[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 54 (Monday, March 28, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E303-E304]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          HONORING THE EMPLOYEES OF THE IDAHO CLEANUP PROJECT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. MICHAEL K. SIMPSON

                                of idaho

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 28, 2022

  Mr. SIMPSON. Madam Speaker, the Cold War began in 1947 with the 
Truman Doctrine and ended in 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet 
Union. Who can forget the momentous sights and sounds of East Germans 
defiantly climbing the Berlin Wall in 1989 and then knocking down 
sections of that very wall as a statement that they would no longer be 
held captive by their Communist leaders?
  Through the leadership of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Herbert 
Walker Bush, the United States won the Cold War. Our great nation did 
so through our military strength and by showing the world what is 
possible in a free nation of free people.
  Although not officially part of the weapons complex, the Idaho 
National Laboratory in my district in eastern Idaho, reprocessed spent 
nuclear fuel to recover unused uranium. That uranium was then 
refabricated into nuclear fuel rods and used in production reactors 
near the east coast.
  Also during the Cold War, the INL became the Nation's repository for 
nuclear weapons waste. Thousands of truckloads of plutonium-
contaminated wastes were sent to the INL from the Rocky Flats Plant 
near Denver, the Mound Site in Ohio, and other waste generators 
throughout the country. During the 1950s and 1960s, the waste was 
disposed of in an unlined landfill in the southcentral portion of the 
INL. That landfill also sits 585 feet above the Snake River Plain 
Aquifer, the second-largest continuous aquifer in the U.S. that is 
relied upon by farmers and municipalities throughout eastern Idaho. 
More than 130,000 people in my district get their water exclusively 
from that aquifer.
  Over the years, barrels and boxes of waste deteriorated, leaching 
their contents into the surrounding soil. Rain and snowmelt then moved 
those contaminants toward the underlying aquifer.
  Former Idaho Governor Cecil Andrus recognized this impending 
environmental threat and put pressure on the Atomic Energy Commission 
to remove the buried waste from the landfill and ultimately the state 
of Idaho. Up until 1979, thousands of drums and boxes of material were 
removed. Then, as priorities changed, waste removal stopped. Subsequent 
Idaho governors kept pressure on the AEC and then its predecessor 
agency the Department of Energy.
  Several agreements were signed by the state of Idaho and the DOE, but 
a lawsuit over the word ``all'' stalled further progress.
  Luckily, science won out over politics. An environmental 
investigation that lasted more than a decade determined it was safer 
and more cost effective to remove only the worst of the radioactive and 
hazardous wastes rather than all. The DOE, state of Idaho, and 
Environmental Protection Agency all agreed. This proposed cleanup 
approach was demonstrated and proven by the Accelerated Retrieval 
Project, which used highly specialized backhoes to dig through and 
visually remove the so-called bad actor wastes. After removing more 
than 10,000 cubic meters of waste material from a combined area of 5.69 
acres, the first phase of the project is complete.
  Madam Speaker, I want to personally thank the cleanup contractors and 
most importantly the dedicated employees who made this happen. They 
achieved this milestone more than 18 months ahead of schedule. On 
behalf of myself, my constituents, and the citizens of Idaho, I applaud 
their hard work and thank

[[Page E304]]

them for protecting one of Idaho's most important natural resources--
the Snake River Plain Aquifer.
  Now, current cleanup contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition led by 
a qualified management team and the same hard-working employees is 
setting its sights on the second phase of this project. A cover will be 
constructed over the entire 97-acre landfill to further protect the 
aquifer. This will be a massive undertaking that will require the 
Congress and the DOE to be in lockstep in terms of continuing to fund 
this critically important conclusion to the buried waste project.
  The Cold War is part of this Nation's history. Idaho played its part 
in this country winning the Cold War. Employees of the Idaho Cleanup 
Project are helping to clean up the legacy of the Cold War. Again, 
please join me in thanking them for their dedication, professionalism, 
and commitment to protecting the environment in Idaho.

                          ____________________