The Washington state Department of Ecology and the Energy Department have agreed to mediate their dispute over access to certain records from the Hanford Site.
“The data access case is still pending, but the parties have agreed to try to mediate the dispute,” Ecology spokesman Randy Bradbury said in an Aug. 11 email. The mediation will likely be scheduled early this fall, he added.
In January, the state assessed the DOE Office of Environmental Management a $1 million penalty for denying access to certain records that Ecology inspectors might need to determine if the federal agency is adequately protecting land and water from hazards such as the 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste stored at Hanford.
The state said it is taking action under a provision of the 1989 Tri-Party Agreement that specifies what type of information should be shared. Ecology said DOE has increasingly restricted access to certain records over the years, and past talks with federal managers at Hanford failed to resolve the situation.
The Energy Department says it does share information, but the state is not entitled to 24/7 access to a database that would include some confidential corporate information protected by federal privacy law. In addition, the DOE argues the proposed $1 million penalty does not fit the alleged offense.
The Energy Department appealed the fine to the Washington state Pollution Control Hearings Board. The agency filed a motion to stay the proceedings in March, which was rejected, according to a search on the hearings board’s website. If the two parties don’t mediate the dispute, it could take a significant amount of time to resolve. The primary hearing in the case is not scheduled until July 2021, according to the website.
