Calendar of Events: last update 2/23/2006 The Department of Energy is preparing the largest Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) ever attempted at Hanford - "The Tank Closure Waste Management Environmental Impact Statement".
This MEGA-EIS will cover the entire Hanford site including over 1700 waste sites. This EIS will be the basis for all future cleanup decisions including the possible importation of radioactive waste from other sites in the nation. It will be used to determine if DOE will cleanup the deep soil contamination, cleanup the groundwater and how it will dispose of the 53 million gallons of highly radioactive waste
Over the past 4 years, USDOE has tried to complete two EIS’s. The first was the Solid Waste EIS (SWEIS). The second was the Tank Waste Closure EIS (TWCEIS). The SWEIS was so incomplete that USDOE was forced to go back and try it again. The second attempt was so bad they were sued for failing to assess some very important potential impacts. The TWCEIS was never competed because of serious problems with the modeling and the results were contrary to what USDOE wanted.
So now there has been a decision to combine the two unsuccessful EIS’s and increase the scope of the EIS to cover the entire Hanford site. DOE wants to complete this in a little over two years. The public’s involvement in this process is crucial so please schedule a meeting date near you now!
Columbia Riverkeeper wants to know why DOE is now going to try to complete a much larger study when it could not get the first two right?
What assurances can DOE give us that this EIS will be in fact comprehensive and cumulative in assessing all the potential risks/impacts over time for as long as the waste remains hazardous?
Since DOE failed the first two times, why aren’t experts being hired that are independent of DOE to research and write such a massive study?
If you have any concerns about Hanford or have ever attended a meeting about Hanford, this meeting is a must! This is the MOST IMPORTANT meeting that will be held on the future of Hanford cleanup in the near future.
If you care about the future of the Columbia River, or that DOE might use this EIS as a basis for importing more waste to Hanford, or burying high level tank waste in the ground, or not removing and treating all the waste at Hanford. Then it is important that you and your friends attend one of these meetings.
If you do not trust DOE based on their prior history of mistakes, and serious EIS failures, then make sure You Attend this meeting and let them know your concerns.
March 21st
Seattle Center
305 Harrison St.
NW Rooms Bldg. Lopez RoomMarch 22nd
Portland, OR
Red Lion Hotel Convention Center
1021 NE Grand AveMarch 23rd
Hood River, OR
Columbia Gorge Hotel
4000 Westcliff Drive
Benson BallroomMarch 28th
TRAC
6600 Burden Blvd.
Meeting Room# 4
Pasco, WAAll Meetings Have Pre Meeting Workshops at 6:00PM
Hearing at 7:PMPLEASE SUBMIT YOUR COMMENTS OPPOSING DEQ'S ATTEMPT TO WEAKEN
OREGON'S WATER CLARITY STANDARD:
Comments must be received by DEQ by Feb. 6, 2006 at 5 pm. Tell DEQ You Oppose Its Attempt to Weaken the Water Clarity Pollution Standard at the Request of Oregon’s Biggest Polluters! Join groups including Columbia Riverkeeper, NEDC, Willamette Riverkeeper, OSPIRG, the Sierra Club and Tualatin Riverkeeper in sending DEQ the message that we want to keep Oregon's water clean.
Oregon DEQ recently released a proposed water clarity standard that would let polluters increase pollution by literally several thousand percent. In fact, the new water clarity standard would be the first standard in Oregon to have a mixing zone built right in where polluters would be free to discharge even the dirtiest of waters without any limits for up to 300 feet downstream of a pollution discharge pipe.
While this sounds almost unbelievable what would you expect from a standard that the Northwest Pulp and Paper Association (NWPPA) actually paid DEQ $ 120,000 to write? That's right! As reported in the August 17, 2002 Oregonian, after complaining that Oregon's water clarity standard was too strict, the NWPPA, which represents the largest polluters in Oregon, signed a contract with Oregon DEQ where it agreed to pay DEQ $ 120,000 for the staff time it would take to re-write the water clarity (aka "turbidity") standard.
We're now facing what is only the latest attempt by Oregon DEQ to roll back the water pollution standards that Oregon counts on to protect the Columbia River and every other river in Oregon.
Please submit comments either by email, fax or letter to DEQ at the contact information below telling DEQ that:
- You oppose DEQ's attempt to weaken the water clarity standard and that clean water is important to you.
- That you want DEQ to adopt a policy that prohibits DEQ from taking money from polluters to re-write their water quality standards.
- DEQ needs to stop working for the polluters' best interests and start working for the publics' best interest.
