Worker safety at Hanford cleanup remains top priority
A NEW Hanford lawsuit has been filed by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson against the U.S. Department of Energy and one of its contractors, Washington River Protection Solutions. This litigation alleges that hazardous vapors from some of Hanford’s 177 underground storage tanks pose significant health risks to tank-farm workers.
These underground tanks do contain some extremely bad stuff, and workers at the tank farms have very specialized training and specialized protective equipment to work there.
An extensive “Hanford tank vapor assessment” was conducted by Savannah River Labs and released October 2014. This assessment made a number of recommendations to help reduce risks to Hanford tank-farm workers. In November, the Attorney General announced it “may” file suit for the vapors issue within 90 days. In February, Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) publicly announced an implementation plan to meet the recommendations in the assessment.
Questions come to mind: The Attorney General’s Office gave 90-day notice last November that it may bring suit over the vapors. If the current risk to workers were so great (“imminent and substantial endangerment,” as stated in the lawsuit), then why did the state wait another 190 days to actually bring suit?
Another question: How does this lawsuit help worker safety?
In just the past few weeks, I personally escorted 12 staff members from a number of congressional offices, as well as U.S. Reps. Dan Newhouse, R-Pasco, and Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, on fact-finding tours of Hanford. They went to the tank farms and were thoroughly briefed on the work being done there, as well as on the safety-implementation plans under way. These individuals seemed satisfied that both DOE and WRPS take worker health very seriously and are doing everything possible to protect workers.
To me, the safety record for WRPS and tank-farm workers speaks for itself.
WRPS was awarded a Voluntary Protection Program “star of excellence” award for its worker-safety performance in 2014. This is a national award granted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
This attorney general’s lawsuit doesn’t help improve worker safety and it doesn’t help empty the 177 underground tanks. Lawsuits only cost taxpayers more money, for both sides of this case.
Perhaps Ferguson should actually visit WRPS and the Hanford tank farms. He might find reason to revisit the need for these costly and unhelpful legal shenanigans. I think we need fewer lawsuits and more leaders.