Grandfathered Status
Posted by Joan Seeman on May 16, 1999 at 21:23:40:In Reply to: Hazardous Waste Amendments to RCRA posted by Tim Wheeler on May 13, 1999 at 09:45:15:
The Grandfathered Status at WIPP is a very important issue.
In fact, the State Of New Mexico should review the problems associated with this classification.
If WIPP would have to comply with the RCRA hazardous
waste regulations, THEY COULDN'T! THAT IS THE REASON FOR THE GRANDFATHERED
STATUS. The Rocky Flats plant had a Part A permit.............and never could comply with
meeting the Part B hazardous waste regulations. DOE created a contaminated nightmare
at the Rocky Flats plant. They contaminated two lakes used as major drinking water sources,
contaminated the air, water and soil with plutonium, americium, uranium, etc. There is a very
small buffer zone between major cities........a tragedy to say the least.WIPP currently has an exemption from having to comply with the mixed waste land ban!!
Also, the DOE wants to utilize one of the last hazardous waste landfills permited
in the country in Last Chance Colorado to send low level mixed waste above 100 nanocuries
of alph emitters!!!The DOE waste issue is the most interesting of all.
The DOE experimented with a Fluidized Bed Incinerator in Colorado........and the public did
their homework and proved how dangerous this process was....and due to the public opposition
pulled this technology! I noted that the DOE claims that the WIPP facility is a cost effective
approach to transuranic waste disposal..If this is a cost effective approach, what were the
alternatives???????????? Every waste project I have
reviewed that involved rad waste disposal has been a failure in this country. How about the
DOE sites in New Mexico? Have they currently got an approved Part B permits?
I'd certainly like to see it. I'll bet there contaminated..............just review the EIS's for the site.
What mistakes did they make? Or were they just cost effective approaches to waste
management?Oh yes,
DOE/NRC want to turn Low Level Waste Management over to the Commercial Industry,
.......right.......like BFI or Waste Management .......great track recordsName one project that the DOE completed that involved waste that has been
successfully managed. Every site they have been involved with is currently a Superfund Site!
The New Mexico citizens ought to look at the Waste Management track record of the DOE........
failure after failure.......Why is the DOE so sure about WIPP? Weren't they sure about every
other site they contaminated? Did the State of New Mexico review the DOE track record? NOT
ONE GEOLOGIC SITE IS STABLE!!!!THIS out of site disposal experiment called WIPP is the most shocking of all.
Currently Denver Colorado has a football field size - 15 foot monolith of rad waste where the
EPA used STATE OF THE ART TECHNOLOGY! They used 70% soil, 20% cement,
and 10 flysh and left it in the METRO area close to residential homes. They claim that this
is a cost effective approach and will be stable for over 1000 years.....Do you believe them?
Denver doesn't, and is suing the EPA!! Does the publicin Denver trust the EPA scientists,
DOE scientists etc.?? NO.I am shocked that the State of New Mexico is going along with this experiment.
Remember.........every site in the country where waste has been generated by the
DOE has been contaminated.....Please prove me wrong.