HANFORD COMMUNITIES ASK STATE TO DROP DEMAND FOR MORE TANKS

Hanford Communities, a coalition of Hanford-area local governments, called on Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee this week to drop the state’s demand that eight more waste storage tanks be built at Hanford. The project would unnecessarily divert money from a plan to start treating Hanford’s waste as soon as possible, Hanford Communities said in a letter sent to the governor and state Attorney General Bob Ferguson. “The state’s prescriptive and rigid stance on this issue sets a bad precedent in the collaborative relationship between the state and the federal government,” the letter said.

The state’s stance is that the administration is obligated to request money for all legally required Hanford cleanup, said Jane Hedges, the director of the state Department of Ecology’s Nuclear Waste Program. If Congress cannot provide enough money, the state will take that into consideration, but the assumption should not be made that enough money for all important cleanup work cannot be obtained, she said. The state’s requirement for new tanks was included in proposal to amend Hanford’s court-enforced consent decree. Ferguson has said he could take further action on the consent decree this week.