New Mexico Receives EPA Grant To Help Clean Up Hazardous Wastes

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded $427,022 to the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) for programs that oversee the handling of solid and hazardous wastes. Under EPA’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), this grant will help NMED develop programs to protect public health and the environment from facilities which contain or contained hazardous waste.

EPA’s RCRA program addresses continuing challenges such as highly toxic waste, wastes from increasingly efficient air and water pollution control devices, population growth that places larger demands on natural resources, and long-term stewardship of facilities that closed with waste in place.

This grant is part of a total of $854,044 from EPA that will support NMED’s enforcement, hazardous waste inspections of facilities, corrective action, RCRA permitting, state authorization, program management, and providing program information during the state’s 2017 fiscal year. The RCRA program continues to fulfill its mission by preventing contamination from harming communities, promoting community well-being, reducing and eliminating contamination, and advocating sustainable lifecycle wastes and material management approaches.

Activities in EPA Region 6: http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/region6.htm