Los Alamos County · issues
Civic issues
Topics getting the most attention in Los Alamos County public meetings, ranked by how frequently they come up.
Hexavalent Chromium Groundwater Cleanup
County staff and San Ildefonso Pueblo leaders jointly urged congressional delegation support for continued chromium plume cleanup, DOE infrastructure funding for energy communities, and new well substitution; DOE's EM office signaled support for a replacement well — a first.
Fix Our Forests Act support
With red flag warnings, PNM has disabled automatic reclosers on transmission lines, raising outage risk. Staff also explained the May 8 townwide outage stemmed from unprogrammed relay settings, with a fix expected within two weeks.
Environmental Sustainability Board vacancy
Two applicants interviewed for the open seat left by Anna Buckthorpe, and a recommendation goes to council on October 27 — meaning the seat should be filled by the November meeting.
Natural gas phase-out and electric future
The county has a goal to phase out natural gas (10% reduction by 2030) but usage hasn't budged in 25 years. Councilor Havemann urged nudging the development code toward all-electric new construction; Foxdale Flats power comes online next spring and the carbon-neutral-by-2040 goal has seen little progress.
Bear-resistant cart shortage and wildlife conflict
A resident reported bears destroying trash can lids and asked for more funding for bear-proof carts; the manager said more carts arrive October 14.
Construction dust and tree protection on private development
Councilor Cull raised complaints about dust from the North Mesa construction site during a drought. Staff said code requires dust mitigation on larger projects but doesn't specify methods like barrier fencing, and the tree mitigation policy currently applies only to county projects — a countywide version may come next year.
Annual ESB Update and Climate Action Plan Alignment
Quarterly update on the county's path to carbon neutrality by 2050: EV fleet conversions, the 170-megawatt Foxtail Flats solar project with battery storage, EV chargers at the library, and a planned food composting program RFP.
EV charging and composting program buildout
Two DC fast chargers are going in at Mesa Public Library by October, county fleet chargers come next, and food composting is pivoting to hiring a contractor to handle commercial food scraps and residential yard trimmings after obstacles to building a county site.
Integrated pest management update
Two and a half years after adopting the IPM plan, the county is redesigning medians and exploring a five-year crack-seal rotation to cut weed growth without heavy chemical use. But hiring and keeping entry-level parks and streets workers remains hard, largely due to the housing shortage.
Stormwater Environmental Regulation
State proposals for total maximum daily loads in the upper Rio Grande — E. coli, PCBs, temperature — would add monitoring and discharge requirements to the county's wastewater permit at its 2027 renewal.
Bee City Los Alamos pollinator program
In its third year, the program has given native plant kits to over 150 properties, built a blooming pollinator area at the golf course, and is relocating its demonstration garden. Its grant ends in October and renewal is pending.
Climate Action Plan working groups
The board's working groups haven't met, and the discussion of how to organize them was pushed to September. That delays board work on parks priorities.
Biosolids composting operation
The county turns wastewater biosolids, horse manure, and yard trimmings into compost instead of hauling waste 80-120 miles to landfills. About 250 dry tons of finished compost are produced yearly and distributed free at the eco station. New EPA rules on PFAS and microplastics could affect the program.
Proposed NMED methane leak regulation
The state environment department proposes using satellites and aircraft to detect natural gas leaks and require owner response within three days — a rulemaking in its early stages that targets a major greenhouse gas source the county's climate plan currently ignores.
Proposed federal changes to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act
Proposed changes to 36 CFR 800 would drop ethnographic landscapes, remove cumulative and setting effects, sideline tribal and state historic preservation officers, and eliminate public participation in federal historic review. Gregory warned it would fundamentally change how historic preservation works nationwide and affect the lab's roughly 1,300 projects a year.
Chaco Culture National Historical Park Land Withdrawal
The Interior Department is considering revoking or shrinking the 10-mile buffer protecting Chaco Culture park, and the council voted 4-2 to send an opposition letter. One resident argued the change is largely symbolic because little exploitable oil and gas exists in the buffer.
Expanded Recycling Services Study Rejected
Councilor Hand reported council voted 4-3 against directing the board to study expanding single-use plastics recycling, mainly because the board already has too much on its plate.
LANL Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement briefing
Greg Mello of the Los Alamos Study Group asked for agenda time to discuss the lab's rapidly expanding pit production mission, saying safety standards are being lowered and the community's early support is eroding.
Wildlife assessment project kickoff
Consultants outlined a year-long, three-phase study of deer overpopulation, vehicle collisions and human-wildlife conflict, including mapping future collision zones.
Uranium drilling in Carson National Forest
The council sent a 6-1 letter asking that the NEPA process be followed before any uranium exploratory drilling in the Carson National Forest.
Hard-to-recycle waste handling in Los Alamos
With an EPA grant rescinded, county staff are pivoting to an RFP for composting and food-waste services — food waste is about 17% of the local waste stream, and yard trimmings need an end market. April's diversion rate was 31%.
WIPP Out-of-State Waste Acceptance
Council considered sending a letter to the state environment secretary opposing or addressing acceptance of waste from outside New Mexico at the Carlsbad waste repository — an issue of statewide concern for nuclear communities.
Bayo Canyon radiological easement
DOE wants a recorded easement over 1.5 acres of Bayo Canyon where strontium-90 sits 8 to 40 feet underground, shielding the county from liability while keeping trails open. Excavation for roads and utilities is allowed but not below elevation 6,620 feet.