more advanced expertise standards and require more geographic diversity throughout the state and Native nations, tribes and Pueblos.

GOVERNMENT & POLITICS

For a state with some of the lowest voter turnout rates in the nation, the New Mexico Voting Rights Act would make it easier to vote for different communities. The legislation, House Bill 4, would allow anyone convicted of a felony to vote once released from detainment. It would also enact the Native American Voting Rights Act, which would ensure that precinct boundaries are aligned with tribal political boundaries, allow voters, including those who are unhoused, to put down official buildings as addresses, expand early voting opportunities and send more resources to county clerks’ offices. Other accessibility measures in the bill include requiring at least two drop boxes in every county and automatically registering New Mexicans as voters.

HEALTH

  • House Bill 7: Reproduction and Gender-Affirming Health Care*

Lujan Grisham signed House Bill 7 into law on Thursday, March 16. It prevents government bodies or individuals from interfering with or discriminating against someone’s access or use of reproductive or gender identity health care. This legislation was the first abortion-related measure to make it through the Roundhouse, one of Lujan Grisham’s top priorities this session.

Senate Bill 13 would protect medical providers and patients getting abortion and gender-affirming health care services.

Sen. Liz Stefanics (D-Cerillos) hopes the Rural Health Care Delivery Fund bill could help fill holes in specialty health care in rural New Mexico. This legislation would allow providers in rural areas to apply for grant funding to start up new facilities or expand those that already exist.

POLICE & PRISON

New Mexico is the 27th state to abolish life without parole as a sentencing option for children sentenced as adults in the state’s criminal legal system. SB 64 also provides developmentally meaningful opportunities for hearings before the Parole Board either 15, 20 or 25 years into an adult sentence given to a child.

Lujan Grisham signed Bennie’s Bill into law on March 14. This legislation makes it a crime for anyone to make a firearm negligently accessible to a minor. If the minor accesses the weapon, it’s a misdemeanor, and if they hurt themself or others, it’s a fourth-degree felony.

Supreme Court seems split in Navajo Nation water rights case - By Jessica Gresko Associated Press

The Supreme Court seemed split Monday as it weighed a dispute involving the federal government and the Navajo Nation's quest for water from the drought-stricken Colorado River.

States that draw water from the river — Arizona, Nevada and Colorado — and water districts in California that are also involved in the case urged the justices to rule against the tribe. Colorado says siding with the Navajo Nation will undermine existing agreements and disrupt the management of the river.

But, arguing on behalf of the Navajo Nation, attorney Shay Dvoretzky told the justices that the tribe's current water request is modest. The "relief that we are seeking here is an assessment of the nation's needs and a plan to meet them," he said.

Arguing on behalf of the Biden administration, attorney Frederick Liu said that if the court were to side with the Navajo Nation, the federal government could face lawsuits from many other tribes.

Four of the court's justices, including its three liberals, seemed sympathetic to the tribe's case. But other conservatives including Justice Samuel Alito were skeptical during nearly two hours of arguments at the high court.

Alito asked about "some of the real world impacts" of the decision and suggested he'd seen figures indicating that "per capita water on the Navajo Nation is greatly in excess of per capita water for residents of Arizona." He pointed out that the Navajo Nation's original reservation was hundreds of miles away from the section of the Colorado River it now seeks water from.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh also asked about the potential consequences of siding with the Navajo Nation, pointing to a brief that said more water for the tribe would necessarily mean less water for Arizona, striking "at the heart of the social and economic livelihood" of the state "with dire consequences."

The facts of the case go back to two treaties the tribe and the federal government signed in 1849 and 1868. The second established the reservation as the tribe's "permanent home" — a promise the Navajo Nation says includes a sufficient supply of water. In 2003 the tribe sued the federal government, arguing that it had failed to consider or protect the Navajo Nation's water rights to the lower portion of the Colorado River.

A federal trial court initially dismissed the lawsuit, but an appeals court allowed it to go forward.

"Is it possible to have a permanent home, farm and raise animals without water?" Justice Neil Gorsuch asked at one point during arguments, suggesting sympathy for the tribe's case.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, participating in the case via telephone because she wasn't feeling well, said the government was making the argument that the Navajo Nation can't do anything to force the government to protect its water rights, something she suggested would have been an "odd agreement" for the tribe to make.

