A resident near the Hanford Site has filed a lawsuit seeking an order that Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy issue or deny the Department of Energy facility’s air operating permit required by the Clean Air Act. Richland resident Bill Green said the EPA is obligated to take action after the Washington state Department of Ecology missed an air permit deadline in 2015.
Green petitioned the EPA in 2013 and 2014, asking it to object to the air operating permit issued by the Department of Ecology. On May 29, 2015, McCarthy issued a 29-page order responding to both petitions. She denied Green’s claims, with the exception of a subpart of one of six claims. She agreed that the state did not adequately respond to some public comments made during a public input period for a permit renewal.
Green contends that Ecology had 90 days to submit a revised permit to meet the EPA order, but failed to act until July 2016 when it reissued the permit with revisions, along with responses to address the public comment issue. “This action by the Department of Ecology does not relieve the administrator of her duty to herself issue or deny the Hanford Site Title V Permit,” according to the lawsuit.
Green claims standing in the lawsuit as a local resident concerned that his health is harmed by radionuclide pollutants released into the air by the Hanford Site, which now houses the massive cleanup of former plutonium production operations. McCarthy is the sole listed defendant in the case filed in U.S. District Court for Western Washington. The Washington state Department of Health is not named in the lawsuit but plays a key role in monitoring for airborne radioactive emissions at Hanford. It assures the public that based on inspections and reviews of Hanford’s annual radiation air emissions report, the site’s emissions are well below national ambient air standards. Emissions also fall within state standards.
The EPA declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The Federal Clean Air Act requires all states to issue an air operating permit for businesses and industries that are the largest sources of air pollution. An air operating permit contains all the requirements that apply to an air pollution source. Hanford’s permit requires the site to make regular reports on how it is tracking its emissions and the controls being used to limit emissions. Hanford also must certify whether it has met air requirements of the permit.
