Mere Cuts Aren’t Answer At Hanford

If the federal government is squandering billions of our money - and it is - the first thing it ought to do is spend less. The second and more important thing for it to do is spend more wisely. After all, the government’s goals have merit.

Consider, for example, the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

So extreme is the mismanagement there that some influential members of Congress feel tempted to throw up their hands, slash and cap Hanford’s budget and walk away. Over the short term, cuts do make sense. Over the long term, mere cuts would be a recipe for nuclear disasters, particularly without major changes in the way Hanford spends its federal money.

Potentially explosive soups of chemicals and highly radioactive nuclear wastes simmer underground in steel tanks that leak and were not designed for permanent storage. Spent nuclear fuel corrodes in leaky basins of water; the leaks could send plumes of contamination to the Columbia River.

The nation created these hazards, and it has an obligation to remove them.

It does not, however, have any obligation to pay legions of lawyers, bureaucrats, scientists and public relations personnel to produce nothing but litigation, reports and propaganda while the cleanup remains unperformed.

Last year, The Spokesman-Review explained how at least $1 out of every $3 the government spends at Hanford is wasted. With $2 billion a year being spent at the reservation, the amount wasted could run the entire Idaho state government for six months. A new report by the Senate confirms the problem, but solutions remain to be found.

The great challenge is to create a new management and regulatory apparatus that will put cleanup dollars to work on actual cleanup activities - beginning with the most dangerous environmental hazards.

What federal agency should be in charge? The U.S. Energy Department has performed so poorly, Congress should look seriously for another agency to take on the job.

What company should the feds hire to perform the work? The current contractor has performed as poorly as the agency that oversees it. The contract itself needs reform to assure performance at the agreed-upon price.

Regulations, litigation and politics add to the reservation’s headaches. Engineers feel their hands are tied by red tape, fear of lawsuits and the standoff between Hanford’s boosters and its critics.

The seriousness of Hanford’s environmental mess requires that Congress seek out the best managerial expertise it can find so the waste ends and the cleanup can begin.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Webster/For the editorial board