David e. Delk, Alliance for Democracy – Portland Chapter 503 232 5495 www.afd-pdx.org

Heart of America Northwest   Proposed Settlement Agreement Delays Hanford Clean-Up by Decades WA State-USDOE deal fails to include enforceable ban on USDOE using Hanford as a national radioactive wasted dump Attend a Public Meeting Near You! Meetings begin at 7pm Hood River, OR: 10/26* Portland, OR: 10/27* Tri-Cities, WA: 10/29 Spokane, WA: 11/9* Seattle, WA: 11/12* Click here for locations and more information! *Join Heart of America NW for pre-meeting workshops at 6pm Heart of America NW around the web: website blog facebook twitter Heart of America Northwest’s Mission At Heart of America Northwest, our mission is to advance our region’s quality of life through highly credible research, education, and participation of citizens in issues affecting the health, environment, and economy of the Northwest particularly as it affects Hanford. see our website for more information Heart of America NW needs your help Our funding has taken a huge hit in this recession — please consider donating today so that we can continue our research, organizing and lobbying efforts to clean-up Hanford and protect the Columbia River. DONATE NOW to our 501 (c)(4)DONATE NOW to our 501 (c)(3) Every day, radioactive Strontium 90 enters the Columbia River at levels 1,500 times drinking water standards. Worse contamination from the leaky High-Level Nuclear Waste tanks spreads towards the River every day. Please pledge just twenty five cents a day, or a dime a day, for the coming year to stop the contamination!     Dear David, This fall, take a stand with Heart of America Northwest against Hanford clean-up delays and using Hanford as a national radioactive waste dump.  Join us at public hearings in Washington and Oregon and submit comments to let your voice be heard!  We must stand together to remind the WA Governor Gregoire & USDOE to “Clean Up First” – enforce stopping more waste from being dumped at Hanford!  Proposed Clean-Up Delays (and other bad news)  Washington State accepts USDOE’s delays and missed deadlines Hanford cleanup is DELAYED BY DECADES Restrictions on importing off-site waste to Hanford still unenforceable USDOE is still allowed to issue a separate decision next year to import and bury the most radioactive and toxic wastes at Hanford (called Greater Than Class C wastes) Schedules to empty all single shell tanks by 2018 DELAYED until 2040 Schedule to treat all tank waste by 2028 DELAYED until 2047 Waste Treatment Plant “hot-start” date DELAYED from 2011 to 2019 for more information, see Heart of America’s factsheet   Background on the Settlement Agreement   Tri-Party Agreement (TPA) Negotiations began in 2007, when it became clear that the US Department of Energy (USDOE) was going to miss crucial deadlines concerning Hanford’s leaky High-Level Nuclear Waste tanks.  USDOE had proposed to clean out single shell tanks (SSTs) at a rate of only one or two per year – while 140 SSTs remain!  The negotiations fell apart, so the State of Washington sued USDOE in November 2008 to empty the tanks and treat the waste faster, and Oregon State joined the lawsuit in early 2009.  USDOE and the states managed to reach agreements in August 2009. The Proposed Settlement Agreement outlines the conditions of the settlement with Washington. This settlement consists of two parts: a Consent Decree – its deadlines are enforceable in federal court – and a TPA change package.  USDOE and Oregon reached a separate settlement. TAKE ACTION! Attend a public hearing near you and submit comments Public Hearing Dates & Locations: Hood River, OR: 7pm Monday, October 26th Best Western -1108 E Marina Way Join HOANW for a pre-meeting workshop at 6pm Portland, OR: 7pm Tuesday, October 27th Double Tree Hotel near Lloyd Center Join HOANW for a pre-meeting workshop at 6pm Tri-Cities, WA: 7pm Thurs, October 29th Richland Hampton Inn – 486 Bradley Blvd HOANW will be present for the pre-meeting open house starting at 6pm Spokane, WA: 7pm Monday, November 9th Double Tree Hotel – 322 North Spokane Falls Court Join HOANW for a pre-meeting workshop at 6pm Seattle, WA: 7pm Thursday, November 12th Quality Inn near Seattle Center – 618 John St Join HOANW for a pre-meeting workshop at 6pm If you cannot attend a hearing, please submit your comments today to TPACH@rl.gov! Heart of America NW encourages you to send a copy of your comments to Governor Gregoire (WA) and Governor Kulongoski (OR) HOANW’s TOP THREE TIPS FOR COMMENTING: Include in the TPA and the Consent Decree an enforceable ban on USDOE adding more off-site waste until existing wastes are brought into compliance and are cleaned up: the “Clean-Up First” principle. Include the highly radioactive wastes (GTCC) in the ban on burying more off-site waste at Hanford, and make it enforceable!  USDOE’s exclusion of these hot wastes shows USDOE cannot be trusted unless the ban is enforceable. Reject taking until 2040 to empty single shell tanks (SSTs), and empty more than one or two per year between now and 2022. for more tips for commenting, see our blog!     We hope to see you at a meeting in the next few weeks. Remember, every voice counts to protect the Columbia River and the Northwest from Hanford becoming a national radioactive waste dump! Heart of America Northwest

