H-1844.1  _______________________________________________

                     HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 4026

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      54th Legislature     1995 Regular Session

By Representatives Hankins, Delvin, Lisk, Mastin, Grant and Honeyford

Read first time 02/21/95.  Referred to Committee on Agriculture & Ecology.

Concerning federal funds for the cleanup of the Hanford waste disposal site.

    TO THE HONORABLE BILL CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND TO THE SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY:

    We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:

    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, Approximately eight billion dollars have been expended on the cleanup over the past several years; and

    WHEREAS, The United States General Accounting Office estimates that up to forty percent of the cleanup funds have been expended on administrative, legal, or regulatory compliance 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 follows through on its proposal to reduce cleanup funding at the Hanford site without reducing regulatory hurdles; 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, unless accompanied by a significant streamlining of the federal regulatory burden, 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.

    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.

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