LCVA PFAS Timeline for La Cieneguilla/La Cienega Community

• Mid 2005’s National Guard got rid of firetruck using fire fighting foam and hand truck trimax fire extinguishers that were using the foam specific for fighting aircraft fires.

• 2012 constructed new army aviation support facility and renovated old facility into new grounds

• 2020 national guard first preliminary assessment

• May 2022 National Guard site assessment completed

• April 2023 public officials from city and county meet at Army National Guard Facility first disclosure of PFAS by National Guard

• October 2023 National Guard released report put Army National Guard into remedial phase.  Santa Fe County does selective well sampling to determine whether PFAS is present in local water table.

• November 2023 LCVA Releases National Guard’s Draft Report (pdf below) to the public and County Creates and Releases Information Disclosing existence of PFAS in some groundwater samples in a Press Release (pdf below)

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• January 2024 - County hires PFAS Community Outreach Liason Shelly Moeller who starts working with Commissioner Bustamante, residents and LCVA

• February 5, 2024 LCVA creates a subcommittee to address issues impacting La Cieneguilla to initially begin with work on PFAS.  Co-chairs Jolene Vasquez and Angelique Angel de Nava, both of whom represent La Cieneguilla positions on LCVA Board are appointed to reach out to residents to start forming the subcommittee membership.

• February 6, 2024 LCVA sends letters to government agencies establishing 7 points of action on PFAS issue (letter below)

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• LCVA receives formal responses from everyone except the EPA and City - governors office forwards to NMED for response.

• February 9, 2024 County, National Guard, Representatives from Teresa Leger Fernandez, Senator Ben Ray Lujan's Office and LCVA meet to discuss next steps - county will coordinate efforts on behalf of residents by first scheduling a Town Hall, working on formulating a task force among the government actors, and create a list of answers to frequently asked questions and add links to the county website for PFAS resources and information for residents.  

• Mid Feb – NMED document on PFAS and Private Wells and EPA document on PFAS were translated into Spanish, distributed and posted on the SFC PFAS webpage.

• February 28, 2024: PFAS FAQs from La Cienega and La Cieneguilla were distributed and posted on the SFC PFAS webpage in English and Spanish.

• LCVA works with Shelly Moeller and Commissioner Bustamante in preparation for PFAS Townhall in March and submits a list of about 100 questions for the town hall meeting.  LCVA Board member Jolene Vasquez and County representatives and volunteers of LCVA go door to door in La Cieneguilla to get the word out about the March Town Hall, post signs at the entrances to the community in english and spanish and LCVA sends to their list serve.  Notice is also provided by radio broadcast.

• There is discussion of creating a mapping program and of how to use funds allocated by NMED to the county to get well testing done on private wells using state funds without infringing on the anti-donation clause.  County staff work on creating programs for residents to access PFAS testing and filtration.

• March 6, 2024 Technical Project Planning Meeting 1: Santa Fe Army Aviation Support Facility Remedial Investigation (RI) Review was held in Santa Fe.  Participants included representatives from the Army National Guard – G-9 and Satna Fe, United Stat Army cop of Engineers, Satna Fe Regional Airport, NMED, City of Santa Fe, County of Santa Fe, AECOM Arcadis PFAS JV (firm that does RI).  Army National Guard Files:

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• March 14, 2024 Townhall Meeting - approximately 240 residents attend.  

  • County working on program development for well testing and filtration.

  • Shelly and Andrea field questions from residents regarding resources.  Jolene works on organizing residents for LCVA subcommittee i.e. PFAS Task Force to continue work on this issue.

  • Later in March resident Phyllis Baca begins setting up an information booth at the Golondrinas triangle on weekends to provide information to residents with support from the county.

• Early April – County released RFP for engineering company to characterize PFAS contamination.

• Early April – City of Santa Fe partners with NMED to create a work plan to begin to sample the soil and groundwater at the Paseo Real Waste Water Treatment Plant for PFAS.

• April 16, 2024 First meeting of the La Cieneguilla Subcommittee of the LCVA i.e. PFAS Task Force to identify April meeting topics, guests and agenda.  Kathleen McCloud and Nicole Cunico appointed as Co-Chairs. 

• April 24, 2024 Second Public PFAS Task Force Meeting Co-Hosted by LCVA and Santa Fe County focuses on filtration systems and immediate action recommendations for residents.

• April 30 – Santa Fe County Community Development Department presents the Home Rehabilitation and Energy Efficiency (HREE) Program to the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) for approval. This is a grant program for low-income homeowners to apply for up to $50,000 to make certain home repairs/upgrades (such as roof or stucco repair), test for PFAS (and other contaminants in well water) and to install appropriate remediation systems (such as filtration).

• May 2024 HREE Program Approved by BCC.

• June 2024 Santa Fe County rolls out HREE program for residents. City of Santa Fe and Santa Fe County create MOU for characterization of PFAS in water supply in La Cieneguilla/La Cienega.

• June 20, 2023 Third Public Meeting of the LCVA/County PFAS Task Force with focus on HREE program and NMED involvement in PFAS issue.