
An agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy, state officials and local tribal governments has been extended for 10 years, allowing cleanup to continue at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory.

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Jeff Avery recently visited with the Accord Pueblos comprised of Pueblo de Cochiti, Pueblo de San Ildefonso, Pueblo of Jemez and Santa Clara Pueblo.

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management's (EM) longest established working group — the State and Tribal Government Working Group (STGWG) — drew the largest number of participants ever for its spring meeting, with nearly double the usual attendance.

EM recently brought together tribal people whose ancestors once occupied its cleanup sites for a first-of-a-kind discussion focused on improving protection, use and access of sacred sites by tribal people.

The Departments of Energy and Interior signed a memorandum of understanding to demonstrate a shared commitment to exploring greater tribal involvement in the protection and preservation of Rattlesnake Mountain as a sacred site as part of the White House Tribal Nations Summit held in Washington, D.C.
EM co-hosted a workforce development summit on Friday with the Energy Communities Alliance and Energy Facility Contractors Group that drew a diverse group of leaders from across the region.

DOE on Friday kicked off its “Cleanup to Clean Energy” initiative, an innovative effort to repurpose parts of DOE-owned lands — portions of which were previously used in the nation’s nuclear weapons program — into the sites of clean-energy generation.

Amid renewed interest in the atomic history of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), EM leadership had the opportunity to discuss and highlight the significant progress underway in the legacy cleanup mission at LANL during a visit last week.

With the recent uptick in interest in the role Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) played in the World War II-era Manhattan Project, EM Senior Advisor William White was joined by EM Los Alamos Field Office (EM-LA) officials in a visit to Los Alamos.
DOE is committed to improving the protection of tribal sacred sites — and access to those sites by tribes — through enhanced interdepartmental coordination, collaboration and action.