(This Op-Ed by Senator Wyden was printed
in The Oregonian on July 27, 2002)
A new U.S. Department of Energy plan would put millions of Oregonians
in double jeopardy – of the radioactive kind. Oregonians are already
at risk from nuclear and radioactive waste stored at the Hanford
nuclear site. Now the Department of Energy wants to send almost
20 million cubic feet of additional waste to Hanford. That's an
estimated 70,000 additional truckloads of radioactive waste from
all around the country moving through Oregon in the next four decades.
Trucks loaded with radioactive waste would move up Interstate
5 through Medford, Eugene, Salem, and the Portland metropolitan
area. Thousands of truckloads would go through the passes of the
Blue Mountains along I-84.
I am strongly opposed to trucking in additional waste for disposal
at the Hanford facility. The very idea is a threat to our economy
and our lives. In this day and age we must be concerned about our
safety and the threats of terrorism. Every truck carrying radioactive
waste through our communities is a potential weapon for terrorists.
A terrorist attack either by explosion or by hijacking could be
devastating to our economy, shutting down roads, closing businesses
and giving our state a reputation that would scare away both tourists
and new jobs.
In addition to the transit threat, no other site in the country
has affected the health and safety of residents in another state
the way Hanford has affected the citizens of Oregon.
Oregonians living downwind from Hanford have been exposed to radioactive
iodine through airborne releases and contamination of local vegetation.
Hanford also poses a serious health threat to the more than one
million people who live downstream from the site. Radioactive materials
have been released into the Columbia River when river water was
pumped through the site's nuclear reactors to cool them. Other hazardous
and radioactive materials that were dumped at the site have seeped,
and continue to seep, into the River.
Many Oregonians are suffering adverse health effects from living
near Hanford today. Many more will be at risk if Hanford's load
of nuclear waste grows as proposed.
If trucking waste to Hanford causes more illnesses and sends health
costs soaring, health insurance premiums in the region could skyrocket.
This is bad for both Oregonians and Oregon businesses. There is
simply no facility in this country—Federal or non-Federal—that compares
to Hanford in terms of environmental contamination. In fact, Hanford
is generally considered to be the most contaminated site in the
Western Hemisphere. You would have to go to the former Soviet Union
to find a site as polluted as Hanford.
What Hanford needs is better safety measures and faster cleanup,
not more radioactive waste. Yet, the Department of Energy says moving
waste is part of a national solution to the nuclear problem. Their
proposal is to bring tens of thousands of shipments through Oregon
to Hanford. From the standpoint of overall progress, the Department
of Energy's plan is not a step forward. Rather, it's nearly 20 million
steps backward.
The bottom line is, dumping more waste at Hanford, even in lined
trenches, cannot be considered cleanup in any sense of the word.
Moving waste from one site to Hanford is simply a shell game, shifting
the problem from one place to another and threatening many other
communities along the way.
I am simply not willing to let more waste come into a facility
that isn't safely handling the waste that's already there. I oppose
this plan to truck additional nuclear waste to Hanford, and will
do everything within my power as a United States Senator to prevent
it. I have already stopped the Department of Energy's original plan
to bury much of the waste slated for transport in unlined soil trenches.
Even household garbage cannot be dumped into unlined trenches under
state law. Fortunately, at a hearing before the Senate Energy Committee
I got a commitment from Assistant Energy Secretary Jessie Roberson
that there would be no disposal in unlined trenches.
I encourage all Oregonians to voice their concerns about driving
thousands of trucks of radioactive waste through our state. The
Department of Energy will hold public hearings on their plan in
Portland on July 30th at the Metro Regional Services Building, Council
Chambers-600 N.E. Grand Avenue and in Hood River on August 14th
at the Best Western Hood River Inn, River Room-1108 E. Marina Way.
Both hearings begin at 7pm. This issue is too important to Oregon's
future for us to remain silent.
