The Environmental Protection Agency has until Oct. 15 to take action on a Richland, Wash., man’s petition requesting it object to the Clean Air Act operating permit issued in June 2016 by the Washington state Department of Ecology for the Hanford Site. Judge Salvador Mendoza Jr., of U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington, set the deadline in an Aug. 10 ruling.
Bill Green filed a civil lawsuit against the agency in March 2017, demanding the EPA administrator take action on a petition he had filed asking the EPA to object to permit revisions.
Green said in court documents his health has been harmed by the release of radionuclide pollutants from the Hanford Site, less than 5 miles from his home. He said he is unable to conduct his daily life free from concerns of exposure.
The EPA had a 45-day period in summer 2016 to object to the operating permit proposed by the Department of Ecology. When it chose not to object, Green exercised his legal right to petition the agency to file an objection. He said in court documents the EPA was required to grant or deny his petition by Nov. 1, 2016, but has yet to take action.
Both the EPA and Green agreed that the lawsuit could be resolved with the setting of the Oct. 15 deadline, according to the judge. The case is now closed.
