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ENGROSSED
SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 8023
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Passed
Legislature - 2002 Regular Session
State of Washington 57th Legislature 2002
Regular Session
By
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.
