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INTERIOR ANNOUNCES ENVIRONMENTAL TESTS, REVIEW FOR WARD VALLEY
CONGRESS LIKELY TO MEDDLE AGAIN

In a major victory for the environment, Deputy Secretary of
Interior John Garamendi on February 15 announced two important
new studies at the proposed dump site for "low-level" radioactive
waste at Ward Valley, California. The site is on federal land
managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and California Governor
Pete Wilson has been pushing the federal government to transfer
the land to the state with no safety conditions. The transfer has
been strongly opposed by public interest groups, including Public
Citizen, because of overwhelming evidence that the dump would
threaten drinking water sources. The proposed dump has also drawn
opposition from Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and from Native
American tribes who have sacred sites nearby.

Garamendi announced that the Department of Interior (DOI) will
undertake two measures "to reaffirm the Clinton Administration's
commitment that the federal role in transferring this land to the
State of California is carried out in a manner consistent with
our responsibility to assure the public that their health and
safety concerns are adequately addressed." First, Interior has
asked the Department of Energy to oversee tritium testing at the
Ward Valley site, where previous tests showed rapid migration of
the radioactive material. The tests, which were recommended by a
National Academy of Sciences (NAS) panel, will be conducted by
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Second, Garamendi ordered
a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement to address public
concerns raised since the initial Environmental Impact Statement
was completed five years ago, further examine recommendations
made by the NAS panel, and consider the effect of the proposed
transfer on Native American sacred sites. The public will be
given an additional opportunity to submit formal comment or
provide new information about the site, but the DOI will not be
holding the public hearings previously promised by Secretary
Bruce Babbitt.

The next move by Pete Wilson, U.S. Ecology and the nuclear
utilities that want to dump their wastes in shallow unlined
trenches at Ward Valley will be the same as their last move --
lobby Congress to force Interior to transfer the land. Congress
included a mandatory land transfer, exempted from all federal
laws, in the ill-fated budget reconciliation bill of 1995.
President Clinton vetoed that bill for 82 reasons, one of which
was Ward Valley. Sources report that industry lobbyists have
already begun planning a Congressional attack on Interior. Rep.
Brian Bilbray (R-CA) introduced last year a free-standing bill,
H.R.2334, to mandate a land transfer.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Write or email your Members of Congress, telling them to oppose
any transfer of federal land for use as a radioactive waste dump
at Ward Valley. Points to make include:

-- Tritium testing is needed to determine whether radioactive
wastes dumped at Ward Valley would leak into the water table and
into the Colorado River, a source of drinking water for millions
of people;

-- U.S. Ecology should clearly not be allowed to operate a
radioactive waste facility. The company admits to engaging in
illegal dumping at its Nevada site, and has also left behind heavily 
contaminated waste dumps at Sheffield, Illinois, and Maxey Flats, Kentucky;

-- As a steward of federal land, the U.S. government should not
give California a site for radioactive waste without conducting a
supplemental environmental impact statement covering all threats
to public health and safety, in addition to the impacts on Native
American sacred sites.

Congressional Addresses:

U.S. Senate              U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20510   Washington, D.C. 20515

Interior's news releases are posted at http://www.usgs.gov/doi
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