Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 27, 1978)
Trojan NRC to consider re-starting plant By CATHERINE SIEGNER Of the Emerald The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Atomic Safety and Licensing Board has decided that a public hearing will be held on planned modifications to the control building at the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant. The control building was ex amined after Trojan's annual shutdown and refueling in March, and structural defects in the walls affecting their ability to withstand earthquakes were discovered. The plant has not been re started and hearings could keep it closed down until next June when the modifications are scheduled to be completed. The NRC Board met Monday and Tuesday in Portland at a pre hearing conference to identify the parties that will be allowed to in tervene in the hearing and to schedule the proceedings. The only certain party so far is Portland General Electric Co. (PGE), which is a 67 percent owner of the plant. NRC Board Chairer Marshall Miller had admitted as parties Monday Eugene Rosolie, repre senting the Coalition for Safe Power; Greg Kafoury, represent ing the Columbia County En vironmental Council; Nina Bell, Gail Parson and Steve Willingham of Portland, and David McCoy of Grants Pass. Miller later suspended his oral ruling and decided to reconsider the petitions to intervene when the participants asked repeated ques tions about the proceedings and threatened to disrupt what Miller called "an expeditious hearing." Miller favored representation of the intervening parties by one or two spokespersons, but the inter veners resisted consolidation at Workers’ director denies speculation By KEVIN HARDEN Of the Emerald Speculation that Roy Green, head of the Workers' Compensa tion Department in Salem, will res ign Sept, 1 is untrue, says Fred Siegrest of the department. Green, who has been director of the compensation department since October, was charged with a conflict of interest three weeks ago because of stock he held in a state insurance company. Those charges were dismissed by Gov. Bob Straub two weeks ago. Straub, who refused to ask Green to resign because of the charges, said there wasn't an ap parent conflict of interest because the stock was in a blind trust. The head of a newly formed in jured worker's organization called for a continued investigation into the charges two weeks ago, de spite Straub's ruling. Carl BleUi, 39, of Springfield, head of the Committee for Injured Workers of America, Inc., said Straub's dismissal of the conflict of interest charges against Green was premature. The charge should be investigated further to determine whether the stock Green holds in the Employee Ben efits Insurance Company of Port land represents a conflict of in terest, Blair said. Blair, an injured worker who started the non-profit CIWA last (Continued on Page 9) Graduate Students Order your Caps & Gowns now. Masters and Doctorate Degree Candidates must rent academic regalia by August 3, for Summer Graduation. Personalized Announcements are now available. Place your orders at the Pen Counter. If J 13th & Kincaid 686-4331 BOOKSTORE Open: Mon-Fri 8:15-5:30 tempts. The Bonneville Power Ad ministration (BPA) submitted a request to intervene at the confer ence, but Miller suggested its concerns about loss of Trojan power while the plant is shut down were identical to those of PGE, and suggested BPA and PGE consolidate. The Board board must deter mine who the parties will be before proceeding with the hearing, and has promised a final decision on the intervention petitions by Fri day. Miller went on to consider sev eral motions by PGE after he had revoked the interveners' status as parties, including a request to re start Trojan while hearings on the modifications are being con ducted. He stated that the board has no authority to act on such motions until a wriuen order is issued, but Indicated he would hear evidence on the motion. Earlier this year, the NRC staff had determined that interim oper ation of the plant would be safe while the modifications are being made, but a petition asking to re start Trojan from PGE, Pacific Power & Light Co., and the Eugene Water & Electric Board — all part owners of the plant — was denied by the NRC July 6. In presenting evidence on its motion, PGE said a unique struc tural system was used in the con trol building at Trojan, and plans to install a window for security reasons revealed the defects in the walls. PGE indicated it would not have designs for the modifications until Sept. 1, and that it would like either a decision from the NRC on interim operation by Sept. 5, or a preliminary hearing scheduled on restarting the plant. Several of the interveners ob jected at this point to what they considered a “bifurcation” of the issue into two parts — the interim operation and the modifications — and to what they called a “de facto ' gag order from the chairer preventing their participation in the conference. Miller then threatened to order a federal marshal to escort them from the room if they persisted in interrupting the conference. The interveners were allowed to speak the next day, and they, as well as PGE and NRC staff, sub mitted schedule suggestions for the hearing. The board decided on a special pre-hearing conference to be held August 14 in Portland where inter veners will present preliminary questions and requests for docu ments. Chairer Miller advised the inter veners to begin the process al though he did not indicate which individuals or representatives of organizations will be given status as parties to the proceedings. Hearing on injunction postponed By CATHERINE SIEGNER Of the Emerald A hearing on Portland General Electric Co.’s (PGE) request for a preliminary injunction to stop de monstrations at the Trojan Nuc lear Power Plant has been de layed until Monday. PGE subpoenaed 122 persons and three organizations to appear July 25. in Columbia County Cir cuit Court and show cause why they should not be prevented from entering the Trojan site. Two of the defendants, Eugene Rosolie and Susan Garrett, were dropped from the injunction so they could participate in another hearing regarding planned mod ifications to Trojan's control build ing. At the Tuesday hearing in St. Helens, eight of the named defen dants appeared with a lawyer, Ed Jones, and asked that Columbia County Judge Donald Kalberer be bumped from the case. Jones said defendants in such cases have the right to remove two judges without citing a reason. Normon Solomon, a member of the Trojan Decommissioning Al liance (TDA) and one of the named defendants, said the in junction request was a “PGE tac tic to rip off our energy.” "We want to address the injunc tion but we re going to focus on the occupations,” Solomon said. “This is their (PGE’s) dream in junction and it’s really repression. People wouldn’t even be able to talk about this stuff (demonstrat ing against nuclear power) in a cafe if. an injunction is granted.’’ PGE’s injunction request would prohibit individuals from counsel ing others to occupy the Trojan site and claims that PGE suffers “irreparable harm” from the occu pations. “There’s irony in that claim of “irreparable harm,' ” Solomon said. “We re talking about “ir reparable harm’ in another sense — genetic damage from nuclear power. If the wording of the injunc tion request was slightly changed, it would spell out the reasons for the occupations.” X ft joy A cur op our rirtE espresso with yowr nzrx* WE TEATOE: • ESTRESSO Ron ANO •ClOteotATA TAKT/UIR . eAffc CAtTE •CJOCCOtATA MOCA -CAFFC^CUiO m fi-WOAWAY, Et/GBfCE. OREGON fbr#¥IHC£ fhoatOdikv orTiUOaT, Fhofie: (603) 542-3366
