Richardson Visit To Spark Rallies Demonstrators To Turn Out Over Hanford, Kaiser ‘Citizenship’

Catcalls and cheers will greet U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson when he arrives in Spokane this weekend for the Democrats’ state convention.

The potential vice presidential candidate has angered environmentalists and pleased local union members in recent months.

Seattle and Spokane environmental groups unhappy with his decisions to triple nuclear waste imports to Hanford and possibly restart a controversial Hanford reactor are planning a protest.

Many of the 60,000 additional truckloads of low-level nuclear waste bound for Hanford from other government weapons sites will go directly through Spokane on Interstate 90, said attorney Gerald Pollett of Heart of America Northwest, a Seattle-based Hanford watchdog group.

In December, Gov. Gary Locke told Richardson he’d accept the additional nuclear trash in exchange for a firmer schedule for treating Hanford’s dangerous high-level waste tanks. Critics said the deal was unnecessary because the U.S.

Department of Energy is already legally obligated to clean up Hanford.

Some Democrats have introduced a resolution for consideration this weekend that urges Vice President Al Gore to reject any running mate who supports importing more waste to Hanford or restarting the Fast Flux Test Facility.

In August, Richardson ordered a yearlong review of the practicality of restarting FFTF. The 400-megawatt, sodium-cooled reactor was built in the 1970s as a test reactor but has been without a mission since 1992.

It takes 260 people and roughly $40 million a year to keep FFTF in a restartable state, according to DOE estimates.

Today at 4:30 p.m., the protesters plan to display banners at an Interstate 90 overpass. They’ve also scheduled a 5 p.m. rally outside the Spokane Convention Center.

On Saturday, Spokane union activists are planning a friendlier reception for Richardson.

He supports a United Steelworkers of America bid for a new corporate responsibility clause for companies awarded low-cost federal power contracts in the Northwest.

The “Corporate Good Citizenship” clause is part of the Steelworkers’ campaign against Kaiser Aluminum Corp., triggered by the 20-month strike and lockout of 2,900 union workers at five plants in Spokane; Tacoma; Newark, Ohio; and Gramercy, La.

The Steelworkers have gathered approximately 35,000 signatures in support of the clause, which would deny Bonneville Power Administration electricity to any company with labor, safety and environmental problems.

Richardson oversees the BPA, a U.S. Department of Energy agency.

Kaiser opposes the proposed clause, calling it politically motivated and bad public policy.

The Steelworkers will gather at noon Saturday in front of the Spokane Convention Center to show support for Richardson’s proposed policy, union spokesman John Youngdahl said.