Bingen slams new Hanford EIS

"The city of Bingen is concerned that the cumulative analysis in the USDOE's draft tank closure and waste management EIS predicts a widespread and persistent environmental contamination of the Columbia River that could affect Bingen and other cities for thousands of years. The EIS also concludes that accepting off-site waste at the Hanford site would have long-term negative impacts on the river," Barnes wrote. "The Columbia River is the life-blood of communities adjacent to it. The city of Bingen does not accept the vision portrayed in the EIS as the vision of our future."

On March 16, the Bingen City Council voted unanimously to approve sending the letter to the USDOE.

"It was clear it was about the health and safety of our region," Barnes said. "I brought it before the council and asked if they would like to send a letter. I was quite pleased the council supported the letter."

Brett VandenHeuvel, executive director of Columbia Riverkeeper, an environmental organization with offices in Bingen and Hood River, said the EIS was taking the hazardous cleanup process in an unwise direction.

"The EIS sets up Hanford as America's nuclear waste dump -- a place to ship radioactive waste from across the country," VandenHeuvel said. "We need cleanup first. After years of failed cleanups and radioactive and chemical contamination leaching into the Columbia River, shipping more nuclear waste to Hanford is unacceptable."

The new EIS was intended to evaluate options for managing and disposing of waste, selecting supplemental treatments, closing tanks, and closing the Fast Flux Test Facility at Hanford.

A 2006 legal settlement required USDOE to prepare the Environmental Impact Statement for the Hanford Site. The intent of the EIS was to provide a "comprehensive and integrated look at near-term waste management and tank waste cleanup actions at Hanford."

Barnes urged the USDOE to "implement the highest level of cleanup possible and to continually research new technologies that will allow the removal on contamination deep in the soil."

In her letter, Mayor Barnes also called on the USDOE to rescind a decision made in 2000 that opened Hanford to accepting storage of hazardous waste from other sites.

"The city understands the desire to complete cleanup of Hanford as efficiently and effectively as possible," Barnes concluded. "However, due to the extent of the contamination and the complexity of the cleanup, there are no acceptable shortcuts. The communities along the Columbia River cannot tolerate the long-term contamination of the Columbia River as foreseen in the EIS. We urge the Department of Energy to take the requested actions to preserve our collective health, safety, and security."

VandenHeuvel said he believes the letter from the city of Bingen and other municipalities, individuals, and organizations are having an impact.

"The city of Bingen is doing the right thing by raising concerns and looking out for the safety of the people," he explained. "In addition to USDOE, Bingen's comments will influence the state of Washington, which has stated that importing new waste is not acceptable. It's important for municipalities to speak up on these issues of statewide and national importance."

What is now known as the Hanford Site opened in 1943. Plutonium manufactured at the site was used in the nuclear bomb dropped on Japan in 1945, and later, during the Cold War, the site produced plutonium for thousands of nuclear weapons. Over the years, Hanford operations generated the approximately 53 million gallons of high-level radioactive waste that remains at the site.

"This is an important time in the history of the Hanford cleanup," VandenHeuvel added. "The decisions made right now on the thoroughness and speed of the cleanup has direct health effects on future generations. Columbia Riverkeeper works on a lot of issues up and down the river to protect water quality and salmon. We believe cleaning up Hanford is imperative."

Barnes said the reason for her letter was pretty basic.

"We need to make clear shortcuts are not acceptable when it comes to the health and safety of our region," Barnes said.

The public comment period for the EIS closes on May 3, 2010.