The Newspaper of the San Francisco Bay Chapter
November - December 2007
TABLE OF CONTENTS
| CONSERVATION NEWS |
 |
|
|
Future of Site 300 is in our hands
Community members have an opportunity to help shape the future of Livermore Lab's Site 300, the Department of Energy's (DOE) high-explosive testing range and Superfund site in the Tracy Hills, 50 miles from San Francisco.
Not only can we stop the Department of Energy's efforts to obtain permits to dramatically increase open-air bomb blasts, but we will soon have an opportunity to demand an end to all high-explosive testing at Site 300, clean-up of contamination from past testing, and assurance that no further toxic and hazardous activities would be allowed at the site.
This opportunity is part of a larger DOE plan known as Complex Transformation (formerly Complex 2030). This "transformation" is a plan to replace all of the current weapons in the U.S. nuclear stockpile and reconfigure the U.S. nuclear-weapons complex. Included are proposals to build a new nuclear-weapon plutonium-bomb-core factory, move forward with the manufacturing plans for a new nuclear weapon, the "Reliable Replacement Warhead-1", which Livermore Lab is designing, and consolidate high-explosives testing at fewer sites. The fate of the thousand pounds of plutonium now at Livermore Lab could also be decided.
The DOE is expected to release a draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement on the plan this November. It will then hold public hearings across the country, including two in Livermore and Tracy, and take written comments, as mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires agencies to take a hard look at potential environmental impacts of federal actions.
The DOE has publicly stated that open-air large-scale high-explosive testing is not appropriate for Site 300, due to the increased residential populations in the area. We must remind the department of this statement. As we continue to call upon the San Joaquin County Air District to deny Livermore Lab permits to increase the testing, we must also demand an end to all open-air high-explosive testing at Site 300.
WhatYouCanDo
Go to the Department of Energy website to receive notification about upcoming hearings on Complex Transformation
To urge an end to open-air tests at Site 300, go to www.trivalleycares.org and sign the postcards to Stop the Bombplex (2030 Complex Transformation). This web site will post updates when hearing dates and times become available, and you can sign up there for a monthly newsletter. You can also reach Tri-Valley CAREs at (925) 443-7148.
To stop the expansion of the existing tests, contact the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District at:
4800 Enterprise Way
Modesto, CA 95365-8718
(209)557-6400
fax: (209)557-6475.
Ask the district to deny Livermore National Lab's application for a permit for increased open-air testing at Site 300.
Volunteers are needed, throughout the Bay Area, to host house parties, circulate sign-on letters, and write letters to the editor. To work with the Sierra Club Tri-Valley Group to stop this permit, contact conservation manager or call (510) 848-0800, ext. 307
© 2007 San Francisco Sierra Club Yodeler