From our friends over at the Santa Fe Reeper (sfreeper.com):The latest Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) brouhaha unfolded yesterday, when the New Mexico Environment Department slammed the lab with a hefty $960,000 penalty for failing to properly monitor radioactive pollutants in nearby watersheds. This time, it’s particularly scary: the groundwater in question provides drinking water for Los Alamos County, White Rock and the lab itself—“and it may well be the same aquifer that’s connected to the Buckman well field,” the environment department’s hazardous waste bureau chief, James Bearzi, says. Without proper monitoring, Bearzi worries the lab’s cleanup of Material Disposal Area G, its only active (and unlined!) waste disposal site, due to be finished by 2015, may do little to deal with the radioactive contaminants leaching into New Mexico’s precious water resources.
LANL, of course, sees things differently. [...]See the full story here.
BTW: Has anybody seen the actual LANL morale survey results yet? We're ready to do the rollout, just waiting on our copy...
22 comments:
From the SF Reeper story:
"“The laboratory has a history of denial,” Bearzi says. “If you go back 15 years, the laboratory denied that anything toxic or dangerous could even get to the aquifer”—to the point that the state basically had to force it to put in the necessary monitoring wells, he says."
Baerzi hasn't seen anything yet. Just wait 'til he sees how Mikey's public affairs office spins the lies. Time to bring out Roark again.
PBI's Baby! Performance Based Initiatives. That's what it's all about up here on The Hill these days.
The fine was too low. It should have been $79 million. Then we could have seen what effect it had on our beloved leader's bonus.
Will somebody *please* send Frank or Doug a copy of the survey results? We know some of you upper-level managers have access to them.
Here are the survey results.
Month 1 - It is shit.
Month 2 - Is smells like excrement.
Month 3 - It has an exotic smell.
Month 4 - It smells like a rose.
1:18,
You left out
Month 5 - Baaaahh! I'm afraid that LANS management will fire me if I say what I really think, if it can be said that Sheeple, in fact, really think.
Are fines paid out of profit or overhead or directly by NNSA? I don't think LANS cares about fines, since they don't pay them.
I believe any fine, whether environmental or PAAA, is now deducted from their fee.
I believe any fine, whether environmental or PAAA, is now deducted from their fee.
11/25/09 4:55 PM
This is true, at least in regard to PAAA. The "not-for-profit" exemption that UC enjoyed went away when LANS took over. In the PAAA case, UC avoided over the years many millions in fines. To my knowledge, UC actually paid fines levied by NMED, thart they couldn't get out of or reduce by litigation.
Let's see... State of New Mexico is running a deficit, need to keep NMED up and running. What to do? Oh, of course! Let's fine the Laboratory/the DOE/the taxpayer $1M. This is not new for NMED. Need dollars, fine the Laboratory!
Understatement of the decade: “The laboratory has a history of denial,” Bearzi says.
You think!
11/26/09 8:24 AM sure has it all figured out. Must be one of them thar conservatives. They know that if more money's needed for the good ol' military industrial complex, just stir up good serving of fear. Yea that's the ticket. "Look over there America ...the boogy-man is'ah coming! Just send us a few more billion America, and we'll protect you!" The Lab of course, like any good made man with the mob, always gets it's cut. That's the way it works folks!
7:39 am: "if more money's needed for the good ol' military industrial complex"
Oh, it's Mr. Military Industrial Complex again. Let me ask you about your "complex." Do you think the country could survive economically without an industrial complex? Do you think the country could defend its security without at least some part of that complex being devoted to the military? So what exactly is your problem? Assuming that you care about the economic and military security of the country.
11/26/09 8:24 AM sure has it all figured out. Must be one of them thar conservatives...
11/27/09 7:39 AM
No, not a conservative. Watched how NMED works for too long, however. Go figure--progress is slow in env. remediation because DOE is slow to fund the work (among other reasons, of course). What does NMED do? Take more $$ from the Laboratory. Great work if you can get it!
Opps!! .....
