Pete Domenici: “Today I rise to bring the Senate's attention to a matter that is slowing Los Alamos County, NM, in its efforts to fully…”

“Today I rise to bring the Senate's attention to a matter that is slowing Los Alamos County, NM, in its efforts to fully recover from the Cerro Grande Fire of May 10, 2000. It is an amazing irony to me that Los Alamos National Laboratory, in recent years facing declines in personnel, is again in the national news for its ability to help with counter-terrorism on many fronts. Along with this national attention and the needs of our Homeland Security Agency for advanced scientific means to detect and deter nuclear and biological attacks, LANL is now in the process of filling about 1,000 new positions. The irony is that the Cerro Grande fire severely reduced available housing in Los Alamos two years before our Nation turns once again to Los Alamos for its scientific talents. A major deterrent to new hires is the lack of housing choices in Los Alamos. The housing market is even tighter because of the loss of about 400 housing units through the devastating Cerro Grande Fire. Los Alamos has a population of about 18,000 people. While we have Federal programs to help low and moderate income Americans find good housing, in Los Alamos these programs are ineffective due to the current practice of averaging Los Alamos County and Santa Fe County incomes into one Metropolitan Statistical Area, MSA.”