David Munro of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) announced at the West Valley Demonstration Project Citizen Task Force meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 28 that the media has wrongly portrayed the settlement of litigation between New York state and the federal government.

Munro broke down the reasons for the original lawsuit and presented the terms of the settlement to the Citizen Task Force (CTF). Before going into the details, Munro clarified that the settlement only related to the breakdown of financial responsibilities and not to the cleanup alternatives or storage options.

Munro stated that there have been long-standing disputes between New York state and the federal government regarding the distribution of financial responsibilities and the scope of the West Valley Demonstration Project Act, or WVDPA. According to the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, this act is Congress’s directive to the U.S. Department of Energy to “take the lead role in solidifying the liquid high-level waste and decontaminating and decommissioning the facilities at West Valley.”

New York state filed suit in December 2006. The legal claims presented by the state in that lawsuit are as follows:

• The extent of the Department of Energy’s duties under the WVDPA.

• The Federal Superfund Law - recovery of costs incurred in responding to releases of hazardous substances.

• The Federal Superfund Law - claimed damages to the State’s natural resources.

• Nuclear Waste Policy Act - who pays for off-site disposal of the high level radioactive waste?

Munro said that the terms of settlement presented allocations for each facility and area including whether or to what extent that facility was covered by the WVDPA, the source of wastes, the ownership of that site, which government operated the facility and when, each government’s involvement in contamination of the facility and other various factors.

Several medium including a major area newspaper, several television stations and Web sites had previously reported that the federal government would shoulder 90 percent of the West Valley site cleanup costs and the state would pay the remaining 10 percent. Munro stated that this is not necessarily the case.

He said, “We looked at the major facilities and said, ‘Who is responsible for what percent regarding the cleanup?’ ” The financial breakdown of the various sites are as follows:

• State-licensed disposal area: Federal government responsible for 30 percent, New York state responsible for 70 percent.

• Nuclear Regulatory Commission-licensed disposal area: Federal government 50 percent, New York state 50 percent.

• Main process plant: Federal government 90 percent, New York state 10 percent.

• North Plateau groundwater plume: Federal government 50 percent, New York State 50 percent.

• Lagoons: Federal government 90 percent, New York state 10 percent.

• Waste tank farm: Federal government 90 percent, New York state 10 percent.

Munro stressed, “If we manage the site in place forever as it is, those allocations stay. If we dig it up, the allocations stay. Both parties agreed this was a fair allocation of settlement.”

This consent decree was filed on Tuesday, Oct. 27 but the court will not take any action now. The New York State Attorney General’s office will be accepting public comments on the decree for a period of 30 days.

Fore more information contact Munro at NYSERDA at 518-862-1090 ext. 3361; to comment on the decree call the New York State Attorney General’s office at 1-800-771-7755.

The next regular meeting of the Citizen Task Force is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. at the Ashford Office Complex in Ashford Hollow.