Forest Service Restoration Appealed

Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety and other groups are appealing a recent U.S. Forest Service decision to proceed with restoration of an area along the Rio Grande near the Buckman Direct Diversion for a project that includes recreational trails and day-use facilities. Concerned Citizens has concerns about “legacy” contamination from Los Alamos National Laboratory carried to the Buckman area in years past and buried in an old floodplain. Concerned Citizens wants, among other things, more extensive data collection and analysis to determine contamination levels in the 34-acre project area. “We must understand the nature and extent of the LANL legacy wastes in order to protect workers, schoolchildren, and the Rio Grande watershed,” the group’s Dec. 31 appeal states. Other appellants have raised concerns about herbicides that will be used to remove non-native plant species...more