The Department of Justice is seeking dismissal of a federal lawsuit filed by Washington state over worker safety at the Hanford Site. It filed the motion this week in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington, claiming the state had no legal standing to bring the case.
Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed the lawsuit in early September seeking better protection of workers from chemical vapors associated with waste held in Hanford’s underground tanks. This spring and summer about 57 workers have received medical checks for possible exposure to chemical vapors. All were released to return to work, but some fear they could develop neurological or lung diseases.
The Department of Justice said it considered two possible ways the state could have legal authority in the case and concluded it failed to meet either. The state could file suit if it is being harmed, but it has shown no concrete harm, such as environmental consequences to land or water from the vapors, the Department of Justice said. It also could invoke “parens patriae,” Latin for “parent of the country,” which states have used to protect the welfare of their people. But the Department of Justice said the state does not meet legal standards to use that argument.
Even if Washington could sue the federal government using parens patriae authority, the state would not be allowed to bring such a lawsuit to vindicate the interest of a narrow subset of its citizens, the motion says. “The state’s lawsuit here is on behalf of, at most, only those state citizens who work at Hanford,” DOJ said. “The very small subset of the state’s population working at Hanford may themselves file suit if they believe they have a basis to do so. Indeed, the Hanford Challenge and the United Association of Plumbers and Steamfitters Local Union 598 have filed suit, prior to the state, asserting the same alleged endangerment.” The DOJ motion does not challenge the authority of the union and Hanford Challenge to sue for better protection of Hanford workers.
Ferguson said in a statement that the state strongly opposes the motion and that he expects the state to prevail. He pointed out that the federal government is questioning the state’s ability to bring the lawsuit nearly a year after it was filed. “I suggest the federal government focus on protecting workers rather than continuing to evade accountability,” he said. “I continue to ask: How many Washington workers need to get sick before the federal government changes its culture of indifference to worker safety at Hanford?”
Both plaintiff lawsuits, which have been consolidated, are scheduled to go to trial on Sept. 19, 2017.
