Hanford waste to be shipped through Spokane next year
Despite opposition from Mayor Lisa Brown and the city council, the Washington Department of Ecology says about 2,000 gallons of liquid nuclear waste will be shipped through Spokane in 2025.
The waste will be transported from the Hanford site in central Washington to disposal locations in Utah and Texas. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the liquid, collected from former nuclear waste storage tanks, is bring removed to protect the Columbia River.
The liquid has been treated and 98 percent of its radioactivity removed via filters, according to federal and state environmental agencies. A fact sheet from the Hanford site says the material will be shipped in containers certified by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The same sheet estimated the chance of a severe accident during transport as less than one in a million.
Last month, Brown and members of the city council opposed bringing the waste through Spokane, concerned in part that it would be but the first salvo of other hazardous waste shipments. But in a letter to Brown, the state ecology department said the 2025 shipment is the only one of its kind currently on the books. A longer-term Hanford cleanup project won’t begin until 2028, and its final routes have not been selected.
Dept. of Natural Resources offers firefighting training to Indigenous communities
In recent years, major wildfires have raged on Native American reservations in Washington, notably on the Colville on the east side and the Quinault on the west. While some tribes have a number of trained firefighters, many others need that kind of expertise.
A new initiative will use $800,000 in state money to offer training at various levels of firefighting experience, from basic levels to that of a fire boss.
Angie Lane, of DNR's wildland fire management division, said the funding will help pay for more than the courses themselves.
“Having a scholarship that pays their way – like their travel, their time away from home, tuition, whatever else might be involved – that's wrapped up in that scholarship,” Lane told SPR News.
DNR is also partnering with WSU Extension Service to introduce tribal members to fire suppression and prescribed fires as fire management techniques.
In-person courses will begin in the spring, but online courses will be offered this fall. Interested people can contact the Washington Department of Natural Resources.
WA campaign finance group delays decision on initiative complaint
Washington’s Public Disclosure Commission heard testimony Thursday from witnesses in a complaint again the conservative group Let’s Go Washington, but the nearly four-hour hearing ended without a ruling.
A complaint filed last year alleged Let’s Go Washington failed to follow state campaign finance reporting laws during its push to gather signatures for a raft of ballot initiatives. Three of those initiatives will appear before Washington voters in November. Chad Standifer, a member of the attorney general’s office representing the PDC, asked that fines be imposed for each alleged violation.
Let’s Go Washington, largely bankrolled by conservative hedge fund manager Brian Heywood, said it followed campaign finance rules and cooperated with PDC’s year-long investigation. Its attorney, Callie Castillo, asked that the charges be dismissed.
PDC Chair Allen Hayward said the panel would issue a written decision in less than a week.
Revolutionary War exhibit comes to Spokane Valley museum
Beginning Saturday, the Spokane Valley Heritage Museum will host a three-week stop for a traveling exhibition about the American Revolution.
Museum director Jayne Singleton acknowledges the war took place on the other side of the continent from Washington, where European traders and colonists wouldn’t arrive for about 40 more years.
Still, she said the exhibit will offer important information for Inland Northwest residents.
“We are part of the country. We wouldn't be here if the Revolutionary War hadn't taken place,” Singleton told SPR News. “If the Minutemen and the early colonists would not have won, we might be all drinking British tea at four o'clock every afternoon.”
The pop-up exhibit features interactive elements and display panels, including information about the people who risked their lives to fight for American independence.
Visitors to the museum can explore the exhibit through October 27.
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Reporting was contributed by Brandon Hollingsworth, Steve Jackson and Owen Henderson.