[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: DOE cleanup to fund tax cut



As at least one respondent pointed out, the sites are currently ecological
preserves, precisely because human access is limited.  Hanford's NERP
(National Environmental Research Park) is in fact a rather unique ecology
since it is a temperate zone desert.  It's called the Arid Lands Ecology
(ALE) site, and was inaugurated in 1976.

I might also point out that in 1991 or 1992, when I was on a NAS risk
prioritization panel, Curt Travis at Oak Ridge used a program called MEPAS to
identify the most hazardous sites in the DOE complex, and there were really
only a few places that posed any significant risk.  However, this made most
of the citizen activists mad, because in any prioritization some sites end up
high on the list and others , lower.  At their behest, Hazel O'Leary
eliminated the prioritization idea (and the NAS panel) and instituted the
Citizens' Advisory Boards, following some meeting at the Keystone conference
center in Colorado that resulted in the so-called "Keystone Accords" that
gave "stakeholders" a voice in what to clean up and how to do it.  And here
we are!

Ruth Weiner, Ph. D.
ruthweiner@aol.com