A new trial date has been set in a federal lawsuit over worker protection from chemical vapors at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state.
After the plaintiffs requested a five-month delay, plaintiffs and defendants agreed to postpone the trial by about six weeks, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington. Judge Thomas Rice accepted the proposal and has reset the bench trial from Sept. 18, 2017, to Oct. 30, 2017.
The case pits Washington state, community organization Hanford Challenge, and Plumbers and Steamfitters Local Union 598 against the Department of Energy and its Hanford waste tank farm contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions. The plaintiffs are demanding that the defendants institute increased measures to safeguard workers against vapors from tanks that hold 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste.
Other deadlines in the case, including for submission of witness lists, also have been extended by about six weeks, court documents state. Extending most of the case’s deadlines gives the plaintiffs some additional time for steps such as preparing expert reports without unduly delaying proceedings, said the joint motion from plaintiffs and defendants. The plaintiffs had asked for more time due to the large volume of documents, which they were receiving as late as November, and to consider Rice’s denial of a preliminary injunction that would have mandated enhanced worker protections while the case was being resolved.
