HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 08051997 - C47 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS 5
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SUPERVISOR GAYLE B. UILKEMA --4•. Contra
FROM: Costa
July 30, 1997
.,•, �T� County
DATE: c°•ri.......
SUPPORT FOR ASSEMBLY JOINT RESOLUTION (AJR) 21 -LEGISLA LATING
SUBJECT: TO THE TRANSPORTATION OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL RODS THROUGH SAN
FRANCISCO BAY TO THE CONCORD NAVAL WEAPONS STATION
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
RECOMMENDATION:
ADOPT a position in SUPPORT of Assembly Joint Resolution 21 (AJR 21), by
Assemblymembers Migden, Leach & Torlakson, which calls on the President and
Congress to call on the Department of Energy to halt indefinitely the five planned
shipments of spent nuclear fuel rods through the San Francisco Bay to the Concord
Naval Weapons Station and prevent these shipments until specified actions are
taken with regard to notice, safety and environmental impacts, and compensation.
BACKGROUND:
Assemblymembers Migden, Leach and Torlakson have introduced AJR 21 with 50
Assembly co-authors. AJR 21 would call on the President and the Congress to tell
the U.S. Department of Energy to halt the planned shipments of spent nuclear fuel
rods through the San Francisco Bay and Contra Costa County to the Concord Naval
Weapons Station and then to Idaho until several specified actions are taken with
regard to notice, safety and environmental impacts, and compensation. The specific
actions include the following:-
&/ Appropriate public notice has been provided.
✓ Safety and environmental impacts are fully addressed, including how the full
catastrophic impacts of a potential shipment accident would be addressed by
federal, state, and local governments.
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE:
RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMI E
APPROVE OTHER
SIGNATURE(S): GAYLE B. UILKEMA
ACTION OF BOARD ON /august S, 1997 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED X OTHER
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE
X UNANIMOUS(ABSENT II AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN
AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD
ABSENT. ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN.
CC: See Page 2 ATTESTED- Aumst. 5. 1997
PHIL BATCHELOR,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF
SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
M382 (10/88) BY � 'DEPUTY
✓ There is a legally binding agreement that the federal government will fully
compensate local governments, the state, individuals, and businesses that
might be impacted by the shipments, including compensation for any
accidents or security costs associated with the shipments.
Given the positions already taken by this Board of Supervisors on this subject, it
seems only appropriate for the Board to indicate its support for AJR 21 , and that this
support be shared with the President and members of this County's Congressional
and Legislative delegations.
cc: County Administrator
Sheriff-Coroner
Health Services Director
Chief, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District
Community Development Director
County Counsel
Director, Office of Emergency Services
President Bill Clinton
United States Senator Diane Feinstein
United States Senator Barbara Boxer
Congressman George Miller
Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher
Assemblywoman Lynne Leach
Assemblyman Tom Torlakson
Assemblywoman Dion Aroner
Senator Richard Rainey
Senator Barbara Lee
-2-
i
Assembly Joint Resolution No. 21
t
Adopted in AssemblyJuly 21, 1997
Chief Clerk of the Assembly
? Adopted in Senate July 17, 1997
i
i
Secretary of the Senate
This resolution was received by the Secretary of
i
State this day of , 1997,
I, at o'clock M.
Deputy Secretary of State
AJR 21 — 2 —
RESOLUTION
- 2 --
RESOLUTION CHAPTER
Assembly Joint Resolution No. 21—Relative to spent
nuclear fuel.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AJR 21, Migden. Spent nuclear fuel.
r This measure would memorialize the President and
Congress of the United States to call upon the United
States Department of Energy to halt indefinitely the 5
planned shipments of spent nuclear fuel rods through the
San Francisco Bay to the Concord Naval Weapons Station
for land transport to Idaho and would memorialize the
Department of Energy to prevent these shipments until
specified actions are taken with regard to notice, safety
and environmental impacts, and compensation.
WHEREAS, The United States Department of Energy
has planned five shipments of spent nuclear fuel rods
from seven Asian nations through the.San Francisco Bay
j to the Concord Naval Weapons Station over the next 13
! years, with the first shipment scheduled for early 1998;
and
1 WHEREAS, From the Concord Naval Weapons
Station, the spent nuclear fuel rods will be transported by
rail or truck through northern California, including
Sacramento, and through Nevada and Utah before
{ arriving at the United States Department of Energy's
National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory in
Idaho; and
WHEREAS, The proposed rail route from California to i
Idaho will involve the shipments passing through the
Feather River Canyon where trains have derailed 28 y
times in 16 years; and i
WHEREAS, The combined shipments of spent nuclear
fuel rods will involve approximately one-half ton of
uranium and small amounts of plutonium; and
WHEREAS, The planned shipments of spent nuclear
fuel rods will be made by private foreign flag ships; and
i
96
- 3 — AJR 21
WHEREAS, The United States Department of Energy
intends to ship the spent nuclear fuel rods to the Concord
spent Naval Weapons Station in a total of 38 20-ton steel casks
purportedly able to withstand airdrops from 200 feet and
immersion in water depths of 650,.feet; and
WHEREAS, The policy of bringing spent fuel from
foreign countries to the United States was adopted as a
t and part of the Atoms for Peace program enacted 50 years
t
t and ago, when 41 countries agreed not to make nuclear
the 5 weapons in exchange for enriched .uranium to use in
;h the research reactors; and
;talion WHEREAS, Under the Atoms for Peace program, the
7.e the United States agreed to take the used fuel to relieve
s until foreign countries of problems with disposal and ease fears
safety about terrorists abroad using the fuel to make bombs; and
WHEREAS, Shipments of similar nuclear fuel rods
began on the east coast of the United States with no public
notice as early as 1958, with a total. of 150 shipments
I through the Charleston Naval Weapons Station in South
-1 rods Carolina; and
:o Bay WHEREAS, The Concord Naval Weapons Station has
.ext 13 been the secret west coast shipping ing p oint for nuclear
, 1998;
bombs and missiles since the beginning of the Cold War;
and
capons WHEREAS, The proposed route for the shipments to
ted by the Concord Naval Weapons Station runs through the San
luding Francisco Bay area, placing over 6:5 million residents of
eforegy's California's second largest metropolis in harm's way; and
WHEREAS,.Portions of the San Francisco Bay area are
:ory in subject, to intense shaking. amplification and are still
to recovering from major damage caused by the 1989 Loma
rniathe Prieta earthquake; and
led 28 WHEREAS, The planned :shipments will result in
unreimbursed local government expenditures for
uclear enhanced emergency and.hazardous materials response
ion of systems;.and
WHEREAS,The United States Department of Energy
uclear has..inadequately addressed potential environmental and
is; and safety impacts in the Final Environmental Impact
Statement for the shipment project, failed to fully inform
96 96
' S
AJR 21 — 4 —
local communities in California of the catastrophic
impacts of a potential shipment accident, and failed to
adequately document the necessity of using the Concord
station rather than alternative shipping points,such as the
naval base at Bremerton, Washington; and
WHEREAS, If the steel casks containing the spent
nuclear fuel rods are breached, there is no assurance that
;. persons, land, . and waters will not be exposed to
j dangerous radioactive materials; and
WHEREAS, This state is committed foremost to
protecting. the health and safety of its people and
environment; and
WHEREAS, On behalf of, and in addition to, local
government officials in the nine-county San Francisco
Bay area,including those with the City and County of San
Francisco, the County of Contra Costa, the City of
! Concord, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and
Development Commission, and the Association of Bay
} Area Governments, 11 Members of the Assembly have
requested that the state Attorney General sue the United
States Department , of Energy for a federal court
injunction to halt the. shipments through the San
Francisco Bay region to Concord; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly and Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of
California memorializes the President and Congress of
the United States to call upon the Department of Energy
to halt indefinitely the five planned shipments of spent
nuclear fuel rods through the San Francisco Bay to the
Concord Naval Weapons Station for land transport to
Idaho; and be it further
Resolved, That the Department of Energy is further
memorialized to prevent any planned shipments of spent
nuclear fuel rods until appropriate public notice has been
provided and the safety and environmental impacts are
fully addressed, including how the full catastrophic
impacts of a potential shipment accident would be
addressed-by federal, state, and local governments; and
be it further
96
- 5 — AJR 21
iic Resolved, That the Department of Energy is further
to memorialized to prevent any planned shipments of spent
-rd nuclear fuel rods until there is a legally binding
he agreement' that the. federal government will fully
compensate local governments, the state;individuals,and
int businesses that might be impacted by the shipments,
iat including compensation for any accidents or security
to costs associated with the shipments; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly
to transmit copies of this resolution to the President and
zd Vice President of the United States, to each Senator and
Representative from California in the Congress of the
:al United States, and the Secretary of the Department of
�co Energy.
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