Nation - New Mexico Watchdog group sues to halt plutonium factory

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- A watchdog group has filed suit in federal court to halt a multibillion-dollar plutonium building planned at Los Alamos National Laboratory until an environmental study can be done. The Los Alamos Study Group's lawsuit alleges the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration violated the Environmental Protection Act by preparing to build the Chemical and Metallurgy Replacement Nuclear Facility without a new environmental impact statement. Jennifer Wagner, an NNSA spokeswoman, said NNSA is preparing a supplement analysis for the nuclear facility, a process that determines whether an existing environmental impact statement should be supplemented, a new environmental impact statement should be prepared or no new documents are required. NNSA did an environmental statement in November 2003 for an earlier version of the project, but the Study Group contends the facility has substantially changed since then and would have greater environmental impact. The lawsuit said a sitewide environmental impact statement that NNSA published in April 2008 did not describe or analyze the facility now proposed. Published: Thu, Aug 19, 2010

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