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Statement by Representative David Wu Solid Waste Environmental
Impact Statement I appreciate the opportunity to comment on the Department of Energy's draft Environmental Impact Statement, and I regret that I could not be here in person this evening. As
all of you are aware, the Hanford Site is perhaps the most radioactively
contaminated facility in the United States.
Based on DOE estimates, 67 of 177 underground storage tanks containing
the most lethal radioactive waste have leaked within miles of the Columbia
River. The remaining tanks have all come close to reaching, or exceeded,
their design life. DOE estimates
that 450 billion gallons of contaminated liquid were discharged into the
soil during Hanford's fifty years of operation.
Despite
the huge challenges the Northwest faces at Hanford, there is some room
for optimism. DOE is looking for ways to accelerate the cleanup
and to use the somewhat scarce federal dollars more efficiently and effectively.
We may yet see a stable Hanford Site within our lifetimes.
The
second reason for optimism is the work of concerned citizens like you
who know that the decisions we make today affect the kind of world we
leave to our children tomorrow. I applaud you for taking the time to be at
this meeting tonight to discuss what is perhaps the most serious public
health and environmental issue facing our region. Tonight's
topic, the draft EIS relating to the transport and storage of defense
related nuclear waste at Hanford, is critical to the region.
I have grave concerns about moving new waste to Hanford, especially
when we have not even contained and treated the existing waste. The
EIS does not demonstrate that Hanford is capable of accepting the proposed
level of new waste, nor that Hanford is capable of safely treating it
over the long term. For instance, the EIS proposes storing massive
amounts of this new waste in soil trenches for an unspecified period of
time. Before we in the Northwest
consider proposals to allow an increase in the amount of waste shipped
to Hanford, DOE has an obligation to demonstrate that its treatment and
disposal proposals are safe beyond a doubt.
Further there must be no lingering questions about whether the
cost for waste treatment and disposal takes money away from cleaning up
the existing waste that currently threatens our health. The
risks associated with dramatically increasing the amount of nuclear waste
moving across our highways must not be forgotten.
The estimates of the number of shipments that have been made are
staggering. Under the proposal before us, we, the residents
of Oregon, would shoulder a disproportionate share of the risk of catastrophic
accident. This risk is exacerbated
by continued warnings about terrorists trying to acquire nuclear material.
The onus must be on the Department of Energy to demonstrate that its proposal
is safe, that its methods of transportation are tested, and that every
contingency has been planned for. The
document before us does not meet that test.
In
closing, I respectfully request that, in revising its Environmental Impact
Statement, the Department of Energy takes into account the concerns that
I, and those of us here tonight, have voiced.
I thank you for listening and I look forward to working with you
on this important challenge. |