Several groups have joined forces to file a federal lawsuit alleging that the U.S. Department of Energy is illegally operating a radioactive-waste-transfer site outside the small town of Antonito in the San Luis Valley. That’s according to Face the State, which reports that the site, just 100 yards from the San Antonio River, could be an environmental hazard, as it receives radioactive waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. The suit claims that federal officials failed to alert local officials of the waste-transfer plans, which could continue for a decade or longer.

Moreover, the suit alleges the Energy Department violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to conduct studies on the impacts of the site to public health and environment. “We have a moral obligation to protect the headwaters of the Rio Grande,” San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council director Christine Canaly tells the Conejos County Citizen. “It’s imperative the public be engaged in this process.”