Federal officials have backtracked on plans to cancel a lease for office space in New Mexico where dozens of U.S. Department of Energy employees who oversee the nation’s only underground nuclear waste repository are based
BySUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Federal officials have backtracked on plans to cancel a lease for office space in New Mexico where dozens of U.S. Department of Energy employees who oversee the nation’s only underground nuclear waste repository are based.
The move came Thursday after U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez and other members of the state’s congressional delegation raised concerns, noting the importance of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant to the nation’s multibillion-dollar effort to clean up tons of waste from decades of bomb-making and nuclear research.
The office building in question also houses contract workers involved in operations at the underground facility outside of Carlsbad.
The Energy Department confirmed in a statement to The Associated Press that the General Services Administration had revoked its prior notice to exercise termination rights for multiple department facility leases, including the office building in Carlsbad. The department said the move ensures “that these mission-critical operations continue without disruption.”
Vasquez said the initial notice to terminate the lease as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink government spending was reckless