And now:"Save Ward Valley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: What a week this has been!!! -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: undisclosed-recipients:; <undisclosed-recipients:;> Date: Friday, April 02, 1999 5:46 PM Subject: WARD VALLEY VICTORY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 2 April 1999 CONTACT: Daniel Hirsch, (831) 462-6136 Federal Court Gives Ward Valley Opponents Huge Victory Wilson-US Ecology Lawsuit to Force Transfer of Land, Open Nuclear Dump is Thrown Out Proponents of the controversial Ward Valley, California, radioactive waste dump lost their lawsuit attempting to force the dump�s opening, it was revealed today. The lawsuit, brought by then-California Governor Pete Wilson and US Ecology, the company that wanted to operate the nuclear dump 18 miles from the Colorado River, had asked that the federal government be ordered to transfer federal land for use as a radioactive waste disposal facility. U.S. District Court Emmet Sullivan, in a ruling dated Wednesday but received by the parties today, ruled against the dump proponents and in favor of the U.S. Interior Department and environmentalists who had joined the case, including Los Angeles-based Committee to Bridge the Gap and the Bay Area Nuclear Waste Coalition. �This is extraordinary good news for the countless future generations who would be at risk if this dangerous nuclear project had gone forward,� said Daniel Hirsch, President of the Committee to Bridge the Gap, that has fought the project for a decade. �The litigation was the last major hope of proponents of this misguided project.� Ward Valley was proposed to take radioactive waste, almost all from nuclear reactors, and dump it in unlined trenches. Very long-lived wastes like plutonium, strontium, and cesium would have been dumped there. The proposed operator had a troubled track record, with many of its past dumps having leaked and been closed; one is a Superfund site. Concern that the nearby Colorado River, source of water for much of the Southwestern United States, could be contaminated contributed to the widespread public opposition to the project. Waste volumes have dropped 10-fold in recent years, while existing facilities elsewhere in the country take California�s waste and charge a small fraction of what Ward Valley would have charged, raising serious questions about the economic viability of the project in addition to the environmental concerns. A number of radioactive waste generators have recently been distancing themselves from the project, noting they would prefer to keep shipping to the existing cheaper national dumps rather than forced to ship to the far more expensive Ward Valley site if built. The proposed facility was also heavily opposed by Native American tribes who consider the area sacred tribal land. �This should be the deathknell for Ward Valley,� said Hirsch. # # # COMMITTEE TO BRIDGE THE GAP 1637 BUTLER AVENUE, SUITE 203 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90025 (310) 478-0829
