And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: From: "Save Ward Valley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Dump Site Foes Flock to Hearing Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1999 14:15:02 -0800 Dump-site foes flock to hearing Desert dwellers air their concerns to the governor's panel charged with finding storage space for nuclear waste. By Jennifer Bowles The Press-Enterprise WESTWOOD Ward Valley, or more specifically a 1,000-acre patch of the Mojave Desert, has long been the subject of heated protests and warnings that putting a low-level nuclear waste dump there could harm wildlife and pollute Colorado River water. A meeting Tuesday, at which a panel Gov. Davis appointed to find a place for California's waste, was no different. Desert residents had traveled more than four hours to make their concerns heard at the Advisory Group on Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal's first meeting, held at UCLA. "There will be no dump at Ward Valley, and that's final," Steve Lopez of the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe in Needles shouted into the microphone from his wheelchair. He, like other American Indians, sees the land as sacred. It appeared unclear during the three-hour meeting whether the land 22 miles west of Needles in San Bernardino County would remain an option because the federal government, while denying the sale, had said the state could resubmit its bid for the land. Even the head of the panel, University of California President Richard Atkinson, said he would seek clarification from Davis on that subject. But Michael Bustamante, a Davis spokesman, said in a telephone interview that it is no longer an option. "Atkinson's committee was set up to look at alternatives," he stressed. Davis appointed the panel during the summer to find a solution to the state's problem in dealing with low-level nuclear waste. In a deal with Arizona and North and South Dakota, California is obligated to build the first facility to treat such waste from all four states. The committee recommendations for a dump site are due to the governor by the end of March. Before then, four more public meetings will be held at UCLA and UC San Francisco. "Our task is to recommend workable options and to lay out the advantages and disadvantages of each approach," Atkinson said. During the three-hour hearing, punctuated by emotional outbursts by audience members, Atkinson was attacked for alleged bias because of his former ties to a company that has a stake in a nuclear power plant. Many also complained that the makeup of Atkinson's 17-member advisory panel leans too heavily toward representatives of utility and pharmaceutical companies, which dispose of low-level nuclear waste and are supportive of Ward Valley. "The outcome is inevitable of your task force," said Daniel Hirsch, president of Committee to Bridge the Gap. Atkinson, a former chancellor of UC San Diego, served on San Diego Gas Electric's board of directors from April 1992 to July 1998. The utility has a 20 percent stake in the San Onofre nuclear power plant, which disposes of low-level nuclear waste. "I never saw it as a conflict of interest," Atkinson told reporters after the meeting. "If (Davis) judges it as one, I'll be more than happy to step down." However, "(Davis) has absolutely no reservations about him being able to do the job that he was intended to do," Bustamante said. After the raucous meeting, during which many members of the public suggested that he step down, Atkinson admitted: "I'm not wild about taking this task on." The advisory panel's Web site is at www.llrw.org. Jennifer Bowles can be reached by e-mail at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or by phone at 782-7720. Published 11/18/1999 ALSO: Nuclear waste dump opponents charge state panel stacked with pro-dump members By MARTHA BELLISLE Associated Press Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) -- An advisory board assigned to find a home for California's low-level nuclear waste began its first meeting amid claims the panel is filled with members intent on resurrecting plans to dump the pollutant in the Mojave Desert. Gov. Gray Davis created the panel to look for alternatives to the proposed dump site near the Arizona-California border known as Ward Valley that has been hotly debated for more than 16 years. Opponents, including local governments, environmental groups and Indian tribes, fear the nearby Colorado River would become contaminated, while supporters say the state has a responsibility to deal with its nuclear waste. At the heart of the controversy was the panel's chair, who critics learned for the first time Wednesday served on the board of the San Diego Gas & Electric Company, a partial owner of San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Detractors contend Richard Atkinson's ability to sit on the panel is compromised by his seven years on that company's board and called on him to resign. Atkinson was involved in selecting his fellow panel members. Richard Atkinson, who also is president of the University of California, hinted after the volatile, three-hour meeting that he might not remain on the panel. Atkinson said he would contact the governor to see if he should vacate the post. "I never saw it as a conflict of interest," Richard Atkinson said when asked why he didn't mention the position until asked by The Associated Press on Tuesday night. Atkinson had his compensation from that job deferred, he said, while he served from April 1992 until July 1998. He'll be collecting checks until 2004, but declined to reveal the amount of payments. Public records show that board members received $150,000 annually between 1992-1997 and $180,000 during 1997 to 1998. The university president also said he signed a May 1996 letter to U.S. Rep. Bill Baker, R-La., lobbying for the land transfer from the federal government to the