| Regional update |
Washington state
debates intention
of Initiative 297
BY REBECCA COOK
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Did voters
mean to expand the state’s power to
regulate radioactive waste when
they overwhelmingly passed Initia
tive 297 last year?
The state Supreme Court heard ar
guments on that question Thursday.
Initiative supporters say no: The
Hanford cleanup measure simply tells
the state to use its existing authority
to block any more waste from coming
to the nuclear reservation until what’s
there is cleaned up.
Opponents say yes: The initiative
dramatically expands the state’s au
thority to block nuclear shipments,
extending even to rags used to wipe
machinery at a nuclear facility.
At stake is the cleanup of the Han
ford nuclear reservation in south-cen
tral Washington, the most contami
nated nuclear site in the country.
“The voters’ intent was not to grab
new spheres of material to regulate,”
said Assistant Attorney General Andy
Fitz, representing the state, which is
defending the initiative.
Attorney Michael Robinson-Dorn,
representing 1-297 sponsors, said if
the justices have any doubt they
should read the 2004 voters’ pam
phlet and other campaign materials.
“In not a single one of them does it
say the scope of the government will
be expanded,” he said.
In fact, 1-297 supporters noted, one
of the main arguments against their
initiative was that it wouldn’t give the
state new authority to regulate waste.
1-297 opponents say the sponsors
are trying to kill part of the initiative
to save it from legal death. Support
ers say the opponents are trying to
expand the definitions in the initia
tive to make sure it will die in
federal court.
The federal government and Han
ford contractors, which oppose the
initiative, say 1-297 did expand the
state’s authority in a way that con
flicts with federal law and thus should
be struck down.
“The definition of mixed waste is
much broader” under 1-297 than
under existing law, said U.S. De
partment of Justice attorney Ken
neth Amaditz. “The state’s reading,
in fact, conflicts with the plain lan
guage of the statute.”
The state is trying to limit the initia
tive to save it, argued Jim Spaanstra,
an attorney representing Fluor Han
ford, the main cleanup contractor.
“They are asking you to validate a
bait-and-switch on the voters of
Washington,” Spaanstra said. “In an
attempt to save this statute, in effect
they’re killing the main purpose of
this statute.
“The job of this court is to give
effect to the plain language of
this statute.”
The court isn’t deciding whether I
297 is constitutional, at least not yet.
The federal government sued to over
turn the initiative, arguing that it vio
lates federal laws governing nuclear
waste and interstate commerce. The
initiative has not been enforced pend
ing resolution of the lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge Alan McDonald
in Yakima earlier granted a motion to
allow the state Supreme Court to de
cide how the measure should be in
terpreted. After the state Supreme
Court rules on nine questions posed
by McDonald, the case will go back to
his court.
Several dozen 1-297 supporters at
tended the hearing.
“We’ve been clear from day one
of the campaign that this initiative
did not expand the state’s authori
ty,” said Gerald Pollet, executive di
rector of Hanford watchdog group
Heart of America Northwest, which
sponsored the initiative. “The Unit
ed States and the federal contractors
are saying ‘regulate us, so we can
call it onerous.’”
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