Babbitt Withholds Land for Nuclear Waste Dump

In an abrupt change of policy on the proposed Ward Valley nuclear waste dump, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt bowed to the concerns of opponents of the dump by declaring Wednesday that he will not transfer federal land for the site until the courts have addressed environmental safety issues.

Babbitt’s decision could postpone final approval of the Ward Valley operation for at least a year, giving the opposition valuable time to refine its arguments and raising the possibility that Gov. Pete Wilson, the dump’s most powerful supporter, could be out of office before the final showdown.

In a letter to Wilson on Wednesday, Babbitt indicated that he was abandoning a course of action he had proposed only three months ago--to hold an administrative hearing of limited scope on the environmental safety issues in time to make a decision on the land transfer by early 1994.

The site in the eastern Mojave Desert is owned by the federal government and the state must acquire it before operations at the dump could begin. Babbitt said he still intends to hold a hearing but only after the courts dispose of two cases charging that the state has not adequately answered environmental questions.

Babbitt’s initial proposal last August for a speedy hearing process angered and baffled environmental and anti-nuclear groups that believed there was a sympathetic Administration in place in Washington for the first time in 12 years.

As lobbying by both sides in the Ward Valley debate intensified, Babbitt was bombarded by criticism that a limited hearing would not address the most vital safety questions--whether leaks of radioactive material from the dump could make their way to the nearby Colorado River and whether U.S. Ecology, the company licensed to run the dump, is a qualified operator.

Meanwhile, Babbitt and Wilson were unable to agree on an individual to preside over the administrative hearing.

By early this week, sources close to Babbitt said he and the governor had reached an impasse in negotiations over the hearing officer. Aides to the secretary said he was working on “a new approach” to the problem.

The biggest challenge, sources said, was for Babbitt to avoid looking like he had reneged on his August proposal to move quickly.

In his letter to Wilson, Babbitt said the situation had changed and it called for a different response. In effect, Babbitt argued that Wilson himself had changed the dynamics by prematurely licensing the Ward Valley dump before the hearing.

“Since my Aug. 11 letter, several events have occurred that directly relate to the overall situation governing the proposed Ward Valley land transfer,” Babbitt wrote.

“Most important,” he told Wilson, “you have issued a license for the construction and operation of the Ward Valley facility and that decision has been challenged in state court. . . . Because the court is now being asked to order a hearing at least as comprehensive as the one described in my August letter, it seems to me the proper course is to await the outcome of the state court litigation, which might shed further light on the issues in dispute. Therefore, I am postponing further action pending final resolution of that litigation.”

Babbitt’s decision, the latest development in a decade-long struggle over the waste disposal site, represents a victory for Sen. Barbara Boxer, who has crusaded against the Ward Valley proposal.

In a flurry of letters to Babbitt this fall, the California Democrat sought to present the most compelling arguments against the project.

“I think the secretary has listened to me,” a jubilant Boxer said Wednesday. “I’m going to have a great Thanksgiving.”

Proponents of the Ward Valley project reacted to Babbitt’s letter with dismay. “Unless we can convince him that this is an erroneous decision, he will have given opponents a blank check,” said Nicki Hobson, director of public affairs for Cal Rad Forum, an association of commercial and scientific users of radioactive materials. “As long as (the opponents) can keep suing and Babbitt says we aren’t going to do anything until the suits are resolved, we aren’t going to get the facility.”

Delaying the dump, the proponents said, could further damage the state’s economy by hurting businesses--particularly in the biomedical and biotechnical fields--that produce radioactive waste.

“If I were a company that produces low-level waste and I saw this letter, I would certainly think about moving to a state that offers access to safe disposal,” said Elisabeth Brandt, chief counsel for the state’s Department of Health Services, the agency heading efforts to establish the Ward Valley dump.

The proponents also said delaying the project could jeopardize the agreement California businesses have to ship radioactive waste to a South Carolina dump.

“Right now, (businesses) can store it on site or ship it to Barnwell, S.C. But at Barnwell they have warned us that, if we don’t make progress on our own site, they can exclude us,” Brandt said.

Wilson was in Asia to promote trade with California when Babbitt’s letter arrived in Sacramento. Aides said they will transmit the letter to the governor and that Wilson will decide what, if any, response to make.

State Health and Welfare Agency spokeswoman Jennifer Nelson said Wilson officials were disappointed by Babbitt’s decision. She said awaiting further court action did not make much legal sense “because the issue that is being litigated has already been resolved. It is not a new issue.”

Nelson was referring to a state appeals court ruling last May that the state did not have to hold a comprehensive hearing before licensing Ward Valley.

But in the lawsuits cited by Babbitt, a different challenge is made. Last month, the city of Needles in one action and the Ft. Mojave Indians, the Southern California Federation of Scientists, Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Committee to Bridge the Gap, a Los Angeles-based environmental group, in a second action, argued that the governor did not address key environmental questions before issuing the license.