Riverkeeper and Senator Murray's Office Meet to Discuss Hanford

This week, Riverkeeper visited Senator Murray’s office to discuss our ongoing concern about the U.S. Department of Energy’s (Energy) lack of transparency at Hanford. Energy’s recent confirmation that Hanford’s underground storage tanks are again leaking radioactive waste into the ground further deflated the public’s trust in the cleanup process. And, Senator Murray’s office agreed that the Department of Energy needs to make smart decisions about how to spend Hanford's cleanup funds.

We are encouraged by Senator’s Murray commitment to holding Energy to their responsibilities.

We delivered a letter, signed by 29 organizations that share our concerns. We request Senator Murray ask Energy to pull the 2015 Vision Campaign, a public relations campaign that misleads the public and decision makers about the extent of cleanup in the River Corridor.

Senator Murray’s office understands that Hanford’s cleanup is billions of dollars and decades from completion.  But, for others, it is easy to misinterpret Energy’s 2015 Vision, completing 90% of surface operations at Hanford by 2015, to  mean that 90% of the cleanup is complete, including 90% of the cost.

We thank Senator Murray for her support to ensure Hanford’s cleanup and agree with her that  cleanup is critical to the long term health of the Columbia River and the Pacific Northwest.  And we look forward to working with her to keep Energy’s Hanford cleanup on track.