[CPEO-MEF] Hanford wastes

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Heed will of voters by keeping out more waste until Hanford cleaned up 

By Mark Wahl and Lunell Haught 
Guest Column
Seattle Times (WA)
February 15, 2005

Last fall, we joined more than 1.8 million voters to pass the state's
radioactive waste measure, Initiative 297. We had good reason to: The
federal government was not only failing to clean up the Hanford nuclear
reservation as promised, but planned to put even more mixed nuclear
waste there. 

Washington voters wanted to take care of Hanford before a bigger mess
was made. We ended up winning nearly a 70 percent majority - a landslide
by any measure - as we agreed the Evergreen state can't continue to be a
dumping ground without equal weight being given to public health, safety
and environmental issues. 

The voters spoke loudly, but has the government listened? 

Now we read that, as a result of part of a lawsuit brought by the U.S.
Department of Energy, the Washington Department of Ecology is barred
from interpreting the rules and guidelines of I-297. 

Ordinarily, Ecology gets the power to make reasonable adjustments and
clarifications to a measure like this. But the Energy Department suit
has opened the door for scare-tactic claims that the initiative could
have unintended consequences involving medical isotopes and cleanup
activities, and Ecology can't step in to make clear this isn't so. 

...

For the entire column, see
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002180139_hanford15.html

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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