Voice of the Mid-Columbia | Kennewick, Pasco and Richland, Wash. |
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closeDear President-elect Obama,
Your expression of ignorance regarding the Hanford nuclear site during last spring's campaign swing through Oregon has us worried.
Really worried.
The Bush administration had eight years to become intimate with Hanford's environmental hazards, and still failed to deliver on the government's commitment to clean up the mess.
We can't afford backsliding while your administration figures out what's going on at the nuclear site.
Just last week, we learned the Department of Energy notified Hanford regulators that 23 legal deadlines for cleanup are at risk because of the budget for fiscal 2009.
The deadlines are part of the Tri-Party Agreement, the detailed plan for cleanup hammered out by regulators and DOE more than 20 years ago. The document isn't advisory, it's a legally binding contract.
We're worried the situation will only get worse as Hanford's problems are lost in clamor seeking your attention.
Even in the best of times, Hanford cleanup seems to suffer setbacks with each new president.
The staggering costs -- $1.4 billion is needed to keep cleanup on track in fiscal 2009 -- seems to lead each new energy secretary to put major projects on hold while efforts are made to bring costs under control.
More often than not, the delays result in higher costs as inflation drives up expenses and physical conditions at waste sites deteriorate, further complicating the task.
It doesn't help that the selection of the secretary of energy has sometimes been more of an exercise in cronyism than leadership. For a while in the 1980s, a dentist was running the department.
Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman is a notable exception. He came to the job with a strong record of accomplishments in business, academia and government.
He put a hold on the vitrification plant, where Hanford's highly radioactive liquid wastes will be turned into glass logs for permanent disposal.
It was a needed delay, and it produced the first realistic cost estimate for the plant. It's a big number -- $12.2 billion -- but at least we're done seeing cost projections double with each new look.
Bodman may have the clearest picture of any energy secretary on what's needed to finish the job at Hanford. If he were driving cleanup decisions instead of the White House bean counters, we'd have fewer threats to the region's environment to worry about.
If you really want to get up to speed on the cleanup, listen to the current secretary.
And to Gov. Chris Gregoire. She has an insider's knowledge of Hanford cleanup developed during 20 years of oversight -- as director of the state Department of Ecology, as state attorney general and now as governor. She hasn't ruled out a lawsuit to force DOE's compliance with the cleanup pact.
Sen. Patty Murray is another official worth consulting. She understands the risk of continuing on the course President Bush has set.
"Year after year, this administration introduced budgets that failed to live up to the critical milestones set forth by the Tri-Party Agreement, and it's now clear that they will leave office with significant work left undone."
U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, who represents the people most directly affected by what happens at Hanford, needs to be heard too.
He's a staunch Republican, but the need to finish the job at Hanford transcends politics.
We know you face a daunting list of issues and approaching crises -- the economy, two wars, education, health care, energy and a deteriorating national infrastructure.
We know that legions of special interests -- especially those that felt ignored by Republicans -- are plotting ways to be included in the changes you've promised.
But Hanford is a crisis waiting to happen. It's critical you know least two key facts about the site.
First, it's the most contaminated site in the nation, home to 177 underground tanks containing 53 million gallons of high-level radioactive wastes.
The health of the Columbia River -- the lifeblood of the great Northwest, providing food, transportation, power, water for irrigation and drinking and recreational opportunities -- depends on getting this right.
Second, it's the federal government's mess, the legacy of the World War II-era Manhattan Project and the Cold War.
What was done at Hanford contributed to America's victory in both those wars. For the nation to abandon this mess now that Hanford has served its purpose is unthinkable.
Editorials are the consensus of the Tri-City Herald editorial board.
Editorial board members are Rufus Friday, publisher; Chris Sivula, editorial page editor; Ken Robertson, executive editor; Matt Taylor, contributing editor; Lori Lancaster, editorial writer; Shelly Norman, editorial writer and Jack Briggs, retired publisher
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