[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 57 (Tuesday, April 30, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4418-S4420]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              WARD VALLEY

  Mr. PRESSLER. Mr. President, 16 years ago, we in Congress passed the 
Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act. This bill gave the States the 
responsibility of developing permanent repositories for this Nation's 
low-level nuclear waste. Now the Clinton administration wants to take 
away that authority.
  For 8 years, South Dakota, as a member of the Southwestern Compact, 
along with North Dakota, Arizona and California, has worked to fulfill 
its duty to license a storage site. It did the job.
  Ward Valley, CA is the first low-level waste site to be licensed in 
the Nation. After countless scientific and environmental studies and 
tests, the State of California and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
approved Ward Valley as a safe and effective place to store the 
Southwestern Compact's low-level radioactive waste.
  However, there is one problem. Ward Valley is Federal land. It is 
managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
  The Southwestern Compact has requested that Ward Valley be 
transferred to the State of California. The Clinton administration 
refuses to take action. Instead, it has stalled--again, and again, and 
again.
  First, the Secretary of the Interior ordered a Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Statement. Then, he ordered the National Academy 
of Sciences to perform a special report on the suitability of Ward 
Valley for waste storage. Each study presented the Southwestern Compact 
with a clean bill of health for Ward Valley. Yet, the administration 
still delays.
  Now, the administration has ordered additional studies on the effects 
of tritium--studies the State of California already intended to 
perform, but not until the land transfer was complete. Also, I would 
note, the National Academy of Sciences made no mention that such 
studies should be a prerequisite to the land transfer.
  Instead, the Academy believes that this type of study should be 
ongoing--conducted in conjunction with operation of the waste storage 
facility. Unfortunately, I suspect that even if California gives in to 
demands and performs these tests, the administration will just think up 
new demands--anything to keep the Ward Valley waste site from becoming 
reality.
  So who benefits from these delays? No one. This is yet one more 
example of the Clinton administration's pandering to the environmental 
extremists--extremists intent on waging a war on the West.
  Scientific evidence shows that Ward Valley is a safe location for 
low-level radioactive waste storage. Neither public health nor the 
environment will be at risk. In fact, most of the waste to be stored at 
Ward Valley is nothing more than hospital gloves and other supplies 
which may have come in contact with radioactive elements used by 
healthcare providers.
  By contrast, continued delays creates risks--both to public health 
and the environment. Currently, low-level waste is simply stored on 
site--at hospitals, industries, or research institutions. In the four 
States of the Southwestern Compact, there are over 800 low-level 
radioactive waste sites. These sites were not meant to be permanent 
facilities. Thus, there have been no environmental studies, no long-
term monitoring systems, nothing to guarantee safe storage of the 
waste.

  With no regional low-level radioactive waste storage sites available, 
South Dakota is forced to transport its low-level radioactive waste 
across the country to a disposal facility in Barnwell, S.C.
  Clearly, the costs of transporting this waste across the country are 
great--from the monetary cost to the waste generators, to the legal 
ramifications of transporting hazardous waste,

[[Page S4419]]

to the potential Superfund liability incurred by the State and the 
generators. This is far too costly a price--one my State can't continue 
to bear.
  That is why, Mr. President, I am a cosponsor of legislation pending 
in the Senate to convey Ward Valley to the State of California, and to 
allow the construction of the Ward Valley low-level radioactive waste 
storage site to continue unimpeded. The Senate Energy and Natural 
Resources Committee voted in favor of this bill.
  This legislation is ready for Senate action. This legislation is 
necessary only because politics got in the way of good science. 
Transferring land such as Ward Valley is a common procedure for the 
administration. However, because of a political fight waged by 
environmental extremists, this conveyance has been held up for more 
than 2 years. This fight, this continued delay, will continue unless 
Congress acts.
  We have the opportunity to institute a rational approach to the 
process. By approving this legislation, we can allow the Southwestern 
Compact--and the rest of the States--to comply with the law we created. 
I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and to allow good 
science to prevail, rather than politics.
  Mr. President, I ask that correspondence between South Dakota 
Governor Janklow and Gov. Pete Wilson of California regarding the Ward 
Valley low-level radioactive waste storage site be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                        State of South Dakota,

