[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 92 (Thursday, June 26, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6496-S6498]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. MURKOWSKI:
  S. 964. A bill to direct a property conveyance in the State of 
California; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.


                   THE WARD VALLEY LAND TRANSFER ACT

  Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, today I rise to introduce legislation 
designed to end an impasse that we've endured for far too long--the 
stalemate over the Ward Valley low-level radioactive waste facility and 
efforts to implement an important Federal law--the low level 
radioactive waste policy amendments.
  I am doing this today because of documents that have recently come to 
light under the Freedom of Information Act and due to the continuing 
differences between the words spoken under oath by a Presidential 
nominee before my committee and his actions to date.
  For more than 10 years, the State of California acting in complete 
accordance with Federal law and in cooperation with responsible Federal 
agencies, has been attempting to open a low-level radioactive waste 
repository at a Mojave Desert site in Ward Valley.
  The long, tortured process costing more that $40 million has included 
a statewide search resulting in the selection of a virtually 
unpopulated desert valley; two environmental impact statements under 
the National Environmental Policy Act; two biological opinions under 
the Endangered Species Act; and judicial review including the 
California Supreme Court.

[[Page S6497]]

  From the outset, the State has been dogged by the lawsuits and 
protests of a small fringe group of activists.
  But in the end, California has met every test.
  Ward Valley was found to be safe, and the State issued a license 
containing more than 130 carefully developed safety and environmental 
stipulations.
  Consistent with its own independent evaluations, the Department of 
the Interior agreed to sell the land to California for the Ward Valley 
site in January 1993.
  But shortly thereafter, the Department of the Interior abruptly 
reversed itself, demanding a series of discretionary studies and 
reviews that, 4 years later, still have no end in sight.
  Specifically, the Department of the Interior asked the National 
Academy of Sciences to review seven technical issues related to the 
site.
  In May 1995, the Academy's report was released. The report was highly 
favorable to the site selection and each of the seven issues. As a 
consequence, Interior Secretary Babbitt indicated that he intended to 
transfer the site.
  Two more months passed.
  On July 27, 1995, the President's nominee to be the Deputy Secretary 
of the Interior, Mr. John Garamendi, appeared before the Energy and 
Natural Resources Committee and testified under oath, that the Ward 
Valley issue ``will be satisfactorily culminated shortly * * * and I 
believe it should be.''
  With that testimony in mind, I recently reviewed documents made 
available under the Freedom of Information Act.
  With the benefit of those documents and other evidence of the 
systematic delay fostered by the Department of the Interior to block 
Ward Valley, I have reached the sad conclusion that Congress must 
intervene to end this stalemate.
  Before I go into the disturbing history of this issue and the content 
of the documents uncovered by the Freedom of Information Act request, 
some background is important.
  There is a tremendous difference between low level radioactive waste 
and the spent fuel issue the Senate has been debating over the past 2 
weeks.
  Spent fuel, of course, is the high level waste from nuclear power 
reactors.
  Low level radioactive waste, on the other hand, is composed of items 
such as medical gowns, biomedical wastes, filters, resins and similar 
wastes generated from cancer treatment, biomedical research, and other 
activities.
  Low level radioactive waste is generated during cutting-edge research 
that may help us find a cure for AIDS.
  Low level radioactive waste is generated from the development of new 
drugs and cancer therapies.
  Low level radioactive waste is generated by the high tech and biotech 
industry in the quest for new products and services that will be at the 
foundation of our 21st century economy.
  While it also includes waste from nuclear power production, Congress 
wisely placed specific limits on the levels which are a State 
responsibility.
  When the Senate was debating the fate of high-level spent fuel, we 
clearly had a situation where the State of Nevada opposed a repository. 
The Governor of Nevada opposed it.
  But the low level waste issue is vastly different. Governor Wilson of 
California supports Ward Valley.
  The State of California has been working on plans open a low level 
waste repository in California for the past decade.
  They have done so in complete accordance with Federal law, which 
assigns responsibility for disposal of a specified portion of low level 
radioactive waste to the States.
  Governor Wilson understands that thousands of jobs in California, 
particularly among the high-tech and biotech industries, absolutely 
depend on having dependable access to a safe, secure facility for low 
level radioactive waste.
  Governor Wilson understands that countless lives might be saved 
through the cancer breakthrough or AIDS cure that the use of 
radioactive materials might bring.
  Governor Wilson also understands that low level radioactive waste is 
currently being stored at hundreds of urban locations all across 
California.
  It's being stored in basements and in parking lot trailers.
  It's being stored in warehouses and temporary shelters.
  It's on college campuses, in residential neighborhoods, and in 
hospitals.
  And as long as the waste is in these temporary locations in populated 
areas, it is subject to accidental radioactive releases from fire, 
earthquakes, and floods.
  Governor Wilson is understandably concerned about the health and 
safety of Californians. He is frustrated by the delays California has 
faced in trying to get this facility open.
  So am I.
  I am frustrated by the fact that the President's nominee to be the 
Deputy Secretary of the Interior, Mr. John Garamendi, appeared before 
the Energy and Natural Resources Committee on July 27, 1995 and 
testified under oath, that the Ward Valley issue should and would be 
quickly resolved.
  After that testimony, seven months passed.
  Nothing happened.
  On February 15, 1996, Deputy Secretary Garamendi indicated that ``new 
information'' related to a different low-level radioactive waste site 
at Beatty, Nevada, required further testing at the Ward Valley site and 
the preparation of yet another Supplemental Environmental Impact 
Statement (SEIS).

