WARD VALLEY UPDATE for September 25, 1997

The U.S. Department of the Interior continues to delay the sale of 1,000 acres of federal Mojave Desert land at Ward Valley, California to the State of California for use as the site of the Southwestern Compact's regional low-level radioactive waste disposal facility. Interior's delays ignore the license issued by the California Department of Health Services (DHS) in 1993, decisions by the California courts in 1996 upholding the license and DHS' certification of the Environmental Impact Report, a highly favorable Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement issued by Interior's Bureau of Land Management in 1993, and a highly favorable report issued by the National Academy of Sciences in 1995 following 14 months of study.

The NAS Ward Valley report prompted Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt (who had requested the NAS study) to say:

"I've never felt that being an environmentalist means saying 'no' to necessity. The National Academy of Sciences says it's safe, so I'm prepared to go ahead with it."

Shortly thereafter, the Clinton Administration took away from Secretary Babbitt responsibility and authority for Ward Valley land transfer decisions and made Deputy Secretary John Garamendi its spokesman on Ward Valley.

Interior continues to frustrate the State of California's attempts to comply with the very requirements Interior has said are preconditions to the land transfer. The 1995 NAS report recommended certain additional tests be carried out at the Ward Valley site during construction and operation of the disposal facility. However, Interior has demanded the additional tests be conducted prior to the land transfer. In January of this year, California Governor Pete Wilson agreed to this condition. Interior's response has been to demand joint tests (the State and DOI), notwithstanding Interior's lack of expertise in radiation safety, and to deny the State access to the Ward Valley site for the purpose of carrying out the tests which Interior has demanded.

Report of the United States General Accounting Office

In July, the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) issued a report that is highly critical of Interior's handling of the Ward Valley land transfer issue and Interior's decision to prepare yet another Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. The report's summary of results says, in part:

"Interior did not state that its decision to prepare the supplement was based on significant new information that would require it to prepare a supplement to the original environmental impact statement. In fact, much of the new information that has become available is favorable to the proposed disposal facility. Interior's underlying reasons for preparing a second supplement were that it should provide a forum for the resolution of the public's concerns about the facility and independently determine if the site is suitable for containing radioactive wastes. Interior, however, has neither criteria nor technical expertise in radiological safety matters to independently determine if the site is suitable for a disposal facility, nor has it sought technical assistance from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) or—with one exception—the Department of Energy. California, however, has met all the state's procedural and substantive requirements for licensing the proposed facility. Consequently, the state and its licensee have sued Interior to determine, among other things, if Interior has exceeded its authority with respect to radiological safety matters, such as determining the site's suitability."

July 22nd Hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee

On July 22, 1997, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee heard testimony from a representative of the GAO, Interior Secretary Garamendi, and a representative of the Governor of California. Under questioning by Committee Chairman Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska), Jon Kyl (R-Arizona), and Larry Craig (R-Idaho), Deputy Secretary Garamendi admitted that a new policy of the U.S. Department of Energy not to provide technical assistance to the State of California (as provided by the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act) in carrying out the additional tests at the Ward Valley site as demanded by Interior, was the "outcome" of meetings between representatives of the Interior and Energy Departments. Mr. Garamendi could not recall if this new position had been his own recommendation or who represented Energy at the meetings. (He did promise to provide the Committee these names.) During the course of the hearing, Senator Craig accused the Interior Department of deliberate bias. He said, "Where a red herring can be found, a red herring can be pursued."

When asked by Chairman Murkowski why Interior would not allow California on the Ward Valley site to perform the additional tests, Mr. Garamendi said that California had not applied for a permit to perform the tests.

July 22nd Letter from the Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to the Secretary of the Interior Criticizes Interior's Misinformation

A letter dated July 22, 1997 from NRC Chairman Shirley Ann Jackson to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt complains that a year earlier, July 22, 1996, Deputy Secretary John Garamendi had distributed a misleading "fact sheet" on Ward Valley and low-level waste disposal. NRC said misleading information about California's low-level waste stream had been incorrectly ascribed to the NRC and other government sources when, in fact, the misinformation appeared to have been obtained from Ward Valley opponents.

Interior Rejects a State Proposal for Settlement of the Lawsuit

The Interior Department has rejected a proposal from the State of California dated August 15, 1997 to settle the State's suit against Interior. In the August 15th proposal, the State agreed to joint testing as proposed by Interior and asked that the Ward Valley lands be transferred to the State now. The State agreed to revisit its Ward Valley license if the results of the testing so indicated and proposed that all the conditions and agreements be made binding and enforceable by the Court through the settlement. Interior rejected the State's settlement proposal.

California Applies for a Permit

On September 4, 1997, the California Department of Health Services formally applied to the BLM for a permit to carry out infiltration tests at the Ward Valley site. Last April, Interior had said such a permit application could be processed expeditiously.

Federal Government Petitions the Court to Halt Discovery

In September, the Department of Justice, acting for the Department of the Interior, petitioned the Court in Washington, DC to halt further discovery in the lawsuits brought by the State and US Ecology.

Senator Craig Calls for an Investigation by the Inspector General of the Interior Department

On September 10, 1997, Senator Larry Craig formally requested the Inspector General of the Interior Department to investigate matters related to the Department's handling of California's Ward Valley land purchase application. Specifically, Senator Craig called for an investigation of a sole source personal services contract let by the BLM to determine compliance with federal procurement regulations. Senator Craig's request poses questions about Deputy Secretary Garamendi's role in the procurement and asks the Inspector General to "examine the propriety of Mr. Garamendi's future involvement in matters pertaining to the Ward Valley land transfer."

A Response from BLM to the State's Request for a Permit

On September 24, 1997, the State Director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management responded to the Department of Health Services' September 4th application for a permit to conduct a study of rainfall infiltration at Ward Valley. While seeking to assure the State that it is "...moving ahead to process the application expeditiously," BLM notes that it has "initiated consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service," that it will meet with "affected" Native American tribes, and that it is preparing an Environmental Assessment that will address not only the testing program proposed by DHS but also the testing proposed by Interior and the "cumulative effects should both testing activities be undertaken." (!) BLM asks for additional information regarding the State's testing program so that it can be made available to the public and indicates its intention to complete the Environmental Assessment in October and then to release it, "...and a draft Finding of No Significant Impact if one is appropriate, for public review and comment for 30 days."

Thus do the unnecessary delays continue.