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               ENGROSSED SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 8023

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State of Washington   57th Legislature        2002 Regular Session

By Senators Hale, Fraser, Eide, Regala and Roach

READ FIRST TIME 05/07/2001.

Requesting full funding for the cleanup of the Hanford Reservation. 

    TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE W. BUSH, 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 UNITED STATES 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 Hanford Reservation in Southeast Washington state presents an unprecedented environmental cleanup challenge resulting from decades of defense production that served to bring an early end to World War II and to keep our nation safe during the Cold War years; and

    WHEREAS, The Hanford Reservation is located near the Columbia River, which irrigates our farmland and is the lifeblood of Washington state; and

    WHEREAS, It is imperative that cleanup of the Hanford Reservation be sustained and completed as expeditiously as possible to preserve the integrity of the environment and the safety of generations to come; and

    WHEREAS, Significant cleanup progress is being made at Hanford, including decommissioning and deactivating more than 35 buildings; resolving safety issues associated with Hanford's 177 underground waste storage tanks; stabilizing plutonium in the Plutonium Finishing Plant; moving spent nuclear fuel out of the K-Basins and away from the river to safer storage in the central plateau; shipping transuranic waste to New Mexico for permanent storage; and moving 600,000 tons of contaminated soil away from the river; and

    WHEREAS, The President's proposed fiscal year 2003 budget threatens the cleanup effort and jeopardizes the Department of Energy's ability to comply with federal and state laws and meet the compliance commitments set forth in the Tri-Party Agreement between the State of Washington, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the United States Department of Energy; and

    WHEREAS, Budget-driven delays in Hanford cleanup activities will compromise the success of the project resulting in greater costs to taxpayers, another in a string of broken promises, and public outrage at this continuing, unaddressed threat to public health and the environment;

    NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that you fully fund the needs of a sustained environmental cleanup in keeping with federal and state laws and the Tri-Party Agreement, and providing for the protection of the great Columbia River and the citizens of the state of Washington.

    BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States, the Secretary of the United States 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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