  Literally one day before his announcement, the Director of the U.S. 
Geological Survey said that linkages between the Beatty site and Ward 
Valley were ``too tenuous to have much scientific value.''
  But the Deputy Secretary ignored the Director's scientific advice. In 
a public news conference, Deputy Secretary Garimendi indicated that the 
additional testing would take about four months, and that the 
preparation of a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) 
would take about a year.
  On August 5, 1996, months after we expected the testing to be 
complete, an official of the lab Interior selected to perform the 
testing said, ``Interior Department officials have yet to submit a work 
plan . . . on the testing they want done.''
  During this same time frame, Interior Department officials were 
distributing documents to the public containing factually incorrect 
information taken verbatim from Ward Valley opponents, even though 
accurate information was readily available from the Department of 
Energy.
  It now appears that Interior made no effort to check the facts with 
DOE with respect to the veracity of the information it was providing to 
the public.
  Recently, the Governor of California made me aware of documents he 
obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. These 
documents reveal the following:
  Despite the understandable lack of radiological expertise resident in 
the Department of the Interior, the Department has made no effort to 
communicate with the federal agency with primary expertise and 
jurisdiction in the matter--the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
  The professional, non-political, radiological experts of the 
Department of Energy have indicated that: ``Interior's concern that the 
[Ward Valley] facility lacks an environmental monitoring system has no 
basis in fact;'' the Department of the Interior is attempting to 
subvert the National Academy of Sciences recommendations with respect 
to the timing of the tests and nature of the tests to be performed; the 
Department of the Interior has understated the costs and the time 
required for the conduct of the tests; and the tests the Department of 
the Interior has outlined will result in additional litigation 
regardless of their outcome.

  Mr. President, these documents are plain on their face.
  But they are particularly troubling since they show the vast 
difference between the words spoken by Mr. Garamendi in his 
confirmation hearing, and the actions he has taken since his 
confirmation.
  Let's again review the facts:
  Deputy Secretary Garamendi testified under oath that the Ward Valley 
issue would be, and should be, quickly resolved.
  He then called for additional testing that did not conform to the 
recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences, creating a false 
linkage in the public's mind between the

[[Page S6498]]

