From: jde@esix.everex.com (Jeff Ellis)
Newsgroups: ca.environment
Subject: Ward Valley dump site
Date: 31 Aug 92 21:29:59 GMT
Organization: Esix Computers, Inc
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

ALERT! ALERT! ALERT!   DANGER!  DANGER! DANGER!
The California House and Senate are perilously close to issuance of a permit to
U.S. Ecology to build at Ward Valley.  The California Dept. of Health says the
permit could come within the next 60 days.

What? You haven't heard about Ward Valley? It's one of the stupidest ideas a
politician ever came up with.  The State of California is required to build a
low-lever nuclear waste dump by 1995, according to a federal law passed in I
believe 1988. 

The proposal being presented is for U.S. Ecology, a company who is already
operating two other dumps in the U.S. which have both leaked radioactive waste,
to build this low-level dump at Ward Valley, near Needles.  The proposal
describes the dump as unlined trenches where nuclear waste would be dumped in
and dirt would be thrown over.  Wait, there's more brilliance.  Ward Valley is
12 miles from the Colorado River, and the U.S. Geological Survey has already
determined that the groundwater supply at Ward Valley runs directly into the
Colorado River.

Can you imagine ruining forever the most important source of water to all of
Southern California?  The main culprit is tritium, a molecule which only occurs
naturally in the outer atmosphere (I forget which layer).  Since they estimate
that 70% of the waste dumped at Ward Valley would come from nuclear power
plants, tritium is a major risk.

And right now, the House and Senate have so far been successful at stopping
three bills, AB 3811, AB 3798 and AB 2500, from passage.  AB 3811 would require
U.S. Ecology to hold an adjudicatory public hearing prior to licensing the dump
site, and address any safety issues presented.  AB 3798 would require sites to
recycle any tritium present in their waste.  Lawrence Livermore Labs, New
England Nuclear, Ontario Hydro, and DOE's Mound facility all recapture and
reuse their tritium, saving them money and saving the environment; also, state
law currently urges such recovery.  AB 2500 attempts to shield the California
taxpayer from potentially immense liability should something go wrong at the
waste dump.  The State Controller has issued a detailed report on this
potential liability, citing estimates of $75 to $500 million in potential
cleanup costs, based on estimates for two other leaking sites operated
elsewhere in the country by U.S. Ecology.  U.S. Ecology has pushed hard to make
the taxpayers in those states liable for the contamination at the sites.  This
bill is an important effort to make sure U.S. Ecology and radioactive waste
generators take their true share of the liability, and to assure that
sufficient funds are available in a timely fashion to perform necessary
environmental remediation should it be necessary.

Pass the word along. Contact your representative in the Senate Appropriations
Committee (see below), Pete Wilson, and your local congressperson. If you've
never contacted your representative before, it's easy.  Just call the number. 
The receptionist will take down the bill you're talking about, how you want the
person to vote on it, and your name and address. That's it! You can also send a
letter or fax, which also help.  Just do it! Thanks.

Senate Appropriation members (presented in a format that you can upload and use
for mass-mailing letters):
name	address	csz	phone	greeting
Robert Presley	360 Lime St., #111	Riverside, CA 92501	714-782-4111	Mr. Presley
Al Alquist	100 Paseo de San Antonio, #209	San Jose, CA 95113	408-286-8318, FAX:
408-286-2338	Mr. Alquist
Ruben Ayala	9620 Center Ave., #100	Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730	714-466-6882	Mr.
Ayala
Ralph Dills	16921 S. Western Ave., #201	Gardena, CA 90247	310-324-4969, FAX:
310-329-5244	Mr. Dills
Leroy Greene	P.O. Box 254646	Sacramento, CA 95825	916-481-6540	Mr. Greene
Patrick Johnston	31 E. Channel St., #440	Stockton, CA 95202	209-948-7930, FAX:
209-948-7993	Mr. Johnston
Lucy Killea	2550 5th Ave., #152	San Diego, CA 92103	619-696-6955, FAX:
619-696-8930	Ms. Killea
Bill Lockyer	22634 Second St., #104	Hayward, CA 94541	510-582-8800, FAX:
510-582-0822	Mr. Lockyer
Bob Beverly	1611 S. Pacific Coast Highway, #102	Redondo Beach, CA 90277
310-540-1611	Mr. Beverly
Ed Davis	11145 Tampa Ave., #21B	Northridge, CA 91326	818-368-1171, FAX:
818-368-8485	Mr. Davis
Bill Leonard	400 N. Mountain Ave., #109	Upland, CA 91786	714-946-4889, FAX:
714-982-1197	Mr. Leonard
Marian Bergeson	140 Newport Center Dr., #120	Newport Beach, CA 90277
714-640-1137, FAX: 714-640-1523	Ms. Bergeson

Please email any comments to the below email address.
(not usenet reading ability :-(    )
--
Sheri Ellis
esri!mailgate_esri!sheri_ellis@uunet.uu.net