Submit Comments to DEQ:
Tom Rosetta
DEQ, Water Quality Division
811 SW Sixth Ave., Portland, OR 97204-1390.
Fax comments to Rosetta at (503) 229-6037 or e-mail rosetta.thomas.n@deq.state.or.usClick here to see a sample email to DEQ opposing the weakening of the water clarity pollution standard.
Click here to learn more about the proposed standard
Click here to see DEQ's Contract with the Northwest Pulp and Paper Association that led to the newly proposed standard
Click here to read the Oregonian's Story on DEQ's contract with the Northwest Pulp and Paper Association.
Click here to visit DEQ's web info on the planned change to the water clarity (ie. Turbidity) standard
Click here to read the Oregonian’s article on DEQ’s effort to weaken Oregon’s water clarity standard
Contact: Brent Foster w/ Columbia Riverkeeper (541) 380-1334 for more information.
Acid Rain and Fog in the Columbia River Gorge
Wednesday Oct. 26th 2005 6:30 pm at the Hood River Hotel in Hood River, OR
Columbia Riverkeeper, Friends of the Columbia Gorge, Hood River Mayor Linda Rouches and County Commissioner Roger Schock host:
“Get the Facts on Acid Rain and Fog in the Columbia River Gorge”
Forest Service air quality researchers Bob Bachman and Linda Geiser describe the study they worked on which found that acid fog and rain problems in the Columbia River Gorge were worse than in Pittsburgh. This will be the first in a series of talks on the acid fog and nitrogen deposition problems in the Columbia Basin and their solutions.
Contact Brent Foster at (541) 380-1334 for more information
Contact your Senators TODAY and tell them to protect the Endangered Species Act!
The federal ESA is under attack and a bill that would essentially gut the ESA has already passed the House and so your Senator absolutely needs to hear from you. Please call, write or email them today and ask them to please oppose the “Pombo ESA Bill” since it would undermine key portions of the federal ESA by making decisions on whether to list threatened species a political one and remove key habitat protection requirements in the Act currently. It would also only allow the federal government to require private landowners take steps not to harm imperiled species if the federal government was willing to pay for such measures. This backdoor attempt to make any effort to comply with environmental laws a “taking of private property” would set a very dangerous precedent while putting hundreds of threatened species at risk of extinction.
Contact:
Wyden, Ron- (D - OR)
230 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5244
Web Form: wyden.senate.gov/contact.htmlMurray, Patty- (D - WA)
173 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2621
Web Form: murray.senate.gov/email/index.cfmSmith, Gordon- (R - OR)
404 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3753
Web Form: gsmith.senate.gov/webform.htmCantwell, Maria- (D - WA)
717 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3441
Web Form: cantwell.senate.gov/contact/index.html
It's Time For You To Decide How Clean is Clean!
www.columbiariverkeeper.org
The Central Plateau (200 Area) is where the Department of Energy dumped over 444 billion gallons of radioactive and chemical waste into the ground and where over one million gallons of high level waste have leaked out of huge outdated waste storage tanks. This is the area that is responsible for Hanford being "the most contaminated place in North America."
The Department of Energy has no plans to clean up the groundwater under the 200 Area. For some reason they think they have the right to take this resource from all future generations and say you can't use it. Furthermore, they have no plans to stabilize or contain the waste in the soil to prevent it from further contaminating the groundwater. The Department of Energy seems to be saying to future generations, "You can't use the water, you can't use the land, and if you do, you must severely limit your use to avoid too much exposure from radiation or toxic chemicals."
After 15 years of working on Hanford cleanup, we are at a critical point in time. Either we get cleanup back on track or Hanford will be left a very contaminated place, threatening the future of the Columbia River and all life dependent upon it. The newly released Record of Decision (ROD) on solid waste makes clear the direction the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) wants to go. It wants Hanford to be a nuclear waste dump and walk away from clean up of the contaminated groundwater. That means 180 square miles of groundwater aquifer will not be usable for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The Columbia River Hanford Reach will not be useable for anything but very short-term recreation that limits exposure time. If you planned on using the shoreline, forget it. But what about the fish and wildlife?
All the recent decisions being made are focused on "land use" for humans. What right does the administration have to tell us that the fish and wildlife don't count? That it is OK if they get a dose of radiation every day of their lives. That the toxic chemicals left in the soil are OK for them. The current USDOE plans don't agree with state and federal laws that protect the environment. But then, you can always go to Congress and change the laws, including obtaining the ability to reclassify waste from high level to low level, which USDOE recently did, after losing a court battle over reclassification in Idaho.
