Press Release:
WASHINGTON – Today, Tom Reed (NY-23) highlighted his efforts to clean up our nuclear sites and protect our environment.
“We care about the complete and total cleanup of our nuclear sites – including West Valley,” said Reed. “We continue to advocate for fair and reasonable environmental health and safety policies for our neighbors in Western New York, the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes.”
Tom recently announced that his bill to authorize $75 million per year through 2026 to continue the cleanup at the West Valley Demonstration Project and provide a disposal path for all waste on the site is now eligible to go to the House floor for a vote.
Tom is a vocal opponent of the Romulus incinerator project and an advocate for clean energy and the Great Lakes Restoration Project.
“For the Town of Ashford Tom’s bill is a great step forward in getting the site cleaned up for our future,” Ashford Town Supervisor Charlie Davis said. “Phase I is currently 4 to 6 years behind being completed because we have never hit the required $75 million need to complete the work until this past year.”
“The Seneca people and our neighbors in many surrounding communities near the Cattaraugus Territory have been dealing with the environmental impacts of the West Valley Demonstration project for decades,” President of the Seneca Nation, Todd Gates said. “There are still radioactive hot spots in Cattaraugus Creek today, decades after the West Valley project ceased operations.
“The environmental damage, and the environmental, natural and human risks associated with it, cannot be undone. The Department of Energy has held a series of scoping meetings earlier this year – including a meeting that we hosted on the Cattaraugus Territory. In our mind, there is only one option, and that is a full clean-up. We believe that anything else is simply unacceptable,” concluded Gates.
“We are fully supportive of the $75 million annual allocation,” West Valley Deputy General Manager Scott Anderson said. “That will be extremely helpful in maintaining the cleanup momentum we have established at West Valley.”
“As cleanup of the West Valley site continues, it's important to have funding authorization in place,” said Dr. Raymond Vaughn, a founding member of the West Valley Citizen Taskforce. “The bill would provide authorization at a level that's commensurate with the funding that DOE had assumed necessary because prior funding authorized in the West Valley Demonstration Project Act of 1980 is outdated.
“Tom’s bill provides a realistic funding level,” concluded Vaughn.
