[ RadSafe ] State of Washington Passes DU Bill for National Guard

[Dukelow, James S Jr]

John Jacobus and Roger Helbig wrote:
-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On
Behalf Of John Jacobus
Sent: Friday, March 17, 2006 9:15 AM
To: Roger Helbig; radsafelist
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] State of Washington Passes DU Bill for National
Guard

Roger,
Politics will always trump science.

--- Roger Helbig <rhelbig at california.com> wrote:

> Here is part of the Washington State Senate report in which it 
> describes the testimony and who testified for this bill .. note that 
> there were no opponents so fact was not well represented at the 
> hearings.  This is the third state to pass a similar bill, with the 
> others being Connecticut and Louisiana.  There is a concerted effort 
> to get all states to require un-needed testing for their National 
> Guard.  This bill will cost the taxpayers of Washington money that 
> they could better spend elsewhere and sets up a task force that could 
> be heavily weighted towards the anti-DU crusaders'
> input.
> 
> SENATE BILL REPORT
> SB 6732
> As Reported By Senate Committee On:
> Health & Long-Term Care, February 2, 2006
> 
> Staff: Sharon Swanson (786-7447)

    <snip>

===================

Actually, the WA Senate Bill referred to here and the companion House
Bill both died in committee.  However, the activists that had been
pushing the House and Senate bills were able to get $150,000 inserted
into the state budget bill, which Governor Gregoire will certainly sign,
for a study similar to that called for in the dead bills.  It is a
fishing expedition and it is not clear that those appointed to be the
fisherman are on board with the goals of the activists.

Best regards.

Jim Dukelow
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Richland, WA
Jim.dukelow at pnl.gov

These comments are mine and have not been reviewed and/or approved by my
management or by the U.S. Department of Energy.