DOE officials visited 4 Pueblos in NM to meet with Tribal leaders, demonstrating DOE’s commitment to government-to-government relations with Tribes.
Office of Environmental Management
August 17, 2017
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LOS ALAMOS, N.M. – DOE officials visited four Pueblos in New Mexico this month to meet with Tribal leaders, demonstrating DOE’s commitment to government-to-government relations with Tribes. In above photo, San Ildefonso Pueblo Elder Tim Martinez discusses the Pueblo’s 800-year history in the Sacred Area with Acting EM Assistant Secretary Jim Owendoff; Roger Jarrell, Senior Advisor to the Energy Secretary for EM; EM Office of Regulatory, Intergovernmental and Stakeholder Engagement Director Rob Seifert; EM Los Alamos Field Office Tribal Lead Mike Gardipe and EM Office of Intergovernmental and Stakeholder Programs Intern Laura Mansfield.
Those Tribes — Santa Clara, Cochiti, Jemez, and San Ildefonso — signed agreements with DOE in 1992 to formalize the government-to-government relationships and address issues involving Tribal land, associated Pueblos, and surrounding communities.
Acting EM Assistant Secretary Jim Owendoff, EM Los Alamos Field Office Manager Doug Hintze, Roger Jarrell, Senior Advisor to the Energy Secretary for EM, and others met with the Santa Clara Pueblo and toured the Puye Cliffs, Santa Clara’s ancestral dwellings, with Gov. Michael Chavarria and his staff.
They surveyed projects to restore areas of the Santa Clara Canyon damaged by flooding related to the Las Conchas fire in 2011. The Tribe continues to be concerned with storm water events threatening the Pueblo.
“Our life is embedded to these lands,” said Chavarria, who stressed the importance of continued dialogue with DOE.
Left to right: San Ildefonso Pueblo Gov. James Mountain; EM Los Alamos Field Office Manager Doug Hintze, Acting EM Assistant Secretary Jim Owendoff; Jemez Pueblo Gov. Joseph Toya; Roger Jarrell, Senior Advisor to the Energy Secretary for EM; Cochiti Pueblo Gov. Eugene Herrera; and Cochiti Pueblo Lt. Gov. Bernard Suina.
The DOE officials met with Cochiti Pueblo Gov. Eugene Herrera and the Tribe’s Environment Department staff. Members of the Cochiti Pueblo, located about 14 miles south of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), are concerned with LANL-derived contaminants in sediments collected in Cochiti Reservoir. Due to the 2011 Las Conchas fire, flooding accelerated movement of sediment from the Rio Grande River to the reservoir.
The group discussed the Tribe’s access to Bandelier National Monument and highlighted the Santa Fe Indian School’s success in preparing Cochiti youth for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers.
Others in photo above, left to right: EM Office of Intergovernmental and Stakeholder Programs Program Support Specialist Jared Bierbach; EM Office of Intergovernmental and Stakeholder Programs Intern Laura Mansfield; Roger Jarrell, Senior Advisor to the Energy Secretary for EM; EM Office of Regulatory, Intergovernmental and Stakeholder Engagement Director Rob Seifert; Acting EM Assistant Secretary Jim Owendoff; EM Tribal Affairs Director Albert Brandt Petrasek; and EM Los Alamos Field Office Manager Doug Hintze.
Just west of LANL, Jemez Pueblo Gov. Joseph Toya and Jemez Department of Natural Resources staff discussed their environmental monitoring programs focusing on air, water, sediment, soil, and crops. Toya emphasized the importance of rain and irrigation. They showed the DOE group the sacred area Valles Caldera — a large, volcanic crater — and described its cultural significance.
Left to right: EM Office of Intergovernmental and Stakeholder Programs Intern Laura Mansfield, a Jemez Pueblo member; EM Office of Intergovernmental and Stakeholder Programs Program Support Specialist Jared Bierbach; EM Office of Regulatory, Intergovernmental and Stakeholder Engagement Director Rob Seifert; EM Los Alamos Field Office Manager Doug Hintze; Jemez Pueblo Environmental Program Director Clarice Madalena; Acting EM Assistant Secretary Jim Owendoff, EM Tribal Affairs Director Albert Brandt Petrasek; Jemez Pueblo Cultural Resources Manager Chris Toya; Jemez Pueblo Department of Resource Protection Director Paul Clarke; EM Los Alamos Field Office Tribal Lead Mike Gardipe; and Roger Jarrell, Senior Advisor to the Energy Secretary for EM.
San Ildefonso Pueblo Gov. James Mountain, center, discuss DOE’s groundwater wells to address the migration of the chromium plume near San Ildefonso’s Sacred Area land.
Owendoff met with San Ildefonso Pueblo Gov. James Mountain, the Tribal Council, and Department of Environmental and Cultural Protection staff. Mountain highlighted the Pueblo’s data management capabilities, and the group discussed possible contracting opportunities. They toured the Pueblo’s sacred lands overlooking LANL, and a Tribal Elder discussed the Tribe’s history and culture.
The DOE group also met with representatives of the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities, comprised of nine cities, counties and pueblos surrounding LANL. Owendoff met with Española Mayor Alice Lucero and spoke with Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales about the coalition’s priority to develop skills needed by LANL’s workforce.