4030 AMS ECP S2859.2

HJM 4030 - S COMM AMD

By Committee on Ecology & Parks

    On page 1, after line 8, strike the remainder of the joint memorial and insert the following:

    "WHEREAS, The federal government, in an effort to protect the national security of the United States, established the Hanford site in Central Washington in 1943; and

    WHEREAS, During the course of the past five decades, many dangerous, toxic, and nuclear wastes were disposed of or stored at the site; and

    WHEREAS, Two-thirds of the volume of nuclear waste in the entire United States is stored at Hanford; and

    WHEREAS, The Department of Energy has been tasked with overseeing the cleanup of the site; and

    WHEREAS, Millions of dollars have been expended at Hanford for environmental cleanup; and

    WHEREAS, The United States General Accounting Office estimates that a significant amount of the cleanup funds have been expended on administrative and legal activities; and

    WHEREAS, The federal government agreed under the "Tri-Party Agreement" to a series of milestones to clean up the site; and

    WHEREAS, Key milestones in this agreement cannot be met if the Department of Energy does not follow through on its proposal to reduce cleanup funding at the Hanford site; and

    WHEREAS, The federal government has now announced that four thousand five hundred jobs will be eliminated as a result of these cuts; and

    WHEREAS, These cuts will delay the cleanup and increase its cost.

    NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the federal government work with Washington State and local officials to eliminate duplicative Department of Energy orders, streamline paperwork requirements, and otherwise reduce unnecessary costs so that full and adequate funding may be available for environmental cleanup; that it begin immediately to construct the facilities necessary to implement cleanup of the Hanford site; and that it maintain its commitment to funding and implementing all the key milestones of the "Tri-Party Agreement."

    BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the United States, the Secretary of the Department of Energy, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington."

                            --- END ---