Ward Valley and the Federal Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act

In his State of the Union Address delivered on 23 January 1996, President Clinton said, speaking generally, {open_quotes}Passing a law - even the best possible law - is only a first step. The next step is to make it work.{close_quotes} The president is right, of course; faithful execution of any law is the key. Unfortunately, this lesson appears lost on his own administration when it comes to making the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act work. That act is one of the most important environmental laws of the 1980s. It was designed by Congress and the state governors to assure both sufficient disposal capacity for low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) and regional equity in the siting of new disposal facilities. Former Congressman Morris Udall (D-Ariz.), who was chairman of the House Interior Committee and a congressional environmental leader, was author of the act. No state has done more to make the law work than California. No state has made more progress toward developing a new disposal facility for low-level radioactive waste as mandated by the act. But further progress, that is, actual construction and operation of a disposal facility, has been stymied by the federal administration, which has refused to convey federalmore » desert lands to California for use as the site of the proposed disposal facility.« less