2.3.17.030 Findings

The Council hereby finds and declares that:

(a) hazardous materials used and produced at the Los Alamos National Laboratory ("LANL") facility, along with hazardous wastes generated because of site operations, have been released to the environment beginning in the 1940s.

(b) of imminent concern is a large chromium groundwater plume under LANL in the regional groundwater aquifer that is migrating to the south and southeast towards Pueblo lands.

(c) in 2014, in response to the New Mexico Environment Department ("NMED") requirement that the Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration ("DOE/NNSA") address migration of chromium beyond the LANL boundary, the Pueblo and DOE negotiated terms whereby DOE/NNSA was permitted to install and operate a monitoring well within the Pueblo's Sacred Area for the purpose of studying groundwater quality for a five-y ear period.

(d) that Limited Access Agreement for the well identified as SIMR-2 was renewed in 2020 for an additional five-year period to allow for continued monitoring of the chromium plume.

(e) the NMED, the DOE/NNSA, the DOE Office of Environmental Management ("DOE/EM"), the entity responsible for addressing DOE legacy environmental matters, and the Pueblo have determined the need to install an additional monitoring well in the Pueblo's Sacred Area to provide critical data on the movement of the chromium plume.

(f) the NMED, the DOE/NNSA, the DOE/EM, and the Pueblo have determined an appropriate location for the second monitoring well identified as SIMR-3 within the Pueblo's Sacred Area as shown on the map attached hereto as Exhibit A.

(g) the proposed location for the monitoring well is within a part of the Sacred Area that was previously evaluated and approved by a tribal cultural survey committee consisting of representatives from the North and South Kivas when determining the location of the SIMR-2 well.

(h) the Council has been briefed on the immediate need for a second monitoring well in the Sacred Area as the data from that well could determine future mitigation and remediation actions for the chromium plume, and the need for a Limited Access Agreement to permit the well on tribal lands and establish terms of use for the Pueblo's resources, including compensation for the use of the Pueblo's water during construction and operation of the well.

(i) the Council has determined that it is in the Pueblo's best interest to approve the installation of a second monitoring well in the Sacred Area at the location identified on Exhibit A and to authorize the negotiation of a Limited Access Agreement for the well.

(j) the Council recognizes the importance for work to continue between the Pueblo's Department of Environmental and Cultural Preservation ("DECP") and DOE/EM to install the monitoring well as quickly as possible after the Council's approval for the well location, including in the interim period while the terms of the Limited Access Agreement are being negotiated and finalized.