                                        Pierre, SD, April 2, 1996.
     Hon. Pete Wilson,
     Governor, State of California, State Capitol, Sacramento, CA.
       Dear Governor Wilson: Thank you for your letter concerning 
     the Southwestern Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact 
     and the site of the facility in Ward Valley. While the site 
     in Ward Valley is currently owned by the federal Bureau of 
     Land Management, the bureau has for about 10 years declared 
     its intent to sell to California.
       I, too, am concerned and upset with the continuing needless 
     delays imposed by the U.S. Department of the Interior on the 
     Ward Valley land transfer. California has made tremendous 
     efforts attempting to comply with the federal Low-Level 
     Radioactive Waste Disposal Act and its Amendments. While 
     these efforts have resulted in the issuance of the first 
     license to construct a new low-level disposal site in this 
     nation's recent history, implementation of this license has 
     been set back again and again by the federal government. If 
     these delays cause our generators within the Southwestern 
     Compact to ship wastes across the United States to Barnwell, 
     South Carolina for disposal, I fully agree that the federal 
     government must comply with those stipulations you set forth 
     in your letter.
       Study after study has shown the proposed facility at Ward 
     Valley to be protective of human health and environmentally 
     safe. The U.S. Congress has it right the first time; the 
     Southwestern Compact can solve the problem of disposal of the 
     low-level radioactive wastes generated within its states. 
     But, we can do it only if the federal government will 
     transfer the site and let us get on with it.
       While I agree that the latest actions of the U.S. 
     Department of the Interior appear to confirm the notion that 
     the Clinton Administration is trying to usurp the states' 
     duly delegated power to regulate low-level waste disposal, I 
     am still hoping the transfer can occur soon. If the delays by 
     the Department of the Interior were to result in repeal of 
     the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Act and place the 
     responsibility for trying to manage this problem, in the 
     federal government, that would be a huge step backwards.
       Thank you again for your letter and for your efforts on 
     behalf of the entire state of California and the other states 
     in the Southwestern Compact to develop a responsible and safe 
     disposal site for low-level waste.
       Sincerely,
                                               William J. Janklow,
     Governor.
                                                                    ____



