New Mexico US Sen. Heinrich, Rep. Vasquez announce $10M for ‘relief route’ repairs

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich and U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, both New Mexico Democrats, on Monday announced $10 million in federal funding to repair the US285 Relief Route used to transport nuclear materials to the federal Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad.

WIPP, as its known, has served as underground depository for transuranic radioactive waste from U.S. Department of Energy sites around the country since 1999.

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According to a news release, Heinrich, a member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, announced in January that the funding had been included in Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations to improve roads leading to and from WIPP, marking the first time funds have been appropriated for this purpose since 2014.

During the last appropriations cycle, “I fought like hell to secure this funding,” Heinrich said in a statement, “to get New Mexico more of the funding we deserve for our role in maintaining the nation’s only deep geologic repository for radioactive defense waste.”

Heinrich has also introduced the WIPP Economic Assistance Assurance Act to amend the WIPP Land Withdrawal Act “to ensure sustained, inflation-adjusted funding for New Mexico communities to maintain vital infrastructure projects, such as road maintenance and repairs for the duration of WIPP’s operation,” the news release said.

In a statement, Vasquez said both New Mexico and WIPP serve as “the backbone of our nation’s nuclear program. The hardworking New Mexicans who run WIPP provide a critical service to the entire country — and the least the DOE can do is hold up their end of the bargain and meet their safety needs.”