David e. Delk, Alliance for Democracy – Portland Chapter 503 232 5495 www.afd-pdx.org 

PGE’s Boardman plant: Bad air, worse energy policy

By Steve Duin, The Oregonian

October 03, 2009, 10:10AM

Help me with this:

When Portland General Electric built its Boardman coal-fired power plant in the late 1970s, why did it seek an exemption from the Clean Air Act?

And why is the utility now fighting attempts by the Sierra Club and other environmental groups to hold it accountable to the act’s standards?

I understand why a business struggling to get by would try to cut corners on the environmental front, especially if it can’t pass on the cost of running a clean, green operation to its customers.

PGE doesn’t have that problem. PGE makes a guaranteed profit. PGE lives so high on the hog it stuffed $4.5 million into CEO Peggy Fowler’s pocket on her way out the door.

And by the grace of God and Oregon’s Public Utility Commission, PGE passes all its business costs along to the ratepayers, most of whom clearly do care about clean-air standards.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Ancer L. Haggerty swatted away most of the utility’s objections to the Sierra Club lawsuit, allowing the legal case to proceed.

In his 30-page opinion, Haggerty reminded us that Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality permitted the Boardman plant “with an understanding that the plant would be subject” to the 1974 dictates of the Clean Air Act.

Subsequently, Haggerty notes, the utility asked the EPA in May 1975 if the Boardman plant was subject to those 1974 regulations, given PGE’s argument that “construction” had already begun.

The EPA decided the plant was not. “The decision,” PGE’s Gail Baker noted via e-mail, “meant that PGE did not have to delay construction of the plant to obtain new permits for construction.”

The Boardman plant, by the way, began operations in August 1980, more than five years after the effective date of the Clean Air standards.

Baker further argues, “PGE has complied with all regulations associated with the plant throughout Boardman’s 35-year history.”

“Obviously, we’ve brought suit because we disagree with that,” said Aubrey Baldwin, lead attorney for the plaintiffs. “Essentially, that’s the question before the court.”

At the heart of the suit is the Sierra Club’s argument that PGE has made major modifications to Boardman — the largest stationary source of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in the state, and second to Ash Grove Cement in mercury spewing — that required permitting and review.

PGE didn’t seek permits, however, and DEQ didn’t care. The agency, Baldwin said, has been painfully inconsistent in “trying to reconcile how they continue to allow PGE to operate Boardman without making it go through new source review, and install (pollution) controls.

“To put it charitably, DEQ has demonstrated over the last decade that they’re open to coming up with creative solutions when industry asks them to.”

PGE is not oblivious to the benefits of appearing green in Oregon, going so far as to propose spending $560 million in pollution controls to keep Boardman in operation for another 30 years.

Those controls, however, would not reduce the plant’s carbon dioxide emissions. The infatuation with keeping Boardman operating, Baldwin said, “is based on the fundamental belief at PGE that coal is part of our future. It’s almost an ideology. It’s irrational.

“PGE can’t identify anyone who would be upset if they cleaned up or phased out Boardman,” she added.

Except, of course, those booster groups for asthma, heart disease and perpetual haze in the gorge.

– Steve Duin