Former state environment official receives maximum fine -- $250 -- for ethics breach
Feb. 13—A former state Environment Department official must pay $250 to settle what a state panel found was an ethical breach when she backed a ruling favorable to a federal agency that was in the midst of hiring her.
Former Deputy Environment Secretary Stephanie Stringer agreed to pay the penalty — the maximum allowed for a code of conduct breach — to the State Ethics Commission.
As part of the deal, Stringer doesn't have to admit wrongdoing for actions she took regarding a permit for Los Alamos National Laboratory's radioactive liquid waste treatment plant while she sought a job with the agency that oversees the lab.
While chairing the state Water Quality Control Commission, Stringer led a vote in late August to freeze all proceedings on whether to change the lab's water quality permit to a more stringent hazardous waste permit.
The National Nuclear Security Administration, which is in charge of the lab, offered Stringer a job the day after she signed the order to impose a "stay" on revamping the permit. She then voted to uphold the stay after she received the job offer.
In a statement, the State Ethics Commission said Stringer violated the Governmental Conduct Act when she gained a financial interest in the agency by negotiating for employment — and should've known her actions as the board chairwoman would affect that interest.
"Ms. Stringer applied for, interviewed for, and accepted employment with a federal agency, while also taking actions as chair of the WQCC related to that agency," the commission said in the statement.
The head of a watchdog group that seeks to nullify the stay and put the lab's liquid waste facility under a hazardous waste permit expressed disappointment in the penalty.
"Unfortunately, it's a slap on the wrist," said Joni Arends, executive director of the nonprofit Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.
The nuclear security agency, which hired Stringer as a supervisory program manager in November, declined to comment.
"This matter involves allegations prior to Ms. Stringer's employment with NNSA," agency spokeswoman Toni Chiri wrote in an email.
The Environment Department didn't respond to a request for comment.
Critics have pointed to a lengthy history in New Mexico of regulators going to work for entities they regulate.
Stringer's case isn't the first time a potential conflict of interest has arisen over the lab's liquid waste facility permit. 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.
Stringer agreed with the lab's argument the state should hold off reviewing the water quality permit until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ruled on a federal discharge permit for the waste facility.
But attorney Lindsay Lovejoy, who represents Concerned Citizens, said the federal and state permits are unrelated, and that Stringer was looking for a reason to stall any actions.
With Stringer's conflicting interests on record, the water quality commission should vacate any orders she signed related to the permit, Lovejoy said, arguing Stringer should have recused herself.
On behalf of Concerned Citizens and other groups, Lovejoy is seeking an order from the State Supreme Court canceling the water quality permit.
That would mean the lab would be temporarily without a permit for its radioactive waste treatment plant, he said.
"The [state] Hazardous Waste Bureau has a duty to not let the facility go for long without any permit," Lovejoy said.
He doesn't plan to mention Stringer's ethics penalty as part of the request for the court order because the groups have a strong enough legal case without it, he added.
Arends agreed. The larger goal is adequate oversight of a facility with hazardous pollutants, she said.
"Our goal is to have the Supreme Court hear our arguments and look deeply into what we're saying about the need for regulation by the Hazardous Waste Act," Arends said.
