Whistleblower sounds alarm as Trump moves to silence nuclear watchdogs

New Mexico’s top environmental official warned lawmakers Tuesday the Trump administration could curtail the state’s ability to oversee federal facilities around the state — especially at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

At a Santa Fe presentation before the Radioactive and Hazardous Waste Materials interim committee, state Environment Secretary James Kenney outlined the state’s recent actions to require the U.S. Department of Energy, which oversees the nation’s nuclear mission, to address legacy waste cleanup and pollution in New Mexico.

Kenney highlighted regulatory clashes with federal operators this year: The state issued nearly $16 million in fines over legacy waste and issued new requirements for the permit to operate the nation’s sole nuclear waste disposal site in southern New Mexico.

He said while the state remains in talks with contractors and top DOE officials to address next steps, he warned that specific watchdogging of federal facilities at NMED’s Department of Energy Oversight Bureau remains dependent on federal grants.

The office has overseen the water, air and environmental monitoring projects at LANL and Sandia National laboratories since 1990, and later included the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad. Lapsed federal funding threatened the office’s operation in May 2025.

Kenney characterized recent conversations during which U.S. DOE officials “have threatened to pull the money” for the office — which is entirely grant-funded — and noted the grant is up for renewal next year.

“Oversight is happening, and I don’t want anyone to think it isn’t, but I worry for the longevity of our ability to oversee the federal government specifically, Los Alamos,” he told lawmakers. “If they’re don’t like what’s happening from a regulatory standpoint and their answer is, ‘we’re going to modify or take away grant money.’”

In response to a Source NM inquiry about Kenney’s assertions that federal officials had threatened the state’s oversight grants, Justin Doil, a DOE Office of Environmental Management spokesman, said in a statement that the grant is to be used for “non-regulatory activities.”

“Modifying permits is a regulatory activity. Grant recipients are responsible for adhering to the terms of DOE-awarded grants and ensuring staff use grant funds within the scope and conditions of the grant,” he said in the statement.

Kenney urged lawmakers to “demand” the federal government continue funding oversight.

“I think our ability to oversee the federal government needs to be one you’ve all bipartisanly supported, one in which we hold the federal government accountable,” Kenney told lawmakers.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said they were concerned that New Mexico remains a “dumping ground” for legacy waste, and said the underfunding of cleanup extended through multiple presidential administrations.

Even with that acknowledgement, Sen. Harold Pope (D-Albuquerque) said the action by the executive to potentially remove grant funding puts the state in “unprecedented” circumstances.

“We can all put blame on all the past administrations (for not making these) investments on the clean up, or prevention and remediation,” Pope said. “But I think these are even worse times when in some cases, bills are passed from Congress and grant funding gets pulled by the President, the executive.”