Wash. governor vows to use court order should DOE back out of WTP

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson (D) said Friday his state won’t hesitate to enforce an existing federal court order if the Department of Energy attempts to cancel a multibillion-dollar plant designed to vitrify liquid radioactive tank waste at the Hanford Site into a solid glass form.

Ferguson, along with the head of the Washington state Department of Ecology, Casey Sixkiller, as well as Tri-Cities and economic development officials, held a press conference urging DOE to stick with plans for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP).

“We are here today to send as clear a message as possible to the current administration in Washington, D.C.,” Ferguson said. The press conference was webcast via Ecology’s Facebook page.

“We have done our part in Washington state to support the national defense mission, ” Ferguson said. Hanford made plutonium for national defense programs from the 1940s through the 1980s. Residue from this work includes 56 million gallons of liquid waste held in aging underground tanks, some of which are already leaking.

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has given conflicting signals within the past week about whether DOE put a hold on the plant currently scheduled to start making glass from some of the less radioactive waste next month, Ferguson said.

While the governor said he has not talked to Wright directly, the energy secretary has cited “vague safety reasons,” which might force DOE to abandon WTP, Ferguson said. Wright has also said he has made no changes to DOE’s commitment to testing and examining Directive Feed Low-Activity Waste Facilities at Hanford.

“If in fact they choose not to be moving forward, there will be legal challenges. They will lose,” Ferguson said of DOE officials.  

Ferguson is himself a former Washington state attorney general. Washington holds “a federal court order that binds them [DOE officials] to moving forward,” Ferguson said. As a result, the state would not need to file a new complaint but merely ask the judge to enforce the existing order.

Ferguson was apparently referring to a consent order on Hanford cleanup between the state, DOE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“We have a deal in place,” Ferguson said. “It’s not a handshake. It’s a federal court order.”

A link to the governor’s press release and press conference replay are available online.