The federal trial for the Hanford Site chemical vapors safety lawsuit case has been delayed until Aug. 29, 2018.
Judge Thomas Rice, of U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington, agreed Thursday to delay the trial and interim deadlines in the case by about 30 days at the request of defendants and plaintiffs. The next deadline in the case is now Nov. 9 for plaintiffs to identify experts and provide experts’ reports. The trial would begin toward the end of August 2018.
Parties in the case requested the delay to allow more time to pursue a settlement agreement. The most recent mediation session, held Sept. 18-19, did not lead to an agreement in addressing plaintiffs’ demands for increased worker protections from vapors associated with underground tanks holding 56 million gallons of chemical and radioactive waste at the former plutonium production site.
This is the seventh time the trial has been rescheduled, with the last five times to allow time for mediation and settlement talks.
The state of Washington, the watchdog group Hanford Challenge, and the Plumbers and Steamfitters Local Union 598 sued the Department of Energy and its Hanford tank farm contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions, in September 2015. The plaintiffs say Hanford workers have been seriously injured by exposure to chemical vapors from the tanks. DOE has argued that reports of possible exposures have declined substantially since supplied air respirators were required for most work inside the tank farms starting in August 2016.