[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 200 (Tuesday, December 5, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5740-S5741]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       REMEMBERING GARY PETERSEN

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I rise today to pay one final tribute to 
Gary Petersen, a close friend and devoted public servant who recently 
passed away. Gary's devotion to the Tri-Cities was unparalleled, with 
his work covering everything from our national security, to 
environmental cleanup, to the growing and evolving missions of the 
Hanford Site and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory--PNNL--in my 
home State of Washington.
  This certainly isn't the first time I have spoken in honor of Gary. 
He was a Washingtonian through and through, raised in Okanogan County 
before serving in the military and eventually attending my alma mater, 
Washington State University. He went on to work for more than five 
decades in the Tri-Cities before retiring in 2017, and over the years, 
I had the great pleasure of working with Gary time and time again.
  In 1965, Gary landed his first job out of college at Battelle, and he 
couldn't have had better timing--Battelle had just won a contract to 
operate a major research and development laboratory at the Hanford 
Site, which is now known as PNNL. Gary was truly in on the ground 
floor, working in communications and handling other tasks including 
leading tours of the Hanford Site, which eventually became his 
specialty. Whether he was showing around new employees, elected 
officials, or foreign dignitaries, Gary gave a tour of the sprawling 
580-square-mile site that is still unsurpassed.
  Afterward, Gary briefly worked in Nevada for the Department of 
Energy's--DOE--predecessor--the Atomic Energy Commission--before 
returning to Washington to work for Westinghouse on the new Fast Flux 
Test Facility project. Gary further honed his nuclear expertise later 
working for the Washington Public Power Supply System, which is now 
Energy Northwest. He went on to rejoin Battelle to work at PNNL, 
eventually working on key international nuclear safety programs 
established following the Chernobyl disaster. Eventually, Gary was 
recruited to volunteer on a part-time basis at the Tri-City Development 
Council. In true Gary fashion, this quickly became a full-time 
commitment and he spent the rest of his career advocating on behalf of 
the Tri-Cities--in Washington, DC, Olympia, and everywhere in between 
until his retirement in 2017.
  One project that Gary spearheaded before his retirement resulted in 
DOE returning 1,614 acres of unused Hanford land just north of Richland 
to the Tri-Cities for economic development. His advocacy--whether it 
was for small local businesses, historical preservation efforts, or 
Washington State interests in the Columbia River Treaty--was unmatched. 
And the impact of his work has only become more evident in the last few 
years: The progress on Hanford cleanup, the preservation of Hanford's B 
reactor, the expansion of workforce safety programs at the Hanford 
Site, and the Tri-Cities' growing role in the clean energy future are 
all tied to Gary's decades of effort.
  Gary was always quick with a story and a smile. He loved to share the 
account of how Hanford came to be, from the beginning with Colonel 
Franklin Matthias selecting a location north of Richland for the 
Manhattan Project's plutonium plant, to the site's growth to meet our 
country's needs during the Cold War, to the Hanford cleanup mission 
today. He would explain how Hanford's growth transformed Richland and 
the Tri-Cities, shaping everything from the region's architecture to 
the day-to-day life of its residents. He loved getting into the nitty-
gritty of the Federal budgeting and the appropriations process and 
thrilled at telling anyone who would listen about the six research 
alligators that were at one point kept at the Hanford Site and escaped 
in the middle of a storm--five of them safely returned and one proudly 
displayed at a sports shop in downtown Richland for years. Through it 
all, Gary was as committed and passionate as they come. It is no wonder 
that

[[Page S5741]]

Washington State University's Hanford History Project asked him to 
contribute to its oral history collection; I am glad he did so that 
generations to come can enjoy and learn from Gary's firsthand accounts.
  Washington State has benefited tremendously from Gary's vision and 
his drive to improve the Tri-Cities and the Hanford Site. He was an 
important partner to me and one of the first to recognize all that the 
region had to offer. Gary was a force of nature, whose vision and work 
will be felt for generations. Whether he was walking the halls of 
Congress or leading a tour of the B reactor, he was a fountain of 
knowledge and energy. Gary leaves behind a tremendous legacy, and I am 
among the countless individuals who are grateful for his mentorship and 
friendship. His memory will be cherished, and he will be dearly missed.

                          ____________________