After a stormy hearing in Spokane, Seattlites organizing to pan Hanford proposal with humor and other treats.
As the March 19th deadline for public comments on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford cleanup plan approaches, activists in Seattle are working hard to boost public interest in the controversial proposal. With the final public hearing on the plan scheduled for Seattle this coming Monday, March 8, Heart of America Northwest is hosting what it bills as a “Hanford Follies fun and interactive” workshop, complete with improvisational comedy and free coffee.
It’s a creative approach to what is, by any stretch an important and somewhat overwhelming issue. Hanford is the home to the largest collection of radioactive and hazardous wastes in the western world. The Energy Department’s preference is to not only leave large amounts of contaminated soil at Hanford, but to ship additional amounts of radioactive and chemical waste to the site. To put it mildly, the plan is not playing well around the region. And if you’d like to add your opinions to the record, there’s still time to do by sending them to:
Mary Beth Burandt
Document Manager
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of River Protection
PO Box 450, Mail Stop H6-60
Richland, WA 993534
email: TC&WMEIS@saic.com
The Energy Department’s plan is in the form of a 6,000 page draft Environmental Impact Statement, literally a document heavy enough to bust a shelf off a wall. A much shorter, four page primer on the issues and options has been compiled by our good friends at the Hanford Challenge.
If you’re in Seattle on March 8th and want to give your thoughts live and in person, the hearing is scheduled for the Seattle Center Northwest Rooms at First Avenue and Republican, near the Key Arena. A pre-hearing workshop begins at 6 and the hearing itself an hour later.
–CFJ
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