[CPEO-MEF] PRESS REL:Action Halts Huge Bomb Blasts at Livermore Lab Site 300

[Marylia Kelley <marylia@earthlink.net>]

Hi, from all of us at Tri-Valley CAREs -- An important victory stopping
huge explosions, which in the past have routinely included Uranium-238.
Read on...

For immediate release: March 7, 2007

ACTION HALTS HUGE BOMB BLASTS AT LIVERMORE LAB SITE 300,
Community Members, Environmentalists Hail Air District Decision to Revoke
Permits Following Citizen's Challenge

for more information, contact:
Loulena Miles, Staff Attorney, Tri-Valley CAREs, 925-443-7148
Trent Orr, Counsel to Earthjustice, 415-665-2185
Bob Sarvey, Business Owner, Sarvey Shoes, 209-830-0349

TRACY: In a major victory for local activists, permits that would have
allowed Livermore Lab to increase its open air explosions annually by
8-fold have been cancelled by the San Joaquin Air Pollution Control
District. Citizens and groups challenging the permit received the news by
phone from the air district; no formal statement has yet been released.

Site 300, Livermore Lab's high explosive testing range, was granted permits
in November 2006 to detonate up to 8,000 pounds of high explosives annually
and 350 pounds daily. These explosions would also involve unknown
quantities of toxic and radioactive material including Uranium 238. The
Lab's permit application was silent about the exact contents of the
explosions.

Site 300 covers 11 square miles, and is located on Corral Hollow Road, just
off I-580 in the Altamont Hills between Livermore and Tracy. Local
businesses and community members were alarmed and demanded that the air
district conduct public hearings, disclose more information about the
blasts, and look carefully at the health and environmental impacts that
could result from the explosions.

Tracy business owner Bob Sarvey formally appealed the permits and a hearing
was scheduled for today in Modesto. The district notified the parties
yesterday afternoon that the Lab would have to reapply if it wanted to
obtain permits for these large explosions.

"The big winner today is the environment in and around Site 300," declared
Tri-Valley CAREs' Staff Attorney, Loulena Miles. "If these huge explosions
had been allowed to go forward, the hills, nearby waterways, the workers
and the surrounding community would have all been put at risk. We adamantly
argued that additional environmental review was required before any permit
could be considered. I am gratified that the air district heeded our plea."

Miles continued, "Community opposition truly made the difference in getting
these permits cancelled. And, continued vigilance is critical to ensure
that Livermore Lab does not return to the air board with a second permit
application that is similarly incomplete. We will be watching."

"I filed the appeal because I could see the Livermore Lab wanted to fast
track these permits without informing the community about the risks
involved in the project," said Bob Sarvey, a long-time Tracy resident and
business owner. "I certainly feel safer not living under a cloud of
radioactive materials exploded at Site 300." Sarvey and his family live on
Corral Hollow Road, where past blasts from Site 300 have blown out windows
in their home.

The permits that were revoked today mark the first attempts by Livermore
Lab to obtain county permission for open-air detonations at Site 300. The
Air Pollution Control District has only been in existence for 15 years.
During this time, Site 300 open-air explosions were conducted without
permits because the blasts were at a lesser volume and yield. Livermore Lab
is also applying to the Calif. State Dept. of Toxics to increase Site 300's
waste storage from 3,300 gallons to 5,500 gallons.

"It was astounding that the Air Pollution Control District issued permits
to detonate explosives involving radioactive materials outdoors on a
hazardous waste site, a mile from a planned 5,500-unit residential area,
without the public review required by the California Environmental Quality
Act," said Trent Orr, a lawyer with Earthjustice, a national nonprofit
that, along with Tri-Valley CAREs, provided written arguments to buttress
the challenge.

Orr continued, "We're pleased to learn that the District has withdrawn
these permits and look forward to the required in-depth review of this
dangerous proposal, which should lead to its rejection as utterly
incompatible with human health and the surrounding natural environment."

Site 300 is already on the federal Environmental Protection Agency's
"Superfund" list of most contaminated locations in the country. Livermore
Lab is presently cleaning up extensive contamination throughout the site,
including a two-mile plume of heavily contaminated groundwater containing
radioactive and toxic debris from past operations.

The residential population in the area surrounding Tracy is growing
dramatically.  A 5,500 housing development called Tracy Hills is planned
for one mile outside of the fence line.  The seven million people in the
San Francisco Bay Area could be affected by wind or water-borne
contamination from the blasts.

Site 300 is also on Homeland Security's "short list" of sites being
considered to host a massive bio-lab, known as the National Bio and Agro
Defense Facility, where bioweapon agents will be studied on animals in a
maximum containment laboratory the size of 5 Wal-Mart stores. Homeland
Security will decide whether to study the Tracy site as one of "finalist"
candidates for the massive bio-lab in the coming months.

###

Marylia Kelley,
Executive Director

Tri-Valley CAREs
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA  94551

Ph: (925) 443-7148
Fx: (925) 443-0177
Web: www.trivalleycares.org
Email: marylia@trivalleycares.org or marylia@earthlink.net


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