RE: DOE cleanup to fund tax cut

["Neil, David M" <neildm@ID.DOE.GOV>]

The major DOE sites are already "wildlife preserves" - the correct

designation is National Environmental Research Parks (NERPs).



Dave Neil   neildm@id.doe.gov

"One day the costs to society of anti-nuclear hysteria will be so high that

the "no nukes" crowd may find themselves on their way, as Ralph Kramden

would say, "to the moon!"  -  Steven Milloy



> -----Original Message-----

> From:	Tony Harrison [SMTP:laharris@SMTPGATE.DPHE.STATE.CO.US]

> Sent:	Thursday, April 05, 2001 12:38 PM

> To:	RADSAFE@list.vanderbilt.edu

> Subject:	DOE cleanup to fund tax cut

> 

> I haven't seen this on Radsafe yet, but forward it for what it's worth.

> 

> Tony Harrison

> Colorado Dept. of Public Health & Environment

> tony.harrison@state.co.us 

> 

> 

> Bush Advisor Urges Killing DOE Cleanup Program To Fund Tax Cut

> 

> A policy advisor to President Bush recommends that the administration

> could

> help pay for its $1.6 trillion tax cut by eliminating the Department

> of

> Energy's (DOE) nuclear waste cleanup program and redesignating the

> contaminated sites as wildlife preserves.

> 

> A report by the advisor, titled From Waste to Wilderness: Maintaining

> Biodiversity on Nuclear-Bomb-Building Sites, argues that the $6

> billion

> spent each year on DOE's cleanup program is a waste of money and only

> represents a boon to local lawmakers in the form of jobs and

> subsidies.

> "The DOE nuclear-waste-management program is arguably the biggest

> boondoggle in all of current pork-barrel spending  . The only losers

> would

> be government officials who administer the present cleanup program,

> short-sighted politicians, and local communities that desire

> pork-barrel

> 'nuclear welfare,'" the report says.

> 

> The report, to be released next month, is authored by Robert Nelson,

> an

> economist in the Interior Secretary's office from 1975 through 1993,

> and a

> member of Bush's environmental transition team. Nelson, a researcher at

> the

> Competitive Enterprise Institute, says his goal is to gain support for

> his

> plan amongst legislators and administration officials and have a

> hearing on

> his proposal.

> 

> The report is being released as DOE and administration officials face

> increasing criticism from lawmakers and environmentalists over a

> proposed

> cut to the department's environmental cleanup budget. These advocates

> argue

> that even flat funding levels would be insufficient to allow numerous

> waste

> sites, including the Hanford, WA site to meet legally-binding closure

> deadlines. Washington state officials are even preparing a lawsuit

> against

> DOE in anticipation of the agency falling behind schedule at Hanford.

> 

> Specifically, the report urges turning the five most-contaminated DOE

> sites

> --  Oak Ridge, TN, Savannah River, SC, Rocky Flats, CO, the Idaho

> National

> Environmental and Engineering Laboratory and Hanford --  into wildlife

> refuges, because they are responsible for over 70 percent of cleanup

> and

> containment costs. "Paradoxically, the presence of radiation danger

> and

> national security concerns have meant that these very same places

> offer

> some of the finest and least disturbed plant and animal habitats in

> the

> United States," the report says.

> 

> 

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