state so that the Ward Valley nuclear waste dump could be built. University of California manages three national nuclear laboratories and produces waste. Davis created the advisory group in June, after announcing that he would not pursue a legal battle started after the Bush administration in 1993 ordered the sale of the federal land in Ward Valley to California. The Interior Department under President Clinton rescinded that order, and a judge in April ruled the department acted properly. BLM Deputy Director Tom Fry said "this chapter of the Ward Valley story is over," unless California returns with a new request to buy the land for the site. The state has to buy the land from the Bureau of Land Management if it wants to build a nuclear site there. The governor's office reiterated in a telephone call after the meeting that Davis is a long-standing opponent to Ward Valley. "The governor asked the commission to look for alternatives to Ward Valley that make good science, environmental and business sense," said Michael Bustamante, Davis' press secretary. "The governor has every confidence that the panel will give an earnest, honest and fair recommendation, then he will decide what is best." About 100 opponents to Ward Valley who packed the auditorium Wednesday insisted Davis mandated the panel find a new site and said the advisory group should take Ward Valley off the table. But Chuck McFadden, the panel's spokesman, said they didn't read it that way. "The group is not ruling anything in and not ruling anything out," McFadden said before the meeting. "Ward Valley is one of a series of options." Several of the panel members, however, said the panel was stacked with pro-Ward Valley people, some of whom had a financial interest in the outcome of the study. "I've been asked to serve on a board where I'll basically be decoration," said Jonathan Parfrey, executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility, Los Angeles. Dump-site foes flock to hearing Desert dwellers air their concerns to the governor's panel charged with finding storage space for nuclear waste. By Jennifer Bowles The Press-Enterprise WESTWOOD Ward Valley, or more specifically a 1,000-acre patch of the Mojave Desert, has long been the subject of heated protests and warnings that putting a low-level nuclear waste dump there could harm wildlife and pollute Colorado River water. A meeting Tuesday, at which a panel Gov. Davis appointed to find a place for California's waste, was no different. Desert residents had traveled more than four hours to make their concerns heard at the Advisory Group on Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal's first meeting, held at UCLA. "There will be no dump at Ward Valley, and that's final," Steve Lopez of the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe in Needles shouted into the microphone from his wheelchair. He, like other American Indians, sees the land as sacred. It appeared unclear during the three-hour meeting whether the land 22 miles west of Needles in San Bernardino County would remain an option because the federal government, while denying the sale, had said the state could resubmit its bid for the land. Even the head of the panel, University of California President Richard Atkinson, said he would seek clarification from Davis on that subject. But Michael Bustamante, a Davis spokesman, said in a telephone interview that it is no longer an option. "Atkinson's committee was set up to look at alternatives," he stressed. Davis appointed the panel during the summer to find a solution to the state's problem in dealing with low-level nuclear waste. In a deal with Arizona and North and South Dakota, California is obligated to build the first facility to treat such waste from all four states. The committee recommendations for a dump site are due to the governor by the end of March. Before then, four more public meetings will be held at UCLA and UC San Francisco. "Our task is to recommend workable options and to lay out the advantages and disadvantages of each approach," Atkinson said. During the three-hour hearing, punctuated by emotional outbursts by audience members, Atkinson was attacked for alleged bias because of his former ties to a company that has a stake in a nuclear power plant. Many also complained that the makeup of Atkinson's 17-member advisory panel leans too heavily toward representatives of utility and pharmaceutical companies, which dispose of low-level nuclear waste and are supportive of Ward Valley. "The outcome is inevitable of your task force," said Daniel Hirsch, president of Committee to Bridge the Gap. Atkinson, a former chancellor of UC San Diego, served on San Diego Gas Electric's board of directors from April 1992 to July 1998. The utility has a 20 percent stake in the San Onofre nuclear power plant, which disposes of low-level nuclear waste. "I never saw it as a conflict of interest," Atkinson told reporters after the meeting. "If (Davis) judges it as one, I'll be more than happy to step down." However, "(Davis) has absolutely no reservations about him being able to do the job that he was intended to do," Bustamante said. After the raucous meeting, during which many members of the public suggested that he step down, Atkinson admitted: "I'm not wild about taking this task on." The advisory panel's Web site is at www.llrw.org. Jennifer Bowles can be reached by e-mail at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or by phone at 782-7720. Published 11/18/1999 Save Ward Valley 107 F Street Needles, CA 92363 ph. 760/326-6267 fax 760/326-6268 http://www.shundahai.org/SWVAction.html http://earthrunner.com/savewardvalley http://www.ctaz.com/~swv1 http://banwaste.envirolink.org http://www.alphacdc.com/ien/wardvly4.html http://www.greenaction.org Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. <><<<<<>>>>><><<<<> Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ <><<<<<>>>>><><<<<>
