Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

Throughout the 1960s, government scientists searched for an appropriate site for radioactive waste disposal, eventually testing a remote desert area of southeastern New Mexico where, 250 million years earlier, evaporation cycles of the ancient Permian Sea had created a 2,000-foot-thick salt bed. In 1979, Congress authorized the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The WIPP facility, located 26 miles southeast of Carlsbad, N.M., was constructed during the 1980s. Congress limited WIPP to the disposal of defense-generated TRU wastes. In 1998, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) certified WIPP for safe, long-term disposal of TRU wastes. The first shipment of TRU waste was sent from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in March 1999.

WIPP has two primary regulators: the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) and the EPA. In accordance with Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the EPA may authorize states to implement their own hazardous waste regulatory programs. The NMED regulates WIPP by way of a Hazardous Waste Facility Permit (HWFP) that details how the facility is to manage, store and dispose of the hazardous components, such as solvents, that are present in WIPP’s “mixed” waste. Mixed waste at WIPP contains both radioactive (TRU) and regulated chemically hazardous materials. The HWFP is renewed every 10 years.

City of Carlsbad, New Mexico

Eddy County, New Mexico

Lea County, New Mexico

Carlsbad Field Office Tribal Program

Carlsbad Department of Development

• Mission: The Carlsbad Development Department works with various economic development partners and agencies to promote economic growth in Carlsbad and Eddy County.

• Contact: cdod@developcarlsbad.org

Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce

• Mission: To provide leadership, guidance and support to the business community for the promotion of economic, community and tourism growth in the Carlsbad area.

• Contact: https://www.carlsbadchamber.com/info-requests

Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance

• Mission: ELEA was formed between Carlsbad, Hobbs, Eddy & Lea Counties to support joint economic development efforts in the region.

• Contact: cdod@developcarlsbad.org

Salado Isolation Mining Contractors (SIMCO) – SIMCO is the DOE’s management and operations contractor at the Waste Isolation Plant (WIPP). SIMCO is comprised of Bechtel National Inc. and includes Los Alamos Technical Associates (LATA) as a New Mexico-based small business teaming subcontractor. 

Navarro Research and Engineering - Navarro provides technical and professional services to support the Department of Energy (DOE) Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) and WIPP.

CAST Transportation – CAST Transportation and Visionary Solutions provide trucking services to transport TRU waste from DOE waste generator sites around the country to WIPP.

Federal Government

• U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D)

• U.S. Senator Ben Ray Lujan (D)

• U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D) (NM-02)

State Government

• Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham (D)

• State Sen. Jim Townsend (R) (District 34)

• State Sen. David Gallegos (R) (District 41)

• State Sen. Larry Scott (R) (District 42)

• State Rep. John Henry (R) (District 54)

• State Rep. Cathrynn Brown (R) (District 55)

Local Government

• City of Carlsbad Mayor Rick Lopez (R)

U.S. Department of Energy, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

• Dan Sweet, Manager of Communications & Public Affairs, SIMCO

  • Phone: (503) 970-4449; E-mail: dan.sweet@wipp.doe.gov

• Valerie Gohlke, Public Affairs Manager, Carlsbad Field Office

  • Phone: (575) 988-3474; E-mail: Valerie.Gohlke@cbfo.doe.gov

Carlsbad City Council

• Wanda Aguilar

  • Phone: (575) 887-1191; Email: mayor.office@cityofcarlsbadnm.com