HOLDING DOE ACCOUNTABLE TO NEPA

[Marylia Kelley <marylia@igc.org>]

Hi. Here is the press release from Tri-Valley CAREs and Western States
Legal Foundation - and the Judge's order - in the motion for preliminary
injunction in our quest to hold DOE's feet to the fire regarding NEPA (the
National Environmental Policy Act.) As you know, ther are 39 organizations
across the country who are part of this suit. Peace, Marylia
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 11, 1997
CONTACT: Jackie Cabasso, Western States Legal Foundation (510)839-5877
Marylia Kelley, Tri-Valley CAREs (510)443-7148

STATEMENT OF PLAINTIFFS IN REACTION TO THE PRELIMINARY
INJUNCTION DECISION IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL LAWSUIT
AGAINST THE U.S. NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAMS

Judge Stanley Sporkin granted our motion for preliminary injunction in part
and denied it in part.

We are pleased that the judge recognized the legitimacy of plaintiffs'
concerns about the environmental, health and safety risks of the Stockpile
Stewardship & Management(SS&M) program. Based on these concerns, he ordered
the Department of Energy to disclose more information about its plutonium
pit remanufacturing plans and the National Ignition Facility(NIF), as well
as alternatives to the SS&M program.

"As we have said all along, there are better, cheaper and considerably less
dangerous methods for maintaining the existing nuclear arsenal under safe
conditions as it awaits dismantlement," said Marylia Kelley, president of
the Livermore-based Tri-Valley CAREs which is one of the plaintiffs in the
suit. "The judge's decision today affirms our position that DOE has not
provided sufficient information on the hazards of its proposed program,
including NIF's health and environmental impacts here in the communities
surrounding Livermore Lab. Moreover, we are heartened the judge has
indicated he will hold DOE's feet to the fire with regard to promises the
agency made to disclose additional information on reasonable alternatives
to the SS&M program-such as approaches based on further consolidation of
the weapons complex and a modest curatorship program centered on the
remanufacture of parts to original specification."

However, we regret that Judge Sporkin did not issue a preliminary
injunction, which would have immediately suspended these activities pending
resolution of the case.

According to Jackie Cabasso, Executive Director of Western States Legal
Foundation in Oakland, one of the plaintiff groups: "The government engaged
in blatant blackmail by claiming that even a temporary delay in
construction and upgrades of just three of its dozens of laboratory testing
facilities could cause other countries to doubt or question the credibility
of our Nation's deterrent' and therefore require a return to underground
testing. The judge fell for this big lie technique and took it even
further, citing international terrorism or another Cuban Missile Crisis' as
rationales for his decision not to halt construction of the National
Ignition Facility at Livermore and expanded plutonium pit production
operations at Los Alamos-arguments that even the Department of Energy had
not made. Is our national defense so precarious that seven years after the
end of the Cold War we can't even pause to take a second look at the wisdom
of expending more than $40 billion dollars to rebuild the nation's nuclear
weapons complex?"

The case will now proceed to a full airing of the issues on the merits. We
shall continue to oppose the wasteful, provocative and environmentally
dangerous Stockpile Stewardship & Management program in every possible
venue.

Thirty-nine peace, social justice, safe energy and environmental
organizations from around the country filed suit in May 1997 challenging
the adequacy of the Department of Energy's programmatic environmental
review. Specifically, the 39 groups charge DOE for its failure to comply
with a 1990 court order to analyze its nuclear weapons cleanup and waste
management activities and conduct a legally adequate review of its
Stockpile Stewardship & Management Program.

The U.S. plans to invest $40 billion over the next ten years in the SS&M
program to maintain the capability to test, modify, design and produce
nuclear weapons with or without underground nuclear testing. The most
expensive single element of the SS&M program is the National Ignition
Facility, to be built at Livermore Laboratory and carrying a price tag of
$1.2 billion for construction and an overall cost of between $4.6 and $4.7
billion according to DOE and Office of Management and Budget documents.

--30--

A copy of the 2 page Order is available on request from the contact numbers
listed above.

****************************************************************************
* here is the order:

This matter is before the Court on Plaintiffs' Motion for a Preliminary
Injunction. The Court has considered the motion and the opposition thereto
and heard argument on June 17 & 24, 1997. For the reasons cited in the
accompanying Memorandum opinion, it is hereby

ORDERED that Plaintiffs' motion is denied in part & granted in part; and it is

FURTHER ORDERED that the government perform a fuller disclosure of the
environmental, health and safety risks associated with the plutonium pit
fabrication program at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and
the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore Naational Laboratory
in California. Such disclosure should be responsive to Plaintiff's
concerns, but need not hold up the implementation of either program. It
shall be completed within sixty(60) days, or such other time as this Court
may order, and it is

FURTHER ORDERED that the Court shall retain jurisidiction in this matter to
ensure that this order is appropriately implemented.

Stanly Sporkin
US District Judge

Marylia Kelley
Tri-Valley CAREs * 5720 East Ave. #116 * Livermore, CA 94550
Ph: (510) 443-7148 * Fx: (510) 443-0177