DOE Failure draws contempt motion

[marylia <marylia@igc.org>]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 1998

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Jackie Cabasso, Western States Legal Foundation (510)839-5877
Marylia Kelley, Tri-Valley CAREs (510)443-7148
Barbara Finamore, Natural Resources Defense Council (202)289-2371

U.S. ENERGY DEPT. CHARGED WITH CONTEMPT FOR FAILURE TO COMPLETE
MAJOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS ENVIRONMENTAL STUDY; PLAINTIFFS ASK
FEDERAL COURT TO IMPRISON SEC. PENA AND TOP AIDES, ASSESS
MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR FINES AND CANCEL ILLEGAL DECISIONS

A coalition of nearly forty environmental and peace groups
including the Oakland-based Western States Legal Foundation and
Livermore's Tri-Valley CAREs today asked a federal judge to find
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Federico Pena and
other senior agency officials in contempt for DOE's ongoing
failure to honor a court order to complete a thorough analysis
of the U.S. nuclear weapons clean-up program.

The contempt motion filed with District Judge Stanley Sporkin
seeks imprisonment of Pena and two top deputies until DOE
produces a binding schedule for preparing and issuing a
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) on the
agency's Environmental Restoration and Waste Management program.
DOE had agreed to complete the PEIS in a stipulation signed by
Judge Sporkin in October, 1990, to settle a lawsuit brought by
many of the same groups.

Plaintiffs are also asking the federal court to order DOE to
withdraw its recent decisions concerning the Waste Isolation
Pilot Plant and policies for treating and storing transuranic
wastes because they are not based on a complete analysis of
environmental impacts and alternatives.

For DOE's "neglect, failure, and willful refusal to comply with
and obey the stipulation," plaintiffs are seeking more than $5
million dollars in punitive fines and a penalty of $5,000 per
day if the PEIS is not completed within one year, as well as
compensatory damages to cover their costs and attorneys fees for
bringing the contempt action. The fines and penalties would fund
public monitoring of DOE environmental programs. At a court
session last October 27, Judge Sporkin invited plaintiffs to
file a motion seeking to hold DOE in contempt for its failure to
honor its commitment to complete a PEIS. Judge Sporkin
encouraged the naming of a specific DOE official who would be
subject to imprisonment. Simultaneously, Judge Sporkin urged the
parties to seek a negotiated settlement. For the past three
months, plaintiffs say they have attempted to get senior DOE
officials to agree to fulfill their legal obligations. But,
according to Barbara Finamore, a lawyer at the Natural Resources
Defense Council who represents the groups, " The agency slammed
the door on further discussions."

"The plaintiffs spent months discussing a settlement with DOE
representatives," charged Jackie Cabasso, Executive Director of
Western States Legal Foundation, a plaintiff in the suit. "Then,
they just pulled the rug out from under us. It's clear they were
not negotiating in good faith. We had no choice but to go
forward with this extreme action."

"Defendants had knowledge of a clear and unambiguous court
order, one which they agreed to in writing," Ms. Finamore
continued. "Yet, they willfully failed to comply, a position DOE
leaders maintain to this day. The contempt motion is designed to
force DOE to obey the court's order to analyze the impacts of
and alternatives to the nation's most expensive clean-up
program."

"The DOE has reneged on a fundamental legal commitment to look
at various cleanup options. So, how can we, who live in the
communities surrounding these facilities, trust the Department
to make good on its obligation to actually clean up the toxic
and radioactive pollution at its sites?" asked Marylia Kelley,
executive director of Tri-Valley Citizens Against a Radioactive
Environment, and a close neighbor of the DOE's Livermore Lab.
"The Lab's budget for cleaning up its mess -- including the
contaminated groundwater plume beneath my house-- is steadily
decreasing. We are becoming alarmed by the possibility DOE will
walk away from the task leaving us and our children at risk."

Without approval of the court or plaintiffs, DOE decided only to
pursue an evaluation of its waste management activities. No
review of the agency's plans to clean up the legacy of nuclear
weapons production, likely to be one of the largest
environmental projects in U.S. history with an estimated total
cost of more than $250 billion, was ever conducted.

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