Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
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The Ward Valley Coalition and Colorado River Indian Tribes were out in force Wednesday, November 17,199 at University of California, Los Angelas (UCLA) at the first meeting of Gov. Davis' advisory committee on radioactive waste options. We relentlessly attacked the chair of the committee, University of California President, Richard Atkinson for his conflict of interest in having received nearly half a million for sitting on the board until 1998 of San Diego Gas and Electric, one of two owners of San Onofre nuclear power plant. Other committee members masquerading as "neutral" academics or members of public interest groups were also revealed as proponents of the dump at Ward Valley. News coverage, following this report, focused on the conflicts as well.

It was also revealed that the science panelists were chosen in error. The chairman of the science panel, William Kastenberg, who heads the nuclear engineering department at University California Berkeley, mistakenly thought he was putting together a group of scientists from the University of California to review radioactive waste management issues at the university. Mistaken assumptions are not an acceptable rationale for choosing scientists for the panel.

Only when truly independent scientists from public interest groups are added will the process be acceptable to the public. Now we have to continue pressuring Governor Davis so that the committee and the science panel will be overhauled to begin to reflect the public interest more fairly.

BAN Waste will be sending out an action alert early next week, and please keep up the great pressure! Together we can make sure that Ward Valley will be removed from consideration, that another minority community is not targeted for a new proposal for shallow land dumping of long-lived waste, and that the committee is forced to recommend more responsible methods of waste oversight, including monitored storage with generators responsible for all costs and keeping liability for their waste. Thanks to everyone coming to UCLA and all those who stayed home and made the trip possible for those of us who went. Together we can do great things!!

The Davis administration is in duplication disarray regarding Ward Valley, its Atkinson advisory panel is reopening consideration of the nuclear dump at Ward Valley while the governor's spokesman claims the panel's charge is not to look at Ward Valley but at alternatives to Ward Valley!