Hanford contractor marks 12 years of cleanup progress, community service | Guest Opinion

The CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC) team is nearing the end of its contract with the Department of Energy to reduce risk on the Hanford Site. On behalf of CHPRC and our parent company Jacobs, we would like to express our honor for the 12-year-long partnership with the Department, regulators, stakeholders, labor leaders, educators and the communities to make the Tri-Cities and surrounding region safer, more vibrant and better prepared for the future.

Thank you to the Department of Energy for trusting our team with this important mission.

Our progress is due first and foremost to our dedicated and skilled workforce. Thank you, the past and present employees of CHPRC, for accomplishments too numerous to list. We hope that you remain proud of the work you have done to make the Columbia River safer, shrink the area of active cleanup by demolishing hundreds of buildings and removing waste sites and reducing risk from legacy buildings, structures and waste.

Your innovation allowed us to design, construct and operate a facility that now treats billions of gallons of groundwater annually. Your dedication overcame challenges and surprises, which are common in our line of work. And your commitment to yourselves and each other allowed you to perform this work safely, reflected in low incident rates, industry recognition and continued progress despite a global pandemic.

Our small-business and major subcontracting partners were with us every step of the way. We helped more than 500 local small businesses to develop the talent and expertise to grow, while they helped us in advancing the Hanford Site cleanup mission.

While our mission is to reduce risk by performing work on the Hanford Site, we are equally proud of what we’ve been able to do with the Tri-Cities community. We leave behind new hiking trails on Candy Mountain, lives improved due to homes built in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity and stronger community service providers because of our employees’ countless financial and time commitments. To reinforce this dedication, CHPRC, on behalf of Jacobs, is donating a combined $140,000 to various local organizations this holiday season.

We also leave behind optimism and excitement for the workforce that will continue to advance Hanford cleanup. One of our priorities in the community was to help equip students with the skills and awareness necessary for a future career at Hanford. Whether it was financial support to our higher educational institutions, time in the classroom or time spent bringing students to the Hanford Site, one of the best parts of our time at Hanford was to see the excitement in students’ eyes as they realized the possibility of applying their classroom knowledge to real-world cleanup challenges. We look forward to seeing what the next generation of Hanford workers accomplish!

It has been a privilege to be a part of the history at Hanford, which is really one of the greatest public works projects in our country’s history. On behalf of our more than 2,000 employees and subcontractors, we thank you Tri-Cities.

This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 11:18 AM with the headline "Hanford contractor marks 12 years of cleanup progress, community service | Guest Opinion."