CARLSBAD, N.M. (KRQE) – The nation’s only deep underground nuclear waste storage site in southeast New Mexico might be looking at big cuts. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant’s main Carlsbad office is now listed on the chopping block by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency.
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The lease for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant’s (WIPP) Carlsbad field office recently popped up on the website for the Elon Musk-led DOGE effort, highlighting the cancellation of that lease. Democratic lawmakers are condemning the idea.
“Waste would sit at facilities around the country. Instead of being put somewhere where it can be safely managed, it would be stored on site, with all the risks that would come with that. With the forest fire risks, with the flooding risks, with the risk that things fall into the wrong hands or mishandled. All of those risks are mitigated by this site,” said New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich (D).
It’s still unclear exactly what could happen to WIPP. Since 1999, it’s been the primary storage site of some nuclear waste, thousands of feet underground. The Department of Energy oversees WIPP and the Carlsbad field office, which employs nearly 200 federal workers doing nuclear waste oversight work.
New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D) said WIPP is critical to national security and said any closure of the field office will jeopardize safety.
According to the DOGE website, terminating the lease on WIPP’s Carlsbad office would save the government more than $810,000 a year.
“It’s a completely irresponsible path forward and it’s not even an efficient path forward. No one’s advocating to shut these things down,” said Sen. Heinrich.
KRQE News 13 reached out to the Department of Energy Tuesday about the field office and its listing on the DOGE website but have not heard back yet.
The New Mexico Environment Department sent KRQE this statement:
The New Mexico Environment Department hasn’t received any news indicating the waste isolation pilot plant itself will be shut down. However, we are deeply concerned about staffing losses at the U.S. Department of Energy Carlsbad Field Office. The Environment Department’s WIPP team will continue to stay in contact with the remaining DOE staff and support them in every way we legally can.
Drew Goretzka, Director of Communications, New Mexico Environment Department