|
Hanford Watch home From: Lynn Porter Mary Lou, Thanks for your offer. If I were going to be at the Ecology tank waste meeting on the 26th here is what I would say. I believe we need to put the Tri-Party Agreement tank waste milestones (cleanup deadlines) into federal legislation, allowing anyone to sue if the deadlines are not met. I suggest that the Washington state Dept. of Ecology and the Oregon Office of Energy work out the deadlines together and then get the Washington and Oregon congressional delegations to introduce the legislation. The deadlines need to be more meaningful than those declared by Washington state on March 29, 2000. The first of those milestones has already passed, with the Dept. of Energy not meeting the deadline: "Authorize construction and operation of a tank waste treatment facility by Aug. 31, 2000." Ecology didn't do anything about it except do a deal with DOE to put the new date of Jan. 15 into a consent order. The second milestone is meaningless: "Start treatment complex construction as early as July 31, 2001." As early as? Meaning, whenever. Now DOE is saying they won't start construction until sometime in 2002. And so it goes. Washington state has been backing down for years, refusing to sue DOE when it doesn't meet TPA deadlines. They did threaten to do that a couple of years ago, then made a deal which extended the deadlines. I presume they won't sue because they think they will lose. I've been told that the laws under which they would sue are vague. So we need new laws specifically stating the tank cleanup deadlines and making them part of federal law. I don't see any other way to force DOE to follow its tank cleanup schedule. The law would have to contain substantial penalties for missing the deadlines. Probably Hanford environmental lawyers like Gerry Pollett and Tom Carpenter could think of some suitable penalties. How about if they miss a deadline they have to give large amounts of money, no strings attached, to all Hanford environmentalist groups? (Yes, this is a shameless attempt to get paid.) I can picture Hanford Watch buying a full page ad in the Oregonian with the headline: "DOE misses major Hanford tank waste cleanup deadline. Columbia River in peril." You can bet that's the only way the Oregonian is going to tell people what is happening. Or how about if DOE misses a major deadline, like starting construction on the vitrification plant, they have to turn the tank waste program over to Washington and Oregon? By the way, has the Oregon Office of Energy ever come up with a position on the tank waste program? Something you're willing to state publicly? Have a good meeting. Lynn
> Lynn, I will be at the meeting and would be glad to voice any >particular idea or concern that you have. Mary Lou > >lporter@teleport.com
10/16/00 |