For Immediate Release:

Wednesday, July 16, 2003

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Patty Murray today announced she had secured $2.04 billion for environmental cleanup at Hanford in the fiscal year 2004 Senate Energy and Water Development spending bill. The bill passed the Senate Subcommittee today. The funds, which support a waste treatment plant and cleanup efforts along the Columbia River, meet the required federal share specified under the Tri-Party Agreement and accelerated cleanup program.

The total funding represents $962.8 million for Richland Operations and $1.079 billion for the Office of River Protection (ORP). This funding represents the total federal amount needed to move forward with the Waste Treatment Plant.

"In the face of the most significant budget cuts in recent history, I am pleased to have secured this critical funding for nuclear waste cleanup at Hanford," Senator Murray said. "The health and welfare of families in the Tri-Cities will benefit from the Senate's support for nuclear cleanup. I am glad that these funds will help keep our federal obligation to the health and safety of those who sacrificed for our country."

Senator Murray is a member of the Energy and Water Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee and is co-chair of the Senate Nuclear Clean-Up Caucus, which she helped found in 2001.