State agrees to extend stay of Hanford initiative

Officials in Washington state agreed Tuesday to extend a stay of a voter-approved initiative that deals with cleanup at the Hanford nuclear site.

Last week, a federal judge imposed a temporary injunction preventing Initiative 297 from becoming law. Among other things, the measure bars the U.S. Department of Energy from sending more radioactive waste to south-central Washington’s Hanford nuclear site until all existing waste there is cleaned up.

Shipments to Hanford of waste generated in other states already had been largely halted as a result of another lawsuit. The temporary injunction essentially allowed Hanford workers to maintain the status quo with regard to cleanup until a judge can rule on the measure itself.

A hearing to discuss extending the injunction had been scheduled for Dec. 13. However, state officials agreed to allow the injunction to carry over into 2005 while the two sides make their case in court on the question of I-297’s constitutionality, said Blain Rethmeier, a U.S. Justice Department spokesman.

The judge still must agree to the extension.

“This agreement will protect the federal employees and their contractors, allow cleanup to continue, and give the court a full opportunity to address the important issues advanced in this case,” Rethmeier said.

The Justice Department ultimately hopes to invalidate the initiative on the grounds that it violates federal laws governing interstate commerce and nuclear waste. Hanford, a federal site, is immune from state regulation, the government has argued.

State officials have said they will vigorously defend the initiative in court.

“We believe this schedule serves the state’s interest by allowing our attorneys time to address the significant legal issues raised in the case and to ensure the best possible defense of the initiative,” said Sheryl Hutchison, a state Department of Ecology spokeswoman.

“This agreement also protects the state’s interest by ensuring that the federal Department of Energy will not resume waste shipments throughout this period,” she said.

At issue are the federal government’s plans for disposing of waste from nuclear weapons production nationwide. The Energy Department chose Hanford to dispose of some mildly radioactive waste and mixed low-level waste, which is laced with chemicals.

The site also would serve as a packaging center for some transuranic waste before it is shipped elsewhere for long-term disposal. Transuranic waste is highly radioactive and can take thousands of years to decay to safe levels.

In 2003, Washington state filed suit to block transuranic waste from entering the state, fearing Hanford would become a radioactive waste dump. The Energy Department voluntarily suspended the shipments of transuranic, mixed and low-level waste after the lawsuit was filed, but the case remains in federal court.

While those shipments remain on hold, I-297 also places other restrictions on cleanup at the site.

More than 10,000 people work at the 586-square-mile reservation, which was created during World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bomb. It remains the most contaminated site in the nation, with cleanup costs expected to total $50 billion to $60 billion.