GEORGE MILLER, CALIFORNIA, CHAIRMAN PHILIP R SHARP, INDIANA EDWARD J MARKEY MASSACHUSETTS AUSTIN J MURPHY PENNSYLVANIA NICK JOE RAHALL II. WEST VIRGINIA BRUCE F VENTO, MINNESOTA PAT WILLIAMS, MONTANA BEVERLY B BYRON MARYLAND RON DE LUGO. VIRGIN ISLANDS SAM GEJDENSON, CONNECTICUT PETER H. KOSTMAYER, PENNSYLVANIA RICHARD H. LEHMAN, CALIFORNIA BILL RICHARDSON, NEW MEXICO GEORGE (BUDDY) DARDEN, GEORGIA MEL LEVINE, CALIFORNIA WAYNE OWENS UTAH JOHN LEWIS, GEORGIA BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, COLORADO PETER A DEFAZIO OREGON ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, AMERICAN SAMOA TIM JOHNSON SOUTH DAKOTA CHARLES E. SCHUMER NEW YORK JIM JONTZ INDIANA PETER HOAGLAND, NEBRASKA HARRY JOHNSTON, FLORIDA LARRY LAROCCO, IDAHO NEIL ABERCROMBIE, HAWAII CALVIN M DOOLEY, CALIFORNIA ANTONIO J COLORADO, PUERTO RICO U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs MEMORANDUM OF TRANSMITTAL THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY'S FAILURE TO POLICE I am transmitting Committee Print No. 10 issued by the Committee on Interior (III) CONTENTS C. The Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities. 1. Rollins Environmental Services.... 3. Environmental Systems Company (ENSCO). Page (V) I. INTRODUCTION The Department of Energy (DOE) is entrusted with regulating private companies that perform research and development for DOE programs under government contract at several sites nationwide. DOE contractors have received billions of taxpayers dollars to develop and manufacture nuclear weapons, and to perform other military and civilian research. Following years of work with dangerous radioactive materials, the 361 DOE complexes now rank among the most polluted and hazardous places in the U.S. A 1991 Office of Technology Assessment report summarized the damage: Forty-five years of nuclear weapons production have resulted in the release of vast quantities of hazardous chemicals and radionuclides to the environment. Evidence exists that air, groundwater, surface water, sediments, and soil, as well as vegetation and wildlife, have been contaminated at most, if not all, nuclear weapons sites. U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Complex Cleanup: The Environmental Legacy of Nuclear Weapons Production, OTA-O484 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, February 1991). During the 1980s, these sites generated thousands of tons of hazardous waste2 that was routinely shipped off-site3 for disposal by civilian treatment, storage and disposal sites (TSDs). TSDs include incinerators, landfills, recycling and recovery facilities, as well as cement kilns and waste brokers. DOE estimates that 150 TSDs in 35 states received some 8,000 tons of waste. According to a Louisiana State University (LSU) study of shipments from the Savannah River, Georgia and Oak Ridge, 1 This denotes the number of programs administered individually by DOE that routinely generate radioactive and mixed waste. Some of the programs occupy multiple sites. A full list of the programs appears in the appendix. 2 The term "hazardous waste" has the meaning given in 42 U.S.C. § 6903. 3 The term "off-site" means disposal or treatment of waste anywhere other than a facility or site owned by the Department of Energy or the Department of Defense (DOD). However, none of the material discussed in this report was disposed of by DOD. 4 Testimony of Assistant Secretary Duffy, Release of Radioactively Contaminated Waste from Department of Energy Complexes to Civilian Incinerators, Oversight Hearing before the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, Serial Record No. 102-35, February 20, 1992, (hereafter referred to as "Record") at page 242. 5 The independent Louisiana State University (LSU) Report was commissioned by DOE and released April 1992. |