The bench trial for the Hanford Site worker vapor protection lawsuit brought by Washington state and other plaintiffs will be postponed until March 5, 2018, Judge Thomas Rice ruled Monday in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington. The plaintiffs and defendants jointly requested the trial be delayed more than four months from Oct. 30, 2017, to allow them to pursue mediation in hopes of resolving the case. The parties began discussing a settlement in early December after the judge agreed to a shorter delay and set the October trial date. The plaintiffs wanted time then to consider Rice’s ruling refusing to increase vapor protections while the case proceeded and because of the high volume of Hanford records they were receiving from defendants.
Seattle-based Hanford Challenge, Plumbers and Steamfitters Local Union 598, and the state filed suit in September 2015 against the Department of Energy and its tank farm contractor at Hanford, Washington River Protection Solutions. The state is asking the court to require all actions needed to end decades of worker exposure to chemical vapors associated with waste held in underground tanks. Actions could include requiring independent oversight, improved controls to keep vapors from entering the environment, better monitoring, and expanded requirements for workers’ use of supplied air respirators. Hanford Challenge and Local 598 also want comprehensive medical monitoring and requirements for the public release of information about vapor exposure incidents.
