U.S., state settle suit over Hanford waste shipments
Energy Dept. won't send any material until new impact statement is done
YAKIMA -- Washington state and the U.S. Energy Department have agreed to settle a lawsuit challenging out-of-state shipments of radioactive and hazardous waste to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, the two sides announced Monday.
The agreement appears to end a two-year court battle between the state and federal government over proposed waste shipments to the site.
As part of the agreement, the Energy Department will prepare a new environmental impact statement that evaluates the potential effects of storing, treating and disposing of certain types of waste at Hanford. In exchange, the state agreed to drop its lawsuit challenging the current environmental impact statement and will play a greater role in developing the new document.
The new impact statement is to be completed by 2008. The Energy Department will not ship waste to the site until the document is completed, with the exception of some waste the state had already agreed to accept at Hanford.
"With this agreement, both parties will be able to shift their focus and resources away from litigation and toward partnership and our shared cleanup goals," Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said in a statement. "The settlement of this lawsuit signals a new day in our cleanup efforts, where both the federal government and the state jointly address Hanford's cleanup challenges and seek common ground and quality solutions."
The Energy Department manages cleanup at the 586-square-mile reservation, which is the nation's most contaminated nuclear site after 40 years of plutonium production for the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal. Cleanup costs are expected to total $50 billion to $60 billion.
"Although I'm disappointed we had to file a lawsuit to get this result, this is a great outcome for a long and contentious case," state Attorney General Rob McKenna said in a statement. "I'm very pleased the Department of Energy has agreed to re-examine the impacts of waste disposal at Hanford so we have greater confidence that future waste disposal will not increase the threat to the Columbia River."
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U.S., state settle suit over Hanford waste shipments
