H-4175              _______________________________________________

                                      HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 25

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1986 Regular Session

By Representatives D. Nelson, Jacobsen, Long, Sutherland, Todd, Unsoeld, Miller and Wang

Read first time 1/24/86 and referred to Committee on Energy & Utilities.

WHEREAS, It is the sense of the legislature that public confidence in the United States Department of Energy's program for the study and selection of the nation's first high-level nuclear waste repository pursuant to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 has been seriously eroded by:

          (1) Delays in the program;

          (2) The ranking methodologies and decision criteria that have been found seriously flawed by the state of Washington Nuclear Waste Board, the United States General Accounting Office, the Office of Technology Assessment, and other affected states and public interest commentators; and

          (3) The refusal of the United States Department of Energy to grant moneys to affected states, as required by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982; and

          WHEREAS, The United States Department of Energy formally intends to legally declare the Hanford, Washington, reference site suitable as a high-level nuclear waste repository prior to completing extensive site characterization studies of the site;

          NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, By the House of Representatives of the state of Washington, the Senate concurring, That the Governor and Attorney General of the state of Washington should immediately pursue all means, including joint litigation with other affected states, to prevent the United States Department of Energy from legally declaring the Hanford Reservation a safe repository site before site characterization studies are completed.