By LAWRY MANNLos Alamos
Richard Marquez recently left the Los Alamos National Laboratory after working there for over 10 years.
Most people do not know that before working at LANL he worked as a DOE official in the Albuquerque office. During his tenure there he provided significant assistance to Los Alamos County.
Los Alamos County borrowed over $110 million to finance their hydroelectric facilities and other projects. After the bonds were issued the market changed and it was to the County’s advantage to refinance those bonds. By doing so they could save thousands of dollars per year. The transaction got held up in a disagreement on how to split the savings between DOE and the County.
The County was in danger of missing the window of opportunity to refinance the bonds because of this disagreement. Richard stepped in and said that this was ridiculous. The DOE and the County are arguing over hundreds of dollars when thousands of dollars could be saved. He took an active part in the further negotiations with the County and hammered out a compromise that was fair.
When the DOE people in Washington reviewed the proposed compromise, they were adament that they wanted a bigger portion of the savings. Richard went to Washington and vigorously defended the agreement stating: “I negotiated the agreement and it is fair and I expect you to ratify it,” which they did.
Los Alamos County owes Richard Marquez a debt of gratitude for his act of service, which saved the County thousands of dollars over the lifetime of the bonds.
