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Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008

Following through on a warning to DOE

By Gov. Chris Gregoire and Rob McKenna, Special to the Herald

The Hanford nuclear site is the most dangerous contaminated site in the United States. Unfortunately, the federal government has failed to meet its commitment to clean up Hanford.

That's why we recently asked the federal courts to require the Department of Energy to do what is required by federal and state law - and what the agency itself agreed to do in signing the Tri-Party Agreement in 1989.

Some have questioned our decision.

Failure to complete the cleanup of the highly radioactive and toxic waste buried in the ground near the Columbia River simply is not an option.

Just below ground at the Hanford site are 177 steel tanks containing 53 million gallons of heavy metals, acids, solvents and lethal radioactive waste.

Of those tanks, 149 are of single-wall construction and well beyond their design life-span - and 67 have confirmed leaks. These leaks threaten the safety of the river.

That's why three years ago, we warned the federal government that we would bring legal action if it continued to violate our agreed-to cleanup plan and schedule.

That's why we directed a high-level team of the best state environmental attorneys to negotiate in a good-faith attempt to develop a new cleanup plan. We stayed at the negotiation table for 18 months.

However, we cannot settle at any cost, nor can we engage in settlement discussions indefinitely. The negotiations failed because the federal government refused to agree to an enforceable agreement. Only after negotiations failed did we file suit, asking the U.S. District Court to establish a schedule and enforce it.

We simply don't have time for endless negotiations. This cleanup project already is 20 years behind schedule, and even the most recently constructed single-shell tanks reached the end of their design life 20 years ago.

Through this lawsuit, we hope to ensure that the bulk of Hanford cleanup is completed by 2040. Without it, the cleanup will extend into the next century and will cost us billions of dollars more.

This lawsuit is about the Columbia River - a vital lifeline of our region. It's about the health, safety and economic security of our region.

In the Washington counties below Hanford, about 25,000 companies rely on clean, safe water to provide 280,000 jobs and a payroll of $9.5 billion - 10 percent of the state's economic activity.

We must have a cleanup schedule that's enforceable. We must ensure the Department of Energy will not continue to delay fulfilling its responsibilities by developing its own unilateral schedule and priorities.

* Chris Gregoire is Washington's governor and Rob McKenna is attorney general. The state, through the Department of Ecology, regulates the federal cleanup of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

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