Court Win On Nuclear Facility

[Marylia Kelley <marylia@igc.org>]

Hi Careerpro folks. This is a significant victory in our efforts to
safeguard the environment and constrain nuclear weapons activities at
Livermore Lab. Moreover, some of the Judge's comments have implications for
cleanup of Dept. of Energy facilities across the nation...
for further information:
Marylia Kelley, Tri-Valley CAREs (510) 443-7148
Ann Beier, Western States Legal Foundation (510) 839-5877
Barbara Finamore, Natural Resources Defense Council (202) 289-2371
Bob Schaeffer, Military Production Network (617) 489-0461

for immediate release Monday, October 27, 1997

ENERGY DEPT. AGREES TO SUPPLEMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW OF NATIONAL
IGNITION FACILITY (NIF) AFTER DISCOVERY OF WASTE DUMP UNDER CONSTRUCTION
SITE; PUBLIC WILL REVIEW DATA ON TOXIC, RADIOACTIVE HAZARDS; COURT INVITES
"CONTEMPT MOTION" ON LACK OF ENERGY DEPT. CLEAN-UP REVIEW

 To settle a legal action brought by a coalition of 39 environmental
and peace groups, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today agreed to
prepare a supplement to its Stockpile Stewardship and Management
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (SSM PEIS), which will evaluate
the impacts of continuing to construct and operate the National Ignition
Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. At the same
time, Federal District Court Judge Stanley Sporkin urged plaintiffs to file
an "order to show cause" why DOE should not be held in contempt and subject
to sanctions for its failure to honor a prior commitment to complete a
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement on clean-up standards and
intersite transportation of wastes from its environmental restoration
program.

 In the NIF case, plaintiffs claimed DOE had failed to adequately
analyze and disclose the risks of building the NIF in an area that may
contain buried hazardous, toxic or radioactive wastes. Last month NIF
construction workers unearthed over 100 microwave-sized capacitors
contaminated with toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and 75 corroded
waste drums marked "radioactive." Approximately 784 tons of soil
contaminated with PCBs, chromium, mercury, molybdenum, and other toxic
chemicals were removed from the site.

 The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is already on the
Superfund list of the country's most contaminated sites. According to DOE,
the three-story deep pit being dug for NIF will come within five feet of a
contaminated groundwater aquifer.

 The agreement, which was approved and signed by Judge Sporkin and
includes a continuing oversight role for the Court, requires DOE to review
documents and interview employees regarding possible contamination at the
site and, as necessary, conduct additional investigations using such
technologies as ground penetrating radar, soil borings and groundwater
monitoring wells. DOE will then prepare and circulate for public review and
comment a supplement to the SSM PEIS "which evaluates the reasonably
foreseeable significant adverse environmental impacts of continuing to
construct and of operating NIF at LLNL with respect to any potential or
confirmed contamination by hazardous, toxic and/or radioactive materials or
contaminated groundwater."

 "This agreement demonstrates that DOE ignored significant
environmental hazards in its rush to build the NIF," explained Marylia
Kelley, president of the Livermore, CA-based Tri-Valley CAREs (Citizens
Against a Radioactive Environment). "Now we can expect a more thorough
review of this unnecessary facility's true threat to workers, neighbors and
the surrounding environment."

 On the larger issue, Barbara Finamore, the Natural Resources
Defense Council (NRDC) attorney who represents the 39 plaintiff
organizations, explained, "DOE claims that it does not have to complete a
PEIS on its environmental clean-up program, but can merely address it on a
site-by-site basis. We have argued that, at a minimum, the issues of
intersite transport and clean-up standards must be analyzed on a
programmatic basis under the National Environmental Policy Act. Clearly,
Judge Sporkin found our arguments persuasive, and told DOE that such a
review would benefit the nation by avoiding problems such as those that
occurred at NIF."

 In a 1990 stipulation signed by Judge Sporkin, DOE had agreed to
complete a PEIS on its environmental restoration and waste management
program. To date, only the waste management PEIS has been issued.

 Judge Sporkin set December 18, 1997 as the date for plaintiffs to
file their "order to show cause" and scheduled a hearing for January 20,
1998.

A copy of the Joint Stipulation and Order finalized today on the National
Ignition Facility is available on request.

-- end --

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