President Obama’s proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2017 is going nowhere. Members of the budget committees in both the Senate and the House of Representatives say they will not even bother to hold hearings to question the president’s budget director about the plan.
But while the $4.15 trillion proposal is more of a wish list than a serious request, one tiny aspect of it is problematic for the residents of Washington. The administration’s budget calls for a $289 million cut in funding for the cleanup at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation — a responsibility the federal government has ignored for far too long.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said: “As every member of the Hanford community already knows, it is absolutely critical that work continues on schedule in a safe, efficient manner, so I will continue to make it clear to both the administration and my colleagues in the House and the Senate that the federal government cannot shirk its obligation on Hanford cleanup.” Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., also weighed in, saying that the largest environmental cleanup in the world needs continued support.
Getting those in Washington, D.C., to pay attention will be a tall task. For decades, the federal government has ignored its duties when it comes to cleaning up radioactive waste at Hanford, which lies near the Columbia River about 200 miles upstream from Vancouver. Along the way, that negligence has imperiled one of the nation’s major waterways and the residents of two states. It is difficult to imagine federal officials eschewing their duty if Hanford rested on the banks of, say, the Potomac River. But when it is on the other side of the country, well, out of sight out of mind.
In the 1980s, Congress and President Reagan agreed to the creation of a national nuclear repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, but former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, blocked votes that could have brought that to fruition. As columnist George Will of The Washington Post wrote in 2014: “Rather than nuclear waste being stored safely in the mountain’s 40 miles of tunnels 1,000 feet underground atop 1,000 feet of rock, more than 160 million Americans live within 75 miles of one or more of the 121 locations where 70,000 tons of waste are stored.” Even a court-mandated Hanford Cleanup Consent Degree in 2010 has generated negligible response. Meanwhile, dozens of tanks at the site have begun leaking radioactive waste.
Obama’s proposed budget would provide about $2 billion for continued cleanup efforts at Hanford. But it also would cut $287 million from the Richland Operations Office, which is responsible for the cleanup aside from the waste tanks and a vitrification plant being built to treat the waste. The Office of River Protection, which oversees those projects, would have its budget trimmed by $2 million.
While the specifics of the proposal will largely be ignored by congressional budget writers, it reflects a disturbing penchant of the other Washington to overlook the needs at Hanford. The region once played a key role in the development of the atomic bomb that helped the Allies to victory in World War II, and for years after that it assisted in the development of the United States’ nuclear arsenal. Such a level of commitment to the nation deserves some commitment in return, rather than allowing roughly 56 million tons of radioactive waste to create an increasing danger.
Members of Washington’s congressional delegation should continue to impress upon their colleagues the importance of the Hanford cleanup. Ignoring the situation won’t make it go away.
