Access to Rattlesnake Mt., Hanford land transfer approved

The public will be allowed to at least occasionally take in the view from the top of Rattlesnake Mountain under a bill passed Friday by the U.S. Senate.

And some Hanford land will be made available for industrial development.

Both are goals that Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., has worked toward for years, seeing them realized in his last few days in Congress before retiring this month.

Both provisions were attached to a military policy authorization bill already approved by the House. The bill now is headed to the White House for the Obama’s signature.

Rattlesnake Mountain, the highest point in the Mid-Columbia, is part of the Hanford Reach National Monument but is closed to the public, with the exception of some spring wildflower tours arranged by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department.

“These lands belong to the American people, and it is just plain common sense to allow the public to responsibly visit Rattlesnake Mountain,” Hastings said when the House passed the bill earlier this month.

Under the legislation, Fish and Wildlife, which manages the land, could enter into agreements with the Department of Energy, which owns the land, or interested local agencies for guided bus tours to the summit or to maintain the access road to the summit, according to the bill. Nonmotorized access to the mountain also is required under the bill.

Hanford-area tribes have opposed public tours of Rattlesnake Mountain, saying it is an important religious and cultural area.

The bill also would direct the energy secretary to transfer 1,641 acres of unused land in south Hanford to the Tri-City Development Council for industrial development before the end of September 2015.

The land would be transferred at low cost or no cost to TRIDEC, which is the Department of Energy’s designated agency for the reuse of unneeded Hanford assets. Money would need to be spent to develop water, electric and sewer service to the site, plus provide roads, curbing and street lights.

TRIDEC, which requested the land more than three years ago, expects to transfer the land to the city of Richland, Benton County or the Port of Benton. It does not intend to make any money from the land, TRIDEC officials have said.

“Hanford lands no longer needed for cleanup should not remain in the hands of the federal government into perpetuity, but rather should be returned to the community to sustain our local economy as work at the site is completed,” Hastings said.

Most of Hanford is intended to be preserved as shrub steppe habitat as cleanup is completed, with less than 10 percent used for development.

This story was originally published December 12, 2014 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Access to Rattlesnake Mt., Hanford land transfer approved."