HomeMy WebLinkAbout91-027
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RESOI,UTION NO. 91-27
WHEREAS, U. S. Ecology is planning to construct a
radioactive waste facility in Ward Valley, California, 22 miles
west of Needles, California, an approximately 20 miles from
Bullhead City, Arizona and Laughlin, Nevada, and
WHEREAS, the construction of a radioactive waste dump in
Ward Valley, California, may pose a significant risk to both
Mohave County residents in the vicinity, and the Colorado River,
generally. Such risk may bE: found in the increased potential for
release, leakage, and spiLl of radioactive material during the
transportation of such material through residential and business
communities, and over public highways, and in the exposure of the
dumped radioactive material to the effects of torrential rains,
severe dust storms, and other harsh weather characteristics of
the area, and,
WHEREAS, the increased exposure to radioactivity poses a
significant risk of cancer to human and animal life, and,
WHEREAS, the nuclear waste problem is national in scope, and
not limited to state boundariE~s, such boundaries being
meaningless when, as in thE:! case of the proposed site in Ward
valley, California, the risk of increased exposure to
radioactivity falls equally hard upon residents in Arizona, and,
WHEREAS, the California Department of Environmental and
Health Services, empowered to make a decision in this matter,
may, by choosing the Ward Valley site, risk contamination of the
Colorado River, and equally essential groundwater sources, to the
damage of Arizona taxpayers potentially burdened with the cost of
cleaning up the waste facility, such burden carried while
possessing no jurisