State Officials Want More Inel Studies

State Health and Welfare officials are asking the congressional delegation to support continued studies to determine if residents received radiation doses from the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is conducting the reviews with U.S. Department of Energy money. That agency faces possible cuts in Congress.

“It is extremely important that we have an objective evaluation of the facility’s past performance and that questions people have concerning past chemical and radiation releases be answered in a scientifically defensible and credible fashion,” Idaho Bureau of Environmental Health and Safety Chief Steve West said.

On behalf of Gov. Phil Batt, Health and Welfare Director Linda Caballero asked Idaho’s lawmakers to back the multi-million-dollar reviews under way at the INEL.

The delegation, in turn, asked Health and Welfare for a list of reasons why the studies are important to convey to Congress.

Eastern Idaho health departments continue to field questions from concerned people.