190 Show Up @ Hanford Hearing, Including Mayor Sam Adams

Thank you to the over 190 people who came to the hearing in Portland Thursday night to oppose the federal Energy Depatment's latest scheme to use Hanford as a national radioactive waste dump to import and bury 12,600 truckloads of extremely radioactive wastes, mostly from nuclear reactors that will be dismantled in coming decades. Mayor Sam Adams came in person, joining represenatives from Senator Wyden and Merkley, to give a statement on behalf of all the City Commissioners opposing use of Hanford as a national radioactive waste dump, saying that trucking "nuclear waste through Oregon on its way to Hanford poses an unacceptable risk to the health of Portland citizens." The Oregonian joined in with a very strong editorial that summarized the views of many of the people who stayed until nearly 10PM to testify: "This is a bad idea. It runs counter to everything that Oregon and Washington, Northwest tribes and health advocates have sought to achieve in taming a Hanford nuclear beast that menaces underground water, the Columbia River, and human and wildlife populations nearby. ... "Putting Hanford to dual, opposing purposes -- cleaning up while burying more than 12,000 truckloads of hot junk over 60 years -- is a perfect Catch-22. We'll never be done." Our testimony included both the fact that trucking the waste will cause cancer in people along the truck route and how USDOE's own projection - buried in the EIS - is that putting this waste in landfill trenches will lead to radiation doses high enough to cause fatal cancers in 2 to 4% of the children who will use the groundwater between the dump and Columbia River. We can stop this insanity, including the drive to make more nuclear waste from reactors which the industry wants the taxpayers to pick up the tab to dispose of - as cheaply as possible in landfill trenches or boreholes that will leak, that will contaminate water, and will cause significant numbers of cancers in the people using the water for thousands of years. More than twice as many people came to the Portland hearing as went to any other hearing across the US on this impact statement - thanks to the organizing efforts of our wonderful volunteers and staff. Please - use the link below to send in your own comments if you couldn't make the hearings. Our Citizens' Guide and the presentation we gave to an overflow crowd of over 80 people at our pre-hearing workshop are both available atwww.hoanw.org (just a short way down the home page in portion about the GTCC waste EIS). Please send a copy of your comments to your Senators, Congresspeople and local newspaper editors. Let us know what you send in by cc'ing office@hoanw.org. As always, we're here to help you with your comments - just email us atoffice@hoanw.org or call (206)382-1014. Thank you for your caring support, Gerry Pollet, JD Executive Director, Heart of America Northwest "The Public's Voice for Hanford Clean-Up"

Be Heard - How to Send In Your Comments Click here for our Citizens' Guide - Page four has suggested comments How to send in your comments by June 27, 2011: US Mail: Greater-Than-Class C Low-Level Radioactive Waste EIS Office of Technical and Regulatory Support (EM-43) U.S. Department of Energy 1000 Independence Avenue,SW. Washington, DC 20585-0119 By electronic comment form: http://www.gtcceis.anl.gov./involve/comments/index.cfm Please send a copy to your US Senators and Representatives and a copy to us at office@hoanw.org