Court Rejects Hearing on Nuclear Dump

The California Supreme Court has let stand a lower court ruling that says the Wilson Administration is not required to hold a special hearing on the safety of a proposed low-level nuclear waste dump in the Mojave Desert.

In 1992, the Wilson Administration had promised environmental opponents of the dump to hold an adjudicatory hearing in which witnesses would have to testify about the dump under oath. An administrative law judge would have recommended whether the state should license the facility.

But backers of the Ward Valley depository went to court to block the hearing, arguing that it was not required by law and would be unnecessary in any case. They said the Legislature coerced the Wilson Administration into promising the hearing by threatening not to confirm a key Wilson appointee.

The Court of Appeal in Sacramento agreed with the dump proponents that the state was not compelled to hold the forum. Justices Stanley Mosk and Joyce Kennard, voting in the minority, wanted to review the appellate court’s decision.

Since the appellate ruling, however, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has said he will turn over federal land needed for the dump only if a formal hearing is held.

Daniel Hirsch, president of the Committee to Bridge the Gap, a group opposed to the dump, said the court’s decision is disappointing but added that the dispute may be moot because of Babbitt’s intervention.

He said Babbitt’s request was “in large part what we wanted” but he fears that the Wilson Administration may try to restrict the contents and scope of the hearing too narrowly.

“If the advocates of Ward Valley had not gone to court to block the hearing, claiming it would delay matters, the hearing would have been twice over by now,” Hirsch said. “Clearly what they are frightened of is not delay but that this proposed dump can not withstand scrutiny.”

The Wilson Administration has not yet responded to Babbitt’s request, but a spokeswoman said he was heartened by the Interior secretary’s proposal.

Steve Romano, vice president of U.S. Ecology, the company that would operate the dump, called the court’s order “an appropriate ruling that will allow the project to proceed.”

“This decision clears the way for an expedited proceeding that focuses on science,” Romano said.

The hearing envisioned by Babbitt would take only about a month, according to Romano and a Wilson representative, while the forum the environmentalists wanted would have dragged out 18 months. Kassy Perry, a spokeswoman for Wilson, said Babbitt has indicated the hearing should be limited to determining whether radioactive materials might escape from the site. She said Wilson’s legal advisers want to study the proposal further before formally responding to Babbitt.