House Panel Overrides Waste Shipment Ban Navy Win Tempered By Conditions; Judge To Rule On Dumping This Fall

The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday voted to void the federal court ban on radioactive waste shipments to the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory effective Oct. 1.

The victory for the nuclear Navy was tempered by the condition that waste shipments can only resume if the state agrees or Defense Secretary William Perry certifies that good-faith efforts to secure state approval failed.

But that condition only slightly relieves the pressure the Navy has put the state under with its escalating campaign for congressional action on the grounds that national security has been jeopardized by the shipment ban. Idaho won continuation of the court ban until U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge this fall resolves the state challenge to federal claims that more waste can be stored safely at INEL.

And in his most candid comments yet about the bind the Navy strategy has put him in, Gov. Phil Batt left little doubt he expects a resumption of dumping of the highly radioactive waste from the nation’s nuclear warships - dumping he says 90 percent of Idaho residents oppose.

“We can get very angry at those people who are on the other side of this question, but the fact is they have a job to do,” Batt said during a listener call-in show on Boise radio station KIDO.

“The nuclear Navy, one of the greatest success stories in the history of mankind regarding warfare, has to be kept up in shape and ready for the national defense, and in order to do that, it has to be refueled,” the governor said.

“So they have to put that spent fuel somewhere, and the only real place that they have that’s prepared to take it is in Idaho.

“And that’s the unfortunate fact,” Batt conceded.

The legislation, which must still be adopted by the full House and Senate, also would permit waste shipments through September 1996 if the existing court ban is not lifted before then.

Because the congressional override of the court ban is tied to the Defense Department appropriation for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, authority for the Navy to resume shipping waste to Idaho is not effective until then as well, according to an aide to Congressman Michael Crapo, whose district includes INEL.

Batt said again that he hopes negotiations that have been under way with federal officials for more than a week will offset resumed dumping with assurances that INEL will not become a permanent dump, that cleanup of existing waste sites in eastern Idaho will continue and that the Energy Department will finance new projects for the workers there.

“We’re doing the very best we can,” the governor said. “I think that we must realize, however, that the national defense posture, which is being promoted now in Congress, is very powerful and we may have it shoved down our throat if we don’t do the best we can during our negotiations.”

As he has since first suggesting a week ago that a deal allowing waste shipments to resume was in the works, Batt refused to discuss any specifics. He only said that he believes a deal can be cut before the end of September.

The Navy turned to Congress earlier this month after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to authorize the immediate shipment of 12 loads of waste to INEL. It warned key congressmen that shipyards in their districts would suffer layoffs and national security was being eroded.

It was the same tactic Navy officials used in 1993 when the shipment ban first took effect, and it resulted in then-Gov. Cecil Andrus opting to permit up to 27 shipments over the next two years while the government conducted its INEL safety analysis. In exchange, Andrus got a court-enforceable schedule for cleanup of waste sites at INEL.