(February 21, 1996) Two new studies will be conducted on the proposed dump site for "low-level" radioactive waste at Ward Valley, California, United States' Deputy Secretary of Interior John Garamendi announced on February 15.
(447.4433) WISE Amsterdam - The decision of the Department of Interior (DOI) on the new studies is a major victory for the environmental movement. The site is currently on federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. 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, because of overwhelming evidence that the dump would threaten drinking water sources. The proposed dump has also drawn opposition from Native American tribes who have sacred sites nearby (see WISE NC 446.4423].
According to Garamendi, the DOI has directed that the studies be undertaken "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."
The DOI has asked the Department of Energy to oversee the first study - tritium testing at the Ward Valley site, where previous tests have shown 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. The second study will be for a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. It will 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 ad- ditional opportunity to submit formal comments or provide new information about the site. The DOI, however, will not be holding the public hearings previously promised by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt.
The next move of Governor 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 the DOI.
Source: E-mail Critical Mass Energy Project, 19 Febr. 1996
Contact: Fort Mojave Indian Tribe, 107 F Street, Needles, Ca 92363, USA.
Tel: +1-619-326 6267
or Chemehuevi Indian Tribe +1-619-858 5400.
Or Indigenous Environmental Network: E-mail: ien@igc.apc.org