A bill creating a revenue source for cleaning up contamination from abandoned uranium mines and mills was vetoed Monday by Gov. Bill Richardson.

Richardson said the funding level provided in the bill was inadequate, and New Mexico "deserves better."

Facing a Wednesday deadline for acting on bills passed during the recent 30-day session, the governor also vetoed a measure requiring the state, rather than counties, to pay for the maintenance of voting machines.

The governor objected that the measure placed an added financial duty on the state without providing any funding.

The uranium bill, which was opposed by environmental organizations, created a funding source linked to future uranium production.

It would have taken half the proceeds of an existing excise tax on uranium and diverted it to a cleanup fund. It also would have imposed a new surtax of 50 cents a pound on mined and milled uranium and directed it to the same fund.

Richardson said in a veto message that it's estimated the cleanup of hundreds of uranium sites across the state would cost tens of millions of dollars, at least. The funding mechanism in the bill wouldn't provide enough, he said.

"It is critical that all stakeholders in this process come together to develop a sensible, market-based approach that will establish appropriate funding for this important task," he said.
The bill's opponents had said it inappropriately tied cleanup of old mining sites to production from new mines and mills, which some residents of communities that would be impacted by new production oppose. And they said it would let companies responsible for past production off the hook, even if they were still financially viable.

There is no uranium mining in New Mexico currently, although skyrocketing prices have prompted plans by some companies to resume production.

The voting-machine legislation would have relieved counties of the maintenance costs — estimated at about $1 million annually — for the system the state adopted in 2006 that combines paper ballots and electronic tabulating machines.

County clerks have complained they were stuck with the maintenance tab after the state decided to buy the machines.

The governor said in his veto message the bill "imposes an unfunded and poorly planned mandate" on the state, by not appropriating money for it or specifying which state fund the money should come from.

The same bill had another provision that cleared counties of their obligation to continue making lease-purchase payments to the state Board of Finance for older electronic voting machines that can no longer be used because of the new system.

Richardson said he would ask the Board of Finance to adopt a resolution forgiving the counties' debt for the old machines.

The uranium bill is Senate Bill 487. The voting-machine bill is House Bill 221.




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