Beatty site and the Ward Valley site, despite the fact that his own 
USGS Director said that such a linkage could not be justified by the 
science.
  Deputy Secretary Garamendi spread misinformation about the 
composition of the radioactive waste stream in Department press 
materials supplied by project opponents, making no effort to check 
their veracity with the Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, or any other agency with expertise in such matters.
  Deputy Secretary Garamendi persistently failed to get the testing 
underway, which he later blamed on the threats of a lawsuit that were 
not, in fact, made until long after the time he said the tests would be 
complete.
  Indeed, the Department of the Interior has designed a process 
specifically intended to foster further delay.
  Mr. President, over the past month or so there has been a new twist 
that is frankly the straw that breaks the camel's back.
  The State of California, in its continuing efforts to achieve a 
compromise, has agreed to perform additional testing pursuant to the 
National Academy of Sciences guidelines prior to the federal land 
transfer.
  Let me make this clear: California has always agreed to do the 
additional testing . . . the issue of dispute is that Interior insisted 
the testing be done prior to the land transfer, while California and 
the National Academy of Sciences said the testing would be best 
accomplished after the land transfer.
  So California has now agreed to perform additional testing prior to 
the land transfer. They have clearly made efforts to compromise.
  I received a letter from Deputy Secretary Garamendi, dated February 
27, 1997, which exclaimed that the delays at Ward Valley have gone on 
long enough, and that welcomed the decision by the State of California 
to undertake additional testing.
  When I saw that letter. I thought to myself: Finally, this issue will 
be resolved.
  I was shocked by what happened next:
  The BLM produced an administrative determination, allegedly two years 
old that nobody had ever seen, that will not permit California to 
undertake the testing that Interior insists must be undertaken prior to 
the land transfer! They have California in a ``Catch-22.''
  BLM informed the California Department of Health Services that they 
could not proceed with the testing without a new permit from the BLM 
and yet another biological consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service with respect to the Desert Tortoise.
  The BLM based this requirement for a new permit on an 
``administrative determination,'' allegedly issued two years ago, which 
limits surface disturbance associated with pre-construction testing. 
But further examination revealed several points about this document:
  This old administrative determination was unknown to the California 
Department of Health Services, U.S. Ecology, and even the local BLM 
District Office until weeks ago.
  The local BLM office is unable to provide any evidence that this 
``administrative determination'' was provided to any of the parties 
whose actions it supposedly limits.
  The administrative determination is absurd on its face. The U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service has determined that the 90 acres of surface 
disturbance associated with the construction and operation of the Ward 
Valley facility will not jeopardize the desert tortoise or its habitat. 
Moreover, under current BLM guidelines, ten acre mining operations on 
other BLM land would not trigger the need for a biological consultation 
if certain desert tortoise protection measures were incorporated into 
the plan submitted to BLM. Indeed, five acre mining operations would 
not even require the applicant to submit a tortoise protection plan for 
approval. Yet, it is BLM's sudden contention that less than 5 acres of 
surface disturbance associated with testing will require yet another 
full biological consultation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
  Clearly, Mr. President, this latest obstruction, and the reasons 
cited for it, make no sense in the context of the various other permits 
and administrative determinations that have been previously granted at 
the site.
  The fact that this administrative decision suddenly surfaced in the 
midst of state planning to undertake the new tests is highly unusual--
perhaps even worthy of investigation by the Inspector General.
  Mr. President, earlier this year I asked the General Accounting 
Office to investigate this matter. That investigation is now underway. 
At this very moment, GAO auditors are reviewing documents in the 
District BLM office in California and at Department of Interior 
headquarters here in Washington.
  The GAO report will not be complete until July 15, but let me simply 
say that their preliminary findings appear to agree with my 
understanding of the facts.
  What we are seeing at the Department of the Interior is a blatant 
display of bad faith and obstructionism with regard to California's 
efforts to implement Federal law through development of the Ward Valley 
site.
  I am particularly distressed by this, particularly in light of the 
words spoken by Mr. Garamendi at his confirmation hearing.
  Mr. President, the legislation I am introducing today would convey 
the BLM land at Ward Valley to California as soon as a check for the 
fair market value of the land plus $100 is tendered to the Secretary of 
the Treasury, after the State of California formally tenders a promise 
to conduct the additional testing as outlined by the National Academy 
of Sciences.
  It's a simple bill. California agrees to do the testing outlined by 
the National Academy of Sciences, California gets its site, and the 
taxpayer gets fair market value for the land.
  I am willing to consider alternative approaches, but my bottom line 
is a quick and satisfactory resolution to this issue by qualified 
experts rather than political activists.
  I am willing to entertain negotiated compromises.
  I am willing to entertain alternative legislative approaches.
  I am not willing to entertain further delay.
  In closing, Mr. President, let me share a story that I find 
particularly rich in irony:
  Interior Secretary Babbitt, while the Governor of Arizona, was deeply 
concerned about the difficulty of the Federal Government to provide for 
adequate low-level radioactive waste disposal sites. He was asked by 
the National Governors' Association to chair a task force to look into 
the problem.
  The Babbitt task force recommended that the responsibility for low-
level radioactive waste management be given to the States. In 1981, 
Governor Babbitt wrote that ``the siting of a low level nuclear waste 
facility involves primarily state and local issues that are best 
resolved at the government level closest to those affected.''
  There was another Governor at the time who was active in the National 
Governor's Association and supported this approach: The Governor of 
Arkansas. His name was Bill Clinton.
  Congress listened to these Governors, and passed the Low Level 
Radioactive Waste Policy Act which gave the States the responsibility 
for low level radioactive waste management.
  California is the first State to license a facility under the Low 
Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act.
  And who are the Federal authorities who are today frustrating 
California's attempt to follow the law and open its site?
  None other than Mr. Babbitt and his Deputy at the Department of the 
Interior, himself a former California state official.
  What an irony that former State officials would declare a State 
unworthy of trust in carrying out its congressionally assigned duties 
and responsibilities.
  What a difference a few years in Washington can make.
                                 ______