-
Shipping mix-up triggers Sunport security (KOB TV, Nov 24)
An apparent mix-up at Los Alamos National Laboratory created a security frenzy Monday evening at the Albuquerque International Sunport when a box with explosive residue was sent through security.
Sunport officials say the item from Los Alamos was supposed to be shipped by ground to California but somehow was in the process of being shipped by air.
A Sunport spokesman says a crate with the material was set to leave on a Southwest commercial flight to California but never made it on the plane when an explosives alarm went off at a cargo building.
A Sunport spokesman says the item from Los Alamos wasn’t dangerous but a small amount of trace explosives on the material tripped the alarms. The package did reportedly have a label that said “Explosives.”
"Here are the survey results.
Month 1 - It is shit.
Month 2 - Is smells like excrement.
Month 3 - It has an exotic smell.
Month 4 - It smells like a rose."
11/25/09 2:07 PM
....followed by:
Month 5 - This shit is really good!
Month 6 - Let's bring in some more of this great smelling shit!
Month 7 - LANS has decided to make the lab a Center of Excellence in the study of Shit-ology!
But...but, we're the best and brightest!!!
But...but, we're the best and brightest!!!
11/30/09 12:50 PM
Not anymore. They have already left.
$960,00 is a drop in the bucket for LANS. Mikey will make a quick call to his "Top Gun" Brett "Ace" Knapp to eliminate two heads from the Weapons Program. Brett now has X-Division employees as apart of his herd. Why do think Mikey gave Brett X-Division? Moooo!!!
The problem about contaminants in the aquifer isn't due to the unlined pit in Area G! It is the acid pit at TA-21 that for years processed Pu and dumped the acid effluent into a field next door. It is the handling of waste that was a long standing industrial practice in years past that is not considered BAD. Two things need to be made clear here. The first is that we are paying for the sins of the past and the NMED is using fear and greed to get it fixed. Even when the areas have been fixed per agreement, the problems willm unfortunately still remain. And second, I hope that they analytical chemistry being used in all of these studies isn't being performed by C-AAC! The quality of their programs are in questions and not being fixed. Management has been aware of the matter but it has been business as usual!
The problem about contaminants in the aquifer isn't due to the unlined pit in Area G! It is the acid pit at TA-21 that for years processed Pu and dumped the acid effluent into a field next door. It is the handling of waste that was a long standing industrial practice in years past that is not considered BAD. Two things need to be made clear here. The first is that we are paying for the sins of the past and the NMED is using fear and greed to get it fixed. Even when the areas have been fixed per agreement, the problems willm unfortunately still remain. And second, I hope that they analytical chemistry being used in all of these studies isn't being performed by C-AAC! The quality of their programs are in questions and not being fixed. Management has been aware of the matter but it has been business as usual!
This is the LANS response to NMED informing them to stick their "demand". He really does a good job of telling LANS workers "see what NMED did to you".
From the desk of Michael Graham
ADEP Team Members,
I wanted to take a moment to address what you probably saw in the newspapers this morning: a $960,000 demand for payment from the New
Mexico Environment Department.
We respectfully disagree with the demand for payment. We believe we have submitted compliant documents to NMED on Material Disposal Area
G, we take strong issue with the implication that we refuse to monitor radionuclides, and we said so to any news media who asked.
We sincerely hope to resolve this disagreement in the near future and move forward with the next steps in the remediation process.
It's important that you know that this proposed fine is not a reflection on your performance. As our customer, George Rael of the Los Alamos Site Office, recently told the Northern New Mexico
Citizens Advisory Board, "2009 was the best year ever for Environmental Programs."
Thanks to your hard work, we have made remarkable progress toward meeting our waste management and cleanup obligations.
I want to thank all of you for your support and dedication. Through your efforts, we did have a solid year of performance across the organization.
While Monday's news may be a distraction, I urge you to continue to remain focused on safety, quality, and strong performance. I want 2010 to be EP's safest year.
Thank you, and have a happy and safe Thanksgiving.
Michael Graham
Michael Graham is wasting his time with his well reasoned, logical arguments. Logic and reason has nothing to do with it. Nice try, though.
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