VICTORY - U.S. EPA RULES RULE!
Thanks to the agreement forged by
Secretary Adams
and the Cal-EPA staff
with the citizen activist groups,
two things are finally guaranteed to us,
by law (SB990 remaining intact):
- California will impose its more
protective cleanup levels before
Boeing can sell or transfer the SSFL
- The nuclear cleanup will be
in the hands of the
US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)
– whose standards represent
the most protective science available.
This decision resulted from negotiations
with the public (including RocketdyneWatch)
who demanded protection from the
Governor’s recent decision to attach
an Amendment to Senator Sheila Kuehl’s SB990 law,
which gave California cleanup powers over the site
(and would guarantee USEPA-compliant results).
The Amendment allowed Boeing to give the SSFL to the State as a Park –
after a cleanup of indeterminate levels had been achieved –
which was the reverse of the intent of SB990.
(This “amendment” follows DOE’s “Accelerated Cleanups” Program
which allows the Agency to ‘recalculate risks’ and leave behind,
virtually intact, nuclear waste across our nation –
as has happened at Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Facility,
Hanford, Washington, and other sites.)
Simultaneous to this SB990 issue was the USEPA’s
recent decision to list the SSFL for “Superfund” cleanup –
meaning that the site posed such a risk to public health
that the USEPA needed to step in.
Cal-EPA asked the citizens for a six-month delay in Superfund Listing –
the Superfund program is virtually bankrupt
and the cleanup might lie dormant for some time.
The agreement between Cal-EPA and leading citizen activists
guarantees that SB990 remains intact (giving California all cleanup powers)
and gives us the special expertise of the USEPA over nuclear cleanup –
saving us at last from the DOE’s plan to leave behind 98% of the nuclear waste.
ROCKETDYNEWATCH SALUTES
SECRETARY LINDA ADAMS &
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER
FOR PUTTING PUBLIC INTERESTS FIRST!
