Portland, OR Calling on President Bush to End Radioactive Waste Shipments Through Portland
Type: Resolution
Status: Adopted on 7/29/04
Source File: http://www.portlandonline.com/sten/index.cfm?c=26449&a=52311
Text:
RESOLUTION No. 36238
Urges President Bush to order the United States Department of Energy to immediately reconsider its decision to ship additional radioactive waste to Hanford through cities such as Portland and to defer any additional radioactive shipments to Hanford until such time as the existing contamination at Hanford is cleaned up.
WHEREAS, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) under the Bush Administration is planning the shipment of up to 70,000 truckloads of radioactive waste to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation;
WHEREAS, 1,000 truckloads or more of this waste would be shipped through the City of Portland without any police or military escort or other security protection and could expose residents to dangerous levels of radioactivity;
WHEREAS, DOE itself acknowledges that even if no accidents were to occur these radioactive shipments would cause at least 10 cancer deaths in motorists traveling near these radioactive shipments;
WHEREAS, DOE plans to store this radioactive waste at Hanford which is located on the banks of the Columbia River and already constitutes the most severely contaminated site in North America;
WHEREAS, the proposed shipments could detract from efforts to cleanup multiple sources of radioactive contamination that DOE admits is currently leaching into the Columbia River and has contaminated over 180 square miles of groundwater;
NOW, THEREFORE IT RESOLVED that the City of Portland hereby requests that President Bush order DOE to immediately reconsider its decision to ship additional radioactive waste to Hanford through cities such as Portland and to defer any additional radioactive shipments to Hanford until such time as the existing contamination at Hanford is cleaned up and water quality in the Columbia River is protected.
