Trial in the lawsuit over worker protection from vapors at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state has been reset for June 11, 2018, at the request of all parties in the case.
This is the third time plaintiffs and defendants have jointly requested a delay in the federal trial to allow for continued mediation. It was most recently set for April 9, 2018, but the parties requested the delay when they failed to reach a settlement during mediation sessions in May. Additional mediation sessions are scheduled for July 13-14 and Aug. 1-3.
Judge Thomas Rice, of U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington, also delayed interim deadlines in the case by about two months. The first deadline, for plaintiffs to identify their experts and submit related reports, has been postponed to Sept. 1, 2017, from June 19, 2017.
The state of Washington, watchdog organization Hanford Challenge, and the Plumbers and Steamfitters Local Union 598 filed suit against the Department of Energy and its tank farm contractor in September 2015 seeking better protection from chemical vapors associated with waste held in Hanford’s underground tanks. When five Hanford workers were checked for possible exposure to chemical vapors after suspicious odors were detected outside of tank farms last week, state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said the incident again illustrates the necessity of the lawsuit. “The federal government should stop resisting our lawsuit, acknowledge the seriousness of this problem and focus on protecting workers,” he said.