                                               Sacramento, CA,

                                                February 16, 1996.
     Hon. William J. Janklow,
     Governor, State of South Dakota, Pierre, SD.
       Dear Bill: As the host state for the Southwestern Low-Level 
     Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact, California has labored 
     diligently for ten years to establish a regional disposal 
     facility in accordance with the federal Low-Level Radioactive 
     Waste (LLRW) Policy Act. This facility would serve generators 
     of LLRW in you state and the other compact states. In the 
     absence of this facility, these generators have no assured 
     place to dispose of their LLRW.
       To fulfil its obligations, California carefully screened 
     the entire state for potential sites, evaluated candidates 
     sites and selected Ward Valley from those candidates as the 
     best site in California for the regional disposal facility. 
     Although the site is on federal land, the Bureau of Land 
     Management has for about ten years now declared its intent to 
     sell it to California. We identified a qualified commercial 
     operator to apply for a license to construct and operate a 
     facility at that site, and took steps to acquire this land 
     from the federal government. We subjected the application for 
     the license to a scrupulous review to ensure that the 
     facility would satisfy in every respect the health and safety 
     requirement established the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
       A comprehensive Environmental Impact Report was prepared 
     for the project, and an Environment Impact Statement (EIS) 
     and Supplemental EIS were prepared for the land transfer. We 
     subsequently became the first state to license a regional 
     disposal facility under the LLRW Policy Act, and have 
     successfully concluded our defense of that license and 
     related environmental documents in the State courts. In 
     short, California has in good faith has done all it can to 
     fulfil its obligations to your state under the Compact and 
     federal law.
       The sole obstacle to the completion of this project is the 
     failure of the U.S. Department of the Interior to transfer 
     the Ward Valley site to California. After abruptly canceling 
     the agreed-to transfer almost completed by former Secretary 
     Manuel Lujan, Interior Secretary Babbitt has created a series 
     of procedural delays ostensibly based upon his own health and 
     safety concerns. He demanded a public hearing, then abruptly 
     canceled it. He asked the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) 
     to review site opponents' claims, then ignored NAS 
     conclusions that these claims are unfounded and that the site 
     is safe. He has unreasonably and unlawfully demanded that 
     California agree to continued Department of the Interior 
     oversight of the project after the transfer. Now, according 
     to the attached press release, he intends to have the 
     Department of Energy conduct independent testing at Ward 
     Valley, and then will require another Supplemental EIS before 
     deciding upon the conditions for transfer.
       Every person and organization which has anxiously followed 
     California's decade-long effort has concluded from this 
     latest set of demands that the Clinton Administration has no 
     intention of transferring land to California for our regional 
     disposal facility. I cannot help but agree. There is no 
     scientific basis for further testing prior to construction or 
     legal requirement for a Supplemental EIS. These demands are 
     purely political, and made for the sole purpose of delaying, 
     if not terminating, the Ward Valley project. It is clear 
     that, once these demands are met, more demands will be made. 
     In short, because President Clinton doesn't trust the states 
     to assume the obligations which Governor Clinton asked 
     Congress to give the states, he has proven that the LLRW 
     Policy Act does not work. Faced with this lack of political 
     will to implement the policy he himself once supported, many 
     now question the wisdom of expending further resources in a 
     futile effort to further that policy.
       The intransigence of the Clinton Administration in 
     connection with the Ward Valley land transfer leaves me few 
     options as Governor of California. The Ward Valley site is 
     clearly the best site in California for LLRW disposal, a fact 
     upon which my predecessor Governor Deukmejian and former 
     President Bush agreed. All other sites, including the 
     alternative site in the Silurian Valley, present potential 
     threats to public safety not found at the Ward Valley site. 
     The Silurian Valley site is also located on federal land, and 
     there is no reason to believe that the Clinton Administration 
     has any greater motivation to transfer that site.
       Consequently, to continue the effort to establish a 
     regional disposal facility, California would need to identify 
     a site on privately-owned land which would be technically 
     inferior to Ward Valley and would be unlikely to license in 
     accordance with California's and my own uncompromisingly high 
     standards for the protection of public health and safety. For 
     these reasons, I would personally oppose identifying any 
     other potential disposal site in California.
       Therefore, as Governor of California, I am compelled to 
     inform you that, because the Clinton Administration has made 
     compliance with our obligations impossible, California will 
     be unable to provide a regional disposal site for your state 
     and the other states of the Compact during the tenure of this 
     president. California will continue to seek title to the Ward 
     Valley land, but will devote greater resources to a repeal of 
     the LLRW Policy Act, and to the enactment of federal 
     legislation making the federal government responsible for the 
     disposal of LLRW.
       The Department of the Interior has formally announced that 
     California's LLRW generators are not harmed by its 
     interference with the opening of the Ward Valley LLRW 
     disposal facility because they have access to the disposal 
     facility in Barnwell, South Carolina. Given the public safety 
     threat to the good citizens of South Carolina, and the 
     additional costs and exposure to liability to users, I find 
     this suggestion questionable. Nevertheless, in order to make 
     this an even marginally acceptable solution, I am calling 
     upon the federal government to do all of the following:
       Assume responsibility for assuring continued access for all 
     California generators of LLRW to Barnwell;
       Subsidize the amount of any transportation costs to 
     Barnwell which exceed transportation costs to Ward Valley;
       Ensure that California generators obtain any necessary 
     permits for transportation across the United States and to 
     Barnwell;

[[Page S4420]]

       Indemnify California generators and transporters for any 
     liability which might result from the necessity to transport 
     California waste from coast to coast; and most importantly;
       Hold California generators, including the University of 
     California and other state entities, harmless from any 
     federal or state cleanup related (Superfund or CERCLA) 
     liability which they might potentially incur as a result of 
     using a waste facility which is on a substantially less 
     protective site than Ward Valley and which has already 
     experienced tritium migration to groundwater.
       If LLRW generators in your state have problems with storage 
     or with use of Barnwell similar to those of California 
     generators, I urge you to join with me in demanding similar 
     relief.
           Sincerely,
     Pete Wilson.

                          ____________________