Big problems with the FY2001 budget

Lynn Porter , Hanford Watch -- March 9, 1999

There are two big problems with the proposed fiscal year 2001 Hanford cleanup budget.

First, it is $232 million short of legal cleanup requirements in the Tri-Party Agreement.

Second, the budget sets aside only $606 million towards the cost of the tank waste vitrification project. According to HEAL, the set-aside fund now has only $383 million in it, and the total by now should be over $1 billion.

What can we do about it?

As for Tri-Party Agreement funding requirements, Washington state could send a wakeup call to President Clinton and Congress by suing the Dept. of Energy. So far Washington has not been willing to do that. The Tri-Party Agreement is only a legally enforceable contract if it is legally enforced.

Activists in Oregon and Washington could try to light a fire under our congressional delegations, to get them to push harder for more Hanford cleanup funding.

On the tank waste set-aside fund, the problem is that Congress does not trust DOE's plan and will not appropriate enough money. DOE needs to come up with a plan that is acceptable to Congress. Otherwise, we are heading for a crash.