{"id":620927,"date":"2018-08-31T08:41:23","date_gmt":"2018-08-31T14:41:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=620927"},"modified":"2018-08-31T13:31:50","modified_gmt":"2018-08-31T19:31:50","slug":"nm-senators-speak-out-over-order-they-say-would-hamper-nuclear-safety-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/08\/nm-senators-speak-out-over-order-they-say-would-hamper-nuclear-safety-board\/","title":{"rendered":"NM senators speak out over order they say would hamper Nuclear Safety Board"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Los<\/a>

Larry Lamsa \/ Creative Commons<\/p>

Los Alamos National Laboratory.<\/p><\/div>\n

New Mexico\u2019s U.S. senators are asking Congress to block a Department of Energy order that would limit a federal board\u2019s access to information<\/a> about nuclear facilities and could hinder its ability to oversee worker health and safety.<\/p>\n

In a letter<\/a> sent Wednesday to the leaders of a Senate appropriations subcommittee, Democratic Sens. Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall also asked their colleagues to block impending staff cuts and a broad reorganization at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. New Mexico is home to three of the 14 nuclear facilities under the board\u2019s jurisdiction: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel strongly that these two matters facing the [safety board] and its future must be suspended while Congress and the public have time to review and\u00a0offer constructive feedback\u201d on how to maintain and improve the board, the senators wrote to Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the chairman and ranking member of the energy and water development subcommittee.<\/p>\n