OPINION
6A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MAY 30, 2017
Founded in 1873
DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
JEREMY FELDMAN, Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
GUEST COLUMN
AP Photo/Manuel Valdes
A sign welcomes drivers to Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Rich-
land, Wash. A portion of an underground tunnel containing rail
cars filled with radioactive waste collapsed at a sprawling storage
facility in a remote area of Washington state, forcing an evacuation
of some workers at the site that made plutonium for nuclear weap-
ons for decades after World War II.
Fighting to preserve local
input on land management
By JEFF MERKLEY
and RON WYDEN
Special to The Daily Astorian
O
GAO must review
tunnel collapse at
Hanford nuke site
O
ne of the consequences of living at the outfall of an
enormous watershed is that we must be on guard
about major pollution threats nearly everywhere in
the France-sized Columbia basin. The most ominous of these
problems remains the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Richland,
Washington.
Awareness of the enormous scale of toxins at the former Cold
War weapons site has been growing since a shroud of secrecy
started to lift with collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
Facilities once used to manufacture radioactive bomb ingredi-
ents at astounding expense now are the subject of a correspond-
ing expensive cleanup. Almost pulsating with potential for harm,
some of Hanford’s vast stretches of desert will effectively be off
limits for thousands of years.
What is new is the partial collapse of a rail tunnel at
Hanford’s PUREX plant, a hulking factory devoted to produc-
tion of plutonium. Intended as a makeshift dump for large equip-
ment rendered deadly by plutonium contamination, the tunnel
was partially constructed of wooden railroad ties. Strong radia-
tion like that in the tunnel eventually causes wood to crumble.
The structural integrity of PUREX tunnel 1 has been compro-
mised, leading to a recent emergency alert at the nuclear reserva-
tion. There is at least one more tunnel we’re aware of.
This comes on top of other longer-term problems with the
cleanup, including failure of some underground storage tanks
that contain radioactive sludge, a byproduct of the nuclear-fuel
manufacturing process.
A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers including
Democratic U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Maria Cantwell and
Republican Reps. Greg Walden and Cathy McMorris Rodgers
are insisting that the Government Accountability Office con-
duct a review of this daunting mess. Their demand is broadly
intended to make sure legacy toxin sites including the tunnels
are on the U.S. Department of Energy’s to-do list, with appropri-
ate plans in place to safeguard workers and the public.
“As work continues to complete cleanup along the Columbia
River Corridor, a long list of cleanup activity remains outstand-
ing on the Central Plateau, including remediation and demolition
of more than 1,000 waste sites, 500 facilities, and contaminated
soil and groundwater — much of which is highly contaminated
with radioactive and toxic waste,” the lawmakers noted in their
Wednesday letter to the GAO.
There’s ample reason to keep an eagle eye on Hanford. Even
now, the public is only staring to become aware of the kinds of
abuses of trust that happened there — activities that placed the
reservation’s downstream neighbors at risk.
For example, the Nobel Prize-winning Physicians for
Environmental Responsibility note, “By 1957 eight plutonium
production reactors dumped a daily average of 50,000 curies of
radioactive material into the Columbia. Perhaps the most dra-
matic of these events was the “Green Run” in December 1949,
when 8,000 curies of iodine-131 were intentionally released
…. Although the plume covered an area of 200 by 40 miles, no
warnings were given and no follow-up of area residents was
conducted. By comparison, only 15 to 24 curies of iodine-131
were released at Three Mile Island,” the famous 1979 reactor
accident in Pennsylvania.
Given all this context, it probably is unwise to cut Hanford’s
$2 billion annual cleanup budget by $120 million, as President
Donald Trump is proposing. While there undoubtedly has been
financial waste during the cleanup, the tunnel collapse shows us
that enormous unfunded expenses lie ahead.
Keeping more deadly contamination out of the Columbia
River must be a top national priority.
regon has a long history
of pioneering innovative
ways to resolve pressing
public land management issues. Our
state was built by
Americans who
relied on the land
for their livelihood,
and it has been
protected and pre-
served by genera-
tions of Oregonians
who want to ensure
we can all enjoy
our state’s wild
places and public
lands while putting
people to work.
Among the
tools that Oregonians have used to
balance these interests are Resource
Advisory Councils, or RACs. Under
the U.S. Department of the Interior,
RACs help agencies and stakehold-
ers navigate projects that can affect
the health of the environment and
the strength of the local economy.
Public land management issues can
be very contentious, particularly in
the West, and RACs help to work
through difficult issues and to get
meaningful local input. Balancing
these interests is challenging. But
with RACs, projects are more likely
to succeed.
However, we recently heard
from members of Oregon RACs
that their meetings were postponed
until September, pending a review
by the Interior Department. Our
offices did not receive notice of the
postponements, and RACs got little
explanation for the action.
Suspension of RAC meetings
could hold up planning of innova-
tive local projects, such as the “rails
to trails” bike trail proposed along
the Deschutes River; there, the RAC
is needed to help resolve issues
among boaters, rafters and cyclists.
And — with the timing of the
administration’s decision to recon-
sider the designation of 21 national
monuments — the suspension could
mean the review of the Cascade-
Siskiyou National Monument could
go forward without RAC input.
We expressed our concern to
U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke,
and urged him to allow RACs to
continue their regular meetings. As a
former congressman from Montana,
he knows the importance of local
input and collaboration on public
land management issues — a point
he stressed during his confirmation
hearings.
RACs were formed to generate
that local input and collaboration,
and there are thousands of examples
of RACs across the country con-
Bob Wick/Bureau of Land Management
A view of Mt. Shasta from the Cascade-Sisyiyou National Monument.
Recreation, land use planning,
grazing and other land
management issues take all
of us working together
tributing to successful projects that
improve the quality of our public
lands management. Postponing their
progress hurts public land and forest
management goals; to jobs and local
economies; and to public confidence
in the federal government. It is
critical that local voices, including
RACs, have the opportunity to
provide input and take part in the
process at all times — not just when
those local voices align with the
administration or a large special
interest.
Recreation, land use planning,
grazing and other land manage-
ment issues take all of us working
together — as generations of
Oregonians did before us — to
be successful. We encourage
Oregonians to be heard, and join us
in urging Secretary Zinke to allow
RACs to continue their regular
meetings and advance the important
work Congress directed them to do.
Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden are
Democratic U.S. senators represent-
ing Oregon.
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