For Immediate Release:

Wednesday, March 6, 2002

Today's announcement of the signing of a Letter of Intent between the state of Washington, the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency is an important one. It holds the promise of advancing cleanup of Hanford in an expeditious and safe manner, without compromising standards.

While today's announcement is the first formal step under the Department of Energy's Environmental Management Review, it is really the culmination of two years of effort by the Hanford site managers and the state and federal regulators to reexamine cleanup goals and priorities.

I applaud our managers and regulators for their forward thinking and cooperative approach, which has enabled Hanford to be the first site in the nation to sign such a letter of intent.

Funding for Hanford cleanup has always been a difficult, but necessary fight. The Department of Energy and Office of Management and Budget are promising that the days of fighting over nuclear cleanup budgets are behind us. I sincerely hope they are.

The Administration must still present a formal revised budget for Hanford, and I look forward to working with the Administration to appropriate these funds.