Statement of
Kentucky Governor Paul Patton before the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on
Energy and Water
Mr. Chairman,
subcommittee members, I appreciate the opportunity to discuss with you the environmental
problem at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant and to ask that this subcommittee work with
the Commonwealth of Kentucky to ensure that the federal government honors its moral
obligation and contractual commitment to cleanup the contamination in that area by the
year 2010.
I’ve
submitted more detailed remarks for the record, but I’ll summarize those for the
subcommittee now.
Mr. Chairman,
subcommittee members, it’s time for the federal government to do right by Paducah, a
city that’s been loyal to this plant for over 47 years.
When the
allegations contained in the federal whistleblower lawsuits first began to draw national
attention in August, I asked my staff and cabinets to report to me whether we were
currently doing all we could to protect the workers at the plant and the health of the
general public, and the environment in the area.
Like Senators
McConnell and Bunning, and Congressman Whitfield, I personally toured the site in August
and spent time with some of the workers to see if they felt comfortable with the safety
procedures that are in place at the plant.
At that time,
these workers told me they felt safe but were concerned about what may have happened in
the past.
I’ve also
concluded that at the present time, the state is doing all it can do to contain threats to
the general public’s health and safety, and all we can to monitor compliance with
accepted environmental practices. But the problem gets worse every day it’s not
addressed.
Despite the fact
that I’ve found no current damage to public health in the region, my administration’s
efforts have led me to one obvious and inescapable conclusion.
This
site is one of the most environmentally contaminated in the South, and the federal
government is not devoting the necessary funds to meet its obligation to clean it up.
In 1994, this site
was placed on the National Priorities List. After
that designation, our Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet entered into
an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (USEPA), whereby the DOE agreed to fund and complete the cleanup of the
site by the year 2010.
We wanted, and
felt it would be reasonable to have this work done by 2007, but in an effort to be
cooperative, we accepted the later date.
But we now
discover that, based on the current rate of progress, it won’t be cleaned up in our
lifetime.
I’ll leave
the details of contamination at the site to the later panels of regulators. But I can assure you that we have now determined
that the situation is more serious than we first thought.
This committee
needs to know that this is a site with: acres of radioactively contaminated waste
materials and scrap metal in piles; open ditches contaminated with elements like
plutonium; radioactive groundwater plumes moving toward the Ohio River at an alarming
rate; and 37,000 cylinders of depleted uranium stored outdoors, exposed to the elements
and inadequately protected from deterioration.
As I’ve
learned more about the environmental hazards at the site, I’ve become most alarmed not
by the extent of the contamination (although it is alarming) – but by the fact that
the DOE does not currently have, nor does it plan to request in the near future,
sufficient funds to address these serious environmental dangers.
Mr. Chairman,
the people of Paducah and the lower Mississippi Valley deserve better than that.
Our best estimate
is that it will require at least $200 million a year for the next 10 years totaling $2
billion to address this issue.
DOE has planned
budget requests totaling only $630 million through fiscal year 2010.
Even more
disturbing, these inadequate projected requests anticipate huge funding increases
beginning in 2007. Their projections for the
next 7 years average less than $50 million per year. Environmental management funding at
Paducah has been about $38 million per year over the last several years.
And of this $38
million, only about $11 million per year has been going to actual environmental
remediation at the site.
Lacking detailed
facts, our estimates average just that, but don’t take our word for it. In the Paducah Phase I report released by DOE last
week, their own investigative team admitted that: 1)
the current cleanup schedule is totally
unrealistic based on current funding levels, and 2)
the estimated cleanup costs are based on faulty assumptions such as unproven technologies
and leaving hazardous materials on site.
It’s time for
the Department of Energy to reassess the cost of this cleanup and to be forthcoming about
the true projected costs.
Mr. Chairman, the
Congress has already made provisions to fund this cleanup.
The DOE environmental management activities at the site are funded from the Uranium
Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund (D&D Fund).
The total
appropriations from this fund for fiscal year 1999 was about $220 million – of which
Paducah received about $36 million. We
believe this is not a rational division of the $220 million. And it disturbs me that the responsible officials
believed that Oak Ridge should get over 60% of this money and Paducah less than 20%.
But even more
disturbing is the fact that the D&D fund takes in almost $610 million per year and
only $220 million is appropriated for its intended use.
The D&D fund
has a positive balance of over $1.5 billion.
Mr. Chairman, it’s
time for the Federal Government to accept responsibility for this problem and begin to
eliminate it. As I’ve discussed with you
previously, I’m asking the U.S. Congress, the DOE, OMB and the White House to
immediately appropriate an additional $100 million per year to the cleanup at Paducah so
we can adequately document the problem and begin the cleanup in a serious way.
Only a figure of
this magnitude can get us moving toward completing the cleanup by 2010.
I’ve already
informed the administration that if they are going to be an environmental administration
in a regulatory fashion, passing the cost along to the customers of private companies,
then they must also be an environmental administration in a matter of federal financial
responsibility.
I have, in the
strongest terms, urged the administration to ask for enough funds to do this job. If they do, I ask the Congress to approve it. If they don’t, I ask the Congress to insure
that our government keeps its commitments to the people of the region affected by this
problem.
I call upon the
Congress to find a way to work with the DOE to fully fund the D&D program for its
intended purposes and to make certain that funds are available to complete the cleanup at
Paducah by 2010.
I stand ready to
work with, The White House, our congressional delegation, and the political leadership of
both parties in this effort. But I’m
determined to get the process accelerated and see to it that the agreement reached last
year is implemented.
As a result of the signing of the Federal Facilities Agreement, the Commonwealth now has several legal means at its disposal to insure that the cleanup proceeds in a timely manner.
If current funding levels are maintained, the Commonwealth believes that DOE will be in default of their agreement as early as fiscal year 2001.
Let me assure you and the people of Paducah and Kentucky that I will continue my efforts on this issue and that our administration will use every political or legal means at our disposal to make certain these obligations of the federal government are met. We can in good conscience do less.
Thank you Mr.
Chairman and members of the subcommittee for your time and I’d be happy to entertain
any questions.