Nuclear watchdog accuses ex-environment official of conflicting interests after she accepts LANL job

Nov. 29—A nuclear watchdog group wants a state commission to nullify its decision on a permit for Los Alamos National Laboratory's radioactive liquid waste treatment facility, arguing the panel's former chairwoman backed a ruling favorable to the lab while she sought a job with the federal agency that oversees it.

Critics say former state Water Quality Control Commission Chairwoman Stephanie Stringer, who also was a deputy secretary of the state Environment Department, is the latest in a series of New Mexico regulators going to work for entities they oversee after taking actions that appear to help their new employers.

Stringer was hired by the National Nuclear Security Administration soon after the commission froze all proceedings on whether to change a water quality permit for the lab to a more stringent hazardous waste permit.

Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety has filed a petition asking the Water Quality Control Commission to vacate that decision.

According to a timeline the group's attorney said was based on data obtained through public records requests, Stringer was in the midst of a job interview with the nuclear agency when she approved imposing a "stay" on any actions to revamp the lab's liquid waste permit.

Stringer agreed with the lab's argument the state should hold off until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ruled on a federal discharge permit for the waste facility.

Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety contends the nuclear security agency interviewed Stringer for a job Aug. 23, a week before she backed the stay, and then offered her the job on Aug. 31, the day after she signed the order. Stringer never disclosed she was pursuing employment with the agency, the group said in the complaint.

"This was all a secret [job] transition until it was done," said Lindsay Lovejoy, the attorney representing Concerned Citizens. "If this had been disclosed while the case was still pending. ... She would've had to disqualify herself."

The nuclear security agency declined to make Stringer available for an interview or to answer questions but did confirm she was hired Nov. 6 as supervisory program manager.

Making a regulatory decision that would help Stringer secure a job with an agency that manages the lab and its radioactive liquid waste facility appears to violate the state's ethics guidelines on conflicts of interest, said Charles de Saillan, an attorney formerly with the New Mexico Environmental Law Center.

One section states: "You shall not engage in any other employment or activity that creates a conflict of interest, interferes with your duties to the public, compromises your ability to discharge your duties to the public, or otherwise adversely affects the performance of your duties."

It goes on to say any outside employment must be disclosed in writing to a manager, though it doesn't mention anything about future employment.

Lovejoy said rather than use the state's ethics code, he's basing his arguments on case law. This includes a recent court ruling that states those acting as arbiters must disqualify themselves if making decisions on a future employer.

What's striking is this isn't the first time a potential conflict of interest has arisen over the permit, Lovejoy said. In 2019, an Environment Department hearing officer, Erin Anderson, had her decisions on the permit nullified after she accepted a job with the nuclear security agency.

One difference between the two cases is Anderson single-handedly made decisions she recommended to the environment secretary, and Stringer was part of a panel of 10 or so officials who made a ruling, de Saillan said.

Still, the commission's decision is final, giving it more weight, he added.

Whenever a regulator negotiates a job with the entity being regulated it can be problematic and that official needs to disclose it and recuse herself, de Saillan said.

Lovejoy said the nuclear agency doesn't want the permit changed to cover hazardous waste because that would require more oversight and seismic standards for the treatment facility and other nearby buildings, including two that will be added to the complex.

A treatment plant that handles radioactive material should be regulated under the state's hazardous waste law, he said, calling it simple and logical. A water quality permit in this situation is an ineffectual "fig leaf," which is why the Energy Department has fought for years to keep it, he said.

The EPA's permit, which is under review, is irrelevant overall and served as a reason to stall action on the state permit, Lovejoy said.

Jay Coghlan, executive director of Nuclear Watch New Mexico, said there's a long list of Environment Department officials who went to work for the lab or the agencies that manage it.

He noted Chris Catechis, acting director of the state Resources Protection Division, is going to work for the lab just weeks after Stringer took a job with the nuclear security agency.

Ryan Flynn, a former environment secretary under Gov. Susana Martinez, became executive director of the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association. Flynn now works as a top-ranking manager at Sealaska, one of two companies that handle water remediation and monitoring for N3B, the contractor in charge of cleaning up the lab's legacy waste.

Kathryn Roberts, who also worked under Martinez, was a group leader at the lab and then returned to the Environment Department in 2015. She's known for revamping the 2005 agreement between the state and Energy Department on waste cleanup into the more relaxed consent order approved in 2016.

Coghlan said there should be a cooling off period of at least a year before state officials can go to work for the industry they regulate.

A statute specifies officials who take industry jobs can't appear before regulatory panels in their former agencies, though this might not be enough, de Saillan said, adding the Legislature should at least discuss broadening the restrictions.

Lawmakers should be careful not to go too far in curtailing employment changes, given New Mexico has a limited job market, he said.

Joni Arends, executive director of Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, said something needs to be done to address the conflicts of interest caused by people jumping between regulatory and industry jobs.

"This practice doesn't protect the people of New Mexico or the land or the water or the air," Arends said. "It really needs to stop."