(Fwd) Error Condition Re: Re: Hanford Cleanup Strategy

["Eugene Forrer" <Eugene.Forrer@tdh.state.tx.us>]

Well Mr. Drifter, I don't know where you get your information, but 
Hanford is much, much more than rocks and rattlers.  The Hanford 
reservation contains the only virgin Columbia River Basin Prairie left. 
 It has become a de-facto game preserve for many native species 
including several endangered ones.  The wildlife is thriving.  It is 
true that Hanford does have a fair amount of desert type land, but 
mostly it is grassland.  If you get away from the man spoiled portion 
you will find some of the prettiest land God put on this earth.  
That being said I must say that I agree to certain point about 
cleaning up the place.  There have been several surveys done that 
show that clean up of certain areas will do more harm than good.  
Remediation efforts would scar the grassland for decades if not 
centuries.  Attempting to remove contaminated piping from the river 
would probably result in massive contamination problems.  There have 
been several articles suggesting that leaving low levels of 
contamination alone and remediating in place (such as filling the 
piping in the river with mortar to seal the contamination in place).  
There is (or was, I am not sure what the current thinking is) a plan 
to move the reactors near the river to a mesa some 20 miles away 
using a crawler, like the one they use to move the shuttle to the 
gantry, to move them.  The road the would have to cut will be there 
for several hundred years.  Some have suggested that stabilizing them 
in place may be less harmful overall.  There are some messes at 
Hanford that will have to be cleaned up regardless of the adverse 
effect on the environment, due to the nature of the contamination.  
These ideas of leaving some contaminated are endorsed not only by 
bean counters and scientific types, but some environmentalists  
and Native American groups also.  
My final thought is that lets say for arguments sake that Hanford was 
all rocks and rattlers.  Why does this type of land deserve less 
remediation than say some place greener and (to some) prettier.  
The presence of rattlers indicates the presence of life and a 
thriving ecosystem.  Mr. Drifter wants us to remeber what this type 
of land was used for before Hanford.  Hunting, Fishing, Farming and 
more.  Thats what that type of land was and still is used for.  
That part of Washington is full of wheat fields, fruit orchards, and 
wildlife.  Walla Walla where I lived as a kid is surrounded by 
nothing but wheat and Yakima where I spent many a summer is the 
fruit capital of the USA.  Both could be identified as worthless 
deserts by Mr. Drifters standards.  Also to imply that our Native 
American brothers and sisters are only looking for the next site to 
place a fireworks stand or casino is insulting.  The land has 
historical and spiritual significance to them. We (Americans, Humans, 
etc.) made the mess.  It is incumbent upon us to clean it up.  While 
I agree that $85 Billion (big B) is way to much to spend, we need to 
spend what it takes to make the area safe.  Granted some parts may 
have to be isolated effectively forever, there is much more that 
could be released for free access.  If we want environmentalists and 
the general public to trust us and believe us we can't just decide to 
lock the gate and walk away because it costs too much to clean up.  
This kind of thinking is why it is us against the enviromentalists.  
This is why they don't trust us.  
I may not have an alphabet soup after my name but some of the most 
important things in life cannot be learned in a class room or be 
gauged by a testing panel.  When I was a kid my mother always told 
me to not make too much of a mess because I was the one who was 
going to have to clean it up later.  Well its later and time to clean 
up. 
She also taught me that if you believe in something to stand forward 
and let the world know who you were and not try to work from the 
shadows of anominity

I am (no aliases)
Eugene (Gene) Forrer
Project Chief
Uranium Licensing Project
Texas Department of Health
Bureau of Radiation Control
Eugene.Forrer@tdh.state.tx.us