ANALYSIS OF HJM 4005

House Agriculture & Ecology Committee                                        February 5, 1997

BACKGROUND:

Land acquisition by the federal government for the Hanford Reservation was authorized in February 1943.  The Wahluke Slope Control Zone, an area north of the Columbia River, was established on November 15, 1943.

The federal Department of Energy has deactivated its reactors at the Hanford Reservation.  It is now in the process of decontaminating them and related areas.  As the department goes through this process, it will make decisions on how to remove portions of its lands from Department of Energy control.  The Wahluke Slope Control Zone is currently managed as a wildlife area.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages one portion of these lands, and the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife manages the remainder of these lands.

SUMMARY:

The President of the United States, Congress, and the Director of the  Department of Energy are requested to reduce, except for needed buffer zones, the present boundaries of the Department of Energy's Hanford control zone on the Wahluke Slope to the area south of the Columbia River.  They are asked to transfer in total the Wahluke Slope presently under the custody and control of the Department of Energy to the counties of Grant, Franklin, and Adams for the purpose of returning the land to its former agricultural use, as well as for wildlife and recreational areas along the Hanford Reach.