New Mexico's top environment officials and the U.S. Energy Department are wrangling over more than $54 million in fines levied in the wake of a radiological leak at the federal government's underground nuclear waste repository.
Now, state officials are threatening even more fines if the Energy Department doesn't accept responsibility for numerous violations outlined in compliance orders issued by the state last year. The New Mexico Environment Department is working on a new compliance order that could include fines of more than $100 million.
Negotiations are ongoing.
State officials and community leaders from New Mexico traveled to Washington, D.C., this week to discuss cleanup efforts. Organizers of the trip want to ensure that fines against Los Alamos National Laboratory for its role in the leak are paid by Energy Department and not taken out of the lab's cleanup budget.
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