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Public Involvement Opportunities
2006 State of the Site
UPDATED
A Dialogue with Decision-Makers
2006 HanfordState of the Site Meetings
The State of the Site meetings provide an opportunity for interested members of the public to discuss Hanford cleanup challenges and progress with decision-makers from the Tri-Parties Agencies [Department of Energy’s (DOE) Richland Operations and River Protection offices, Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology), and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)]. Over 267 individuals attended the FifthAnnualHanfordState of the Site meetings held during October and November in Kennewick, Seattle and Spokane, Washington and Hood River, Oregon.
The meetings began with an open house where members of the public had an opportunity to meet one on one with key decision makers from DOE, Ecology and EPA. Participants were able to visit agency and local and regional informational booths. Among those organizations providing different perspectives on Hanford cleanup were the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, the Department of Labor, Nez Perce Tribe, Oregon Department of Energy, Hanford Advisory Board, Heart of America Northwest, Columbia RiverKeeper, and the Washington State Physicians for Social Responsibility. Also, Hanford workers demonstrated a variety of protective clothing, personal protective equipment and a broad range of respiratory equipment used in Hanford cleanup work.
The open house was followed by a moderated town-hall style dialogue between the key agency decision makers and members of the public/audience. Issues discussed and questions raised covered a wide range of topics and varied by meeting location. Some of the major themes from each meeting included
Richland: adequacy of response to former and current worker compensation claims, acquisition strategy for new DOE contracts, need for Tri-Party Agreement milestones to cleanup groundwater
Seattle: issues surrounding the cost and schedule of the new Waste Treatment Plant and the potential impacts to tank waste, need for enforceable TPA milestones, suggestions to better inform and involve the public in Hanford cleanup decisions
HoodRiver: Hanford cleanup issues, including definition of cleanup, dates for cleaning up the groundwater, the lack of meaningful public involvement, adequacy of cleanup funding
Spokane: tank waste issues, including the adequacy of tank monitoring equipment, transportation and other issues related to offsite waste coming to Hanford, protecting and cleaning up the groundwater.
A full-list of themes by meeting can be found by clicking on the meeting location listed above.
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