INTERIOR ORDERS WARD VALLEY REVIEW

[Matt Freedman <freedman@Citizen.ORG>]

  INTERIOR ANNOUNCES ENVIRONMENTAL TESTS, REVIEW FOR WARD VALLEY
  CONGRESS LIKELY TO MEDDLE AGAIN
  
  In a major victory for the environment, Deputy Secretary of
  Interior John Garamendi on February 15 announced two important
  new studies at the proposed dump site for "low-level" radioactive
  waste at Ward Valley, California. The site is on federal land
  managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and California Governor
  Pete Wilson has been pushing the federal government to transfer
  the land to the state with no safety conditions. The transfer has
  been strongly opposed by public interest groups, including Public
  Citizen, because of overwhelming evidence that the dump would
  threaten drinking water sources. The proposed dump has also drawn
  opposition from Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and from Native
  American tribes who have sacred sites nearby.
  
  Garamendi announced that the Department of Interior (DOI) will
  undertake two measures "to reaffirm the Clinton Administration's
  commitment that the federal role in transferring this land to the
  State of California is carried out in a manner consistent with
  our responsibility to assure the public that their health and
  safety concerns are adequately addressed." First, Interior has
  asked the Department of Energy to oversee tritium testing at the
  Ward Valley site, where previous tests showed rapid migration of
  the radioactive material. The tests, which were recommended by a
  National Academy of Sciences (NAS) panel, will be conducted by
  Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Second, Garamendi ordered
  a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement to address public
  concerns raised since the initial Environmental Impact Statement
  was completed five years ago, further examine recommendations
  made by the NAS panel, and consider the effect of the proposed
  transfer on Native American sacred sites. The public will be
  given an additional opportunity to submit formal comment or
  provide new information about the site, but the DOI will not be
  holding the public hearings previously promised by Secretary
  Bruce Babbitt.
  
  The next move by Pete Wilson, U.S. Ecology and the nuclear
  utilities that want to dump their wastes in shallow unlined
  trenches at Ward Valley will be the same as their last move --
  lobby Congress to force Interior to transfer the land. Congress
  included a mandatory land transfer, exempted from all federal
  laws, in the ill-fated budget reconciliation bill of 1995.
  President Clinton vetoed that bill for 82 reasons, one of which
  was Ward Valley. Sources report that industry lobbyists have
  already begun planning a Congressional attack on Interior. Rep.
  Brian Bilbray (R-CA) introduced last year a free-standing bill,
  H.R.2334, to mandate a land transfer.
  
  WHAT YOU CAN DO:
  Write or email your Members of Congress, telling them to oppose
  any transfer of federal land for use as a radioactive waste dump
  at Ward Valley. Points to make include:
  
  -- Tritium testing is needed to determine whether radioactive
  wastes dumped at Ward Valley would leak into the water table and
  into the Colorado River, a source of drinking water for millions
  of people;
  
  -- U.S. Ecology should clearly not be allowed to operate a
  radioactive waste facility. The company admits to engaging in
  illegal dumping at its Nevada site, and has also left behind heavily 
  contaminated waste dumps at Sheffield, Illinois, and Maxey Flats, Kentucky;
  
  -- As a steward of federal land, the U.S. government should not
  give California a site for radioactive waste without conducting a
  supplemental environmental impact statement covering all threats
  to public health and safety, in addition to the impacts on Native
  American sacred sites.
  
  Congressional Addresses:
  
  U.S. Senate              U.S. House of Representatives
  Washington, D.C. 20510   Washington, D.C. 20515
  
  Interior's news releases are posted at http://www.usgs.gov/doi
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