Activists Appeal Livermore Lab Permit + action alert

[marylia@earthlink.net (marylia)]

Note the address of the govenor's office, and the request for you to write
a very needed, short letter in support of our appeal follow the text of
this local news story. Thanks. Peace, Marylia

ALAMEDA NEWSPAPER GROUP
(from the TRI-VALLEY HERALD web site at herald-ang.com)

Activists appeal lab's waste permit
Saturday July 03, 1999

By Glenn Roberts Jr.
STAFF WRITER

A Livermore-based watchdog group has appealed to a state regulatory agency
in an effort to block a permit allowing a $32 million hazardous waste
treatment facility at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.

Physicians for Social Responsibility's San Francisco chapter also supports
the appeal.

Marylia Kelley, director of Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive
Environment, said that she hopes the appeal will spur the state Department
of Toxic Substances Control to conduct a more thorough environmental
review.

She said the environmental report should provide an "in-depth analysis" of
all hazardous waste operations at the lab -- to help protect the community,
the lab's workers and the environment.

There should be more public involvement in the process, she added.

The state department approved the permit allowing treatment of a variety of
hazardous materials, including some waste with low levels of radioactivity.
The 10-year operating permit won't let the lab generate more waste.

Some waste operations in other areas of the lab will be consolidated if the
permit is issued. The permit also will allow an existing lab building to be
used for the storage of hazardous and "mixed waste," which includes
low-level radioactive waste. Portions of another building would be used as
a temporary waste storage area.

"We are not convinced that the treatments are the most benign possible,"
Kelley said. The appeal will give the state another chance to change the
way the lab handles waste, she added.

Michael Veiluva, a Walnut Creek lawyer representing Tri-Valley CAREs, said
the study prepared by the toxic substances department for the lab facility
is "the slimmest environmental document that the law allows."

Ideally, the agency will reverse its decision and hold a public review;
otherwise, the group may sue, he said.

Kelley said several accidents at the lab within the past three years
highlight the dangers of handling hazardous waste. The problems may
continue with the new plant unless a more thorough review is conducted, she
said.

Ron Baker, a spokesman for the Department of Toxic Substances Control, said
the deputy director for the department will consider the appeal and
determine whether to issue the permit.

end of article
--------------
ALERT: Please write a short note to Governor Gray Davis asking that the
state of California Dept. of Toxic Substances Control grant the appeal and
conduct an Environmental Impact Report. Write to: Governor Gray Davis,
Attn: Lynn Schenk, Chief of Staff, State Capitol Building, Sacramento, CA
95814. Thank you.

++ Please note that my email address has changed to <marylia@earthlink.net>
on 3/1/99 ++

Marylia Kelley
Tri-Valley CAREs
(Communities Against a Radioactive Environment)
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA USA 94550

<http://www.igc.org/tvc/> - is our web site, please visit us there!
Our web site will remain at this location. Only my email address has
changed on 3/1/99.

(925) 443-7148 - is our phone
(925) 443-0177 - is our fax

Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley
CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear
Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the
international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear
weapons.