The Colorado River flows along what is now the northwestern border of the tribe's reservation, which extends into New Mexico, Utah and Arizona. Two of the river's tributaries, the San Juan River and the Little Colorado River, also pass alongside and through the reservation. Still, a third of the some 175,000 people who live on the reservation, the largest in the country, don't have running water in their homes.

The federal government says it has helped the tribe secure water from the Colorado River's tributaries and provided money for infrastructure including pipelines, pumping plants and water treatment facilities. But it says no law or treaty requires the government to assess and address the tribe's general water needs. The states involved in the case, meanwhile, argue the Navajo Nation is attempting to make an end run around a Supreme Court decree that divvied up water in the Colorado River's Lower Basin.

A decision in the case is expected by the end of June when the Supreme Court typically breaks for its summer recess.

___

This story has been corrected to show that the court seems split on the dispute, not that the court appeared to be leaning toward the government argument.

New Mexico gov to abusive caregivers: 'We're coming for you' - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press

Any caregivers who mistreat and abuse developmentally disabled or otherwise vulnerable people will be held accountable, New Mexico's governor and top health officials warned Monday.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, members of her cabinet and law enforcement officials gathered at the state Capitol to provide an update on ongoing investigations into an alleged abuse and neglect case involving a developmentally disabled person that was brought to the state's attention March 1.

The case resulted in the state terminating contracts with four providers in the Albuquerque area. It also prompted what the governor described as a forensic review of the entire developmentally disabled waiver system, which is meant to offer an alternative to institutional care.

Five more cases — including three in which individuals being cared for died — are under investigation. Officials said that they haven't determined if those deaths are tied to abuse or neglect.

Over the weekend, state health workers visited more than 1,000 people who are part of the federally funded waiver program. As a result, another eight potential cases warrant future review, officials said.

"If you're not providing the care that you were supposed to provide, we will find you and you will be held accountable. That's it — zero tolerance in the state of New Mexico. We are coming," Lujan Grisham said during a news conference.

Lujan Grisham, whose sister is developmentally disabled, called the recent cases in New Mexico alarming, and vowed that the state will not tolerate abuse, neglect and exploitation of any vulnerable populations.

Officials with the New Mexico Department of Health have been tight-lipped about the allegations that prompted the initial investigation and the cancellation of the providers' contracts.

Health Secretary Patrick Allen said Monday that the client involved in the March 1 case suffered life-threatening injuries but didn't provide further details.

He said that the other instances identified in recent weeks involve neglect such as malnutrition.

Lujan Grisham partly blamed the coronavirus pandemic and strict public health protocols that limited family members and other advocates from visiting patients, for some instances of neglect and abuse going unreported. She said telehealth visits and online wellness checks have been no substitute and the number of referrals for potential abuse or neglect dropped as a result. She suggested that also opened the door for other insidious behavior to go unchecked.

The governor pointed to a recent case in Michigan involving a 71-year-old woman who was born with a spinal deformity that left her unable to care for herself or to communicate. She starved to death in a group home.

Allen said his agency, along with the state's Aging and Long-Term Services Department, will be working to visit the remaining nearly 5,100 people who are participating in the developmentally disabled waiver program within the next 30 days.

The state also plans to schedule more regular visits going forward and to review entire case files, rather than only what providers submit to Medicaid for reimbursement.

Allen said the reliance on caregivers, limited transportation options, limited access to language interpreters or other assistive devices, and general isolation from the community can put people with disabilities at higher risk.

"Escaping abuse is difficult for any victim, but it's only compounded when the person abusing you is the one you rely on to help you dress and get out of the house," he said.

While all of the care givers allegedly involved in the initial March 1 case are no longer are working with clients, no criminal charges have been filed. Authorities stressed Monday that the investigations were ongoing.

One of the providers that had their contract cancelled — an agency that provided residential in-home care for the person — posted a statement on its website saying that it immediately notified state officials after learning of "significant injuries" to one of their clients after a caregiver chose to take that person out of state. They called the case heartbreaking.

The other providers offered case management, behavioral services and physical therapy for the victim. They too have said that they were unaware of the allegations.

Some plan to appeal the state's decision to cancel their contracts, citing reputations built over many years by serving people with disabilities.
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