The Department of Energy is failing to live up to the commitment it made in 1989 to the State of Washington and the EPA in the Tri-Party Agreement that it will abide by all state and federal environmental laws. Instead it is trying to change the laws-anything to get around cleanup so it can dump even more waste in the ground.
This is the current state of Hanford cleanup. You might be asking what the EPA and Ecology are doing. They are not willing to force cleanup compliance to the letter and intent of the laws, like requiring the 300 Area be cleaned up to "unrestricted use" or requiring groundwater to be cleaned up.
The new decision to make Hanford a nuclear waste dump makes it all worse. USDOE has stated they would use sound science to make decisions but to state in the new ROD that there will be no significant environmental impact from this major decision to import new waste is not sound science. This is based on political science and expediency to clean up and close other sites by dumping it at Hanford.
It's Up to All of Us to Put Hanford Cleanup Back On Track!
This is what YOU CAN DO!
A vocal public always makes a difference.
Write a letter (hand written is best), or send an e-mail or fax to the following addresses and cc it to your congressional representatives and Columbia Riverkeeper so we can track the response.
Points to Cover In Letter:
- Demand that the River Corridor be cleaned up to "unrestricted use" including both the 100 and 300 Areas.
- That all of the groundwater at Hanford be cleaned up in the near future before the site is released as being ?clean.
- That No More Offsite Waste be dumped at Hanford until the current cleanup is completed.
- That an independent, comprehensive Hanford risk assessment be performed before any waste is accepted from offsite for burial at Hanford. (It is very clear that if a truly valid comprehensive assessment were to be performed that you could never add any more waste to the already most contaminated site in the country.)
- That all the deep soil contamination be removed or stabilized so that no further groundwater impacts occur.
- That wildlife be protected to a level that no genetic damage occurs.
- That USDOE abide by the intent and letter of all existing environmental laws and that EPA and Ecology force USDOE into compliance.
GET ACTIVE TODAY SO WE DON'T BECOME CONTAMINATED TOMORROW!
- Jay Manning
- Director WA. State Dept, of Ecology
- P.O. Box 47600
- Olympia, WA 98504-7600
- Off: (360) 407-7001
- Fax: (360) 407-6989
- jaym461@ecy.wa.gov
- Christine Gregoire
- Legislative Bldg.
- Olympia, WA 98504-7600
- Fax: 360-753-4110
- www.governor.wa.gov
- Nick Ceto Mgr.
- EPA -Hanford
- 712 Swift # 5
- Richland, WA 99352
- Fax: 509-376-2396
- Ceto.Nicholas@epa.gov?
- Rob McKenna
- WA State Attorney General
- Hwy/Licenses Bldg.
- Olympia, WA 98504-0100
- Fax: 360-586-7671
- davidm4@atg.wa.gov
- Keith Klein
- Hanford Manager
- P.O. Box 550
- Richland, WA 99352
- Fax: 509-376-4789
- keith_klein@rl.gov
- Gregory deBruler
- Columbia Riverkeeper
- P.O. Box 912
- Bingen, WA 98605
- Ph/Fax: 509-493-2808
- crkwa@gorge.net
Cascadia Times Hanford Stories
Predicted flow of radiation to the Columbia River!
HANFORD LONG-TERM STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM
Public Comment extended beyond official end date of December 9, 2002
USDOE informed Hanford Advisory Board members at the Stewardship workshop in November that it will continue to accept comments into next year, as "This is a living document." So please take the time to comment.
Draft document is available at: www.hanford.gov/geninfo.html or hard copy contact USDOE at 509-376-7501.
Some people believe that long-term stewardship begins when cleanup is completed. In other words, you have done all you can to protect the environment through remedial actions and it is time to move into a state where long-term monitoring, and land use restrictions will be the protective mechanism to limit exposure. If the Record of Decisions are implemented as written, this could be 150 to 300 years for groundwater areas. For full unrestricted use of the land, it could be thousands of years. In essence, USDOE or its predecessors will be responsible for monitoring for as long as the waste poses a threat to human health and the environment (ecosystem). This is a very long time. This is not a commitment CRK believes USDOE is willing to make.
CRK believes that it is good to start dialogue on this because the way we do cleanup today could save us hundred of millions of dollars in the long run.
SEND Your Comments to:
James Daily
USDOE-Richland Operations
P.O. Box 550 (A2-16)
Richland, WA 99352Or e-mail to: longterm_stewardship@rl.gov
Columbia Riverkeeper
724 Oak Street
Hood River, OR 97031
(541) 387-3030
Fax (541) 387-3029
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