Commission Files New Application for Dump Site
The State Lands Commission filed a new application Thursday with the federal Bureau of Land Management to acquire 1,000 acres in the Mojave Desert for a nuclear waste dump.
Controller Gray Davis, chairman of the commission, wants the panel to hold the land until hearings can be held to resolve questions about the safety of storing nuclear waste at the Ward Valley site, 24 miles west of Needles.
Dan Hirsch, an activist who is critical of the proposed dump, said the commission’s action will help ensure that safety issues are resolved before the dump is built. If the commission had not filed a new application, the site would have been transferred directly to the state Department of Health Services, the licensing agency, and the dump might have been opened without adequate review, Hirsch said.
Davis and Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy, two of the land commission’s three members, have reservations about the facility’s safety. To obtain jurisdiction over the land, the commission had to file a new application by Saturday.
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