For Immediate Release:

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

“We’ve been outspoken critics of the Bush Administration’s Hanford cleanup failures, but we maintain that any action taken on Hanford must lead to a constructive outcome.  To that end, we continue to encourage the state and the federal government to reach an agreement for the future of Hanford cleanup.

“An extraordinary amount of work has already been accomplished.  The U.S. Departments of Energy and Justice and Washington state are now closer to an agreement than they have been at any other point over the past two years.  Now is not the time to set all that has been accomplished aside.  Now is the time to work harder to find a path to an agreement and move forward. 

“Congress is moving forward on funding for Fiscal Year 2009 and we are actively involved in that process.  Our goal is to achieve productive change for the Hanford budget and an agreement now, would, without question, make that process easier. 

“We have always defended our state’s interests under the Tri-Party Agreement and we will continue to do so, but we can’t afford to put everything on hold and wait for the outcome of a lawsuit. 

“We call on the state and the federal agencies to come together and resolve this dispute in the best interest of our constituents and our environment.”