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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Lowry Joins Fight To Maintain Cleanup Fund Officials Oppose Efforts To Cut N-Waste Budget

Gov. Mike Lowry and state Attorney General Christine Gregoire are asking the White House to make major reforms in the nation’s nuclear waste cleanup program.

Thursday, they joined governors and attorneys general from 36 states who want to streamline the $100 billion nuclear cleanup.

Their strategy, launched at a May meeting of states with nuclear facilities, is to confront efforts in Congress to slash spending and weaken clean-up standards.

“We believe the rhetoric must stop and the real work must begin,” Lowry said.

In a July 12 letter to President Clinton, state officials called for specific reforms, including:

Reducing overhead spent by contractors to run the cleanup program.

Reforming contracting practices to reward results.

Increasing private sector competition and commercialization of cleanup technologies.

Cutting red tape.

“People on the ground at Hanford are getting mixed messages. I think we should get back to the basics,” Gregoire said Thursday.

The state officials oppose efforts by two senators, Republican Frank Murkowski of Alaska and Democrat Bennett Johnston of Louisiana, to cut the states out of the cleanup and weaken federal cleanup standards.

Hearings on the Murkowski-Johnston bill are scheduled next week in Washington, D.C.

While costs must be controlled, “there is a point beyond which funding reductions jeopardize public safety,” their letter says.

A House committee’s recommended cut of $183 million from Hanford’s 1996 budget goes too far, Gregoire said.

“They’d better be careful,” she said.

“I’m troubled by their pervasive lack of understanding” of Hanford’s huge costs to baby-sit defunct plutonium facilities.

Those costs won’t be reduced if cleanup stalls, she said.

“They don’t seem to have an appreciation of that. It’s only, can I save a buck today,” she said.

The Clinton administration has proposed spending $1.4 billion for Hanford cleanup in the 1996 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

The House bill approved Wednesday would reduce the administration request to $1.22 billion.

Tom Grumbly, the U.S. Department of Energy’s cleanup chief, has told key House Republicans that more cuts would cause conditions to deteriorate at Hanford and other sites. He has asked the Senate to restore the House cuts.

, DataTimes