Re: Hanford Site Cleanup Standards

[BLHamrick@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 9/3/2003 6:56:30 PM Pacific Standard Time, sjd@swcp.com 

writes:

As usual, Barbara hits the mark. To answer her question, perceptions of

this sort are usually held by a small, well-organized, and powerful

minority that is in a position to cram its views down the throat of

everyone around themselves.



    Similarly, the irrational cleanup standards and environmental "protection"

legislation and regulations being forced upon us today are the result of

the demands of a noisy, well-organized, and well-financed claque who are

acting upon a (largely) cowardly and (largely) scientifically illiterate

Congress whose members are more interested in getting re-elected than they

are in right and wrong.

Thank you, and I think you are exactly right, but the hard part is finding a 

voice in the political fray to get that message out.  We as a society have 

been divided, between the "evil industry" and the "poor victimized public" to 

serve the politicians, the lawyers, and the lobbyists.  It is horrifying what the 

politicos and policy wonks will do to win at any cost.  And, the saddest 

thing of all is that it is the public being hurt, and they don't even know it, 

because all they hear are the anti-nuclear hysterics, and the campaign promises 

to save their children from cancer for the rest of their entire lives.  If 

that's all you hear, it's pretty seductive.  Their perception is all driven by the 

political propaganda mill, and has little or nothing to do with any 

scientific reality.



I haven't ever worked for "industry" in my life (not that there's anything 

WRONG with that), yet I have been publicly accused of being in "industry's 

pocket," AND at the same time accused of twisting industry's arm, by wielding my 

vast regulatory powers (tongue-in-cheek on that last phrase), to "force" them to 

oppose certain legislation.  Oh, and all that within nearly the same breath 

from one of our state politicians.  They're paying me off to force them to do 

what I want.  Make sense from that.  They have no shame.  P.S.  My only income 

is from my state job (no perks).  



I don't see how rolling over and saying, "oh well, that's just the way it 

is," serves any conceivable purpose, unless one's sole goal is to fly through 

life under the radar, and hope to get out with the least amount of ripples 

possible.



With that in mind, there are two upcoming rulemakings that HPs may want to 

follow closely and participate in:



1)  NRC's "Controlling the Disposition of Solid Materials," (info at:  

http://ruleforum.llnl.gov/cgi-bin/rulemake?source=SM_RFC&st=ipcr), and



2) EPA's "Alternatives for Disposal of 'Low Activity' Radioactive Waste," 

(info at:  http://www.epa.gov/radiation/news/lawr_comment.htm).



Barbara