Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) has joined the Department of Energy’s motion requesting dismissal of Washington state’s lawsuit seeking better chemical vapor protection for workers at the Hanford Site. DOE and its tank farm contractor both argue the state has no legal standing to file the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington, but do not challenge the right of watchdog group Hanford Challenge or union Local 598 to bring their lawsuit.
WRPS is joining DOE on two of the agency’s legal arguments. It agrees with DOE that the state cannot show it has been directly harmed by chemical vapors, such as environmental harm to its land or water. It also agrees that the state does not have legal standing to bring a lawsuit on behalf of a small subset of its citizens, in this case Hanford workers. Hanford employees could instead file a lawsuit, as Local 598 has done, DOE argued in its motion. WRPS has not joined the DOE argument that the state cannot assert a generalized claim to represent its citizens against the federal government because the United States has a superior claim to represent the welfare of those citizens.
After DOE filed its motion on Aug. 23 requesting the state claims be dismissed, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said the state would strenuously oppose the motion and expected to prevail. “I suggest the federal government focus on protecting workers rather than continuing to evade accountability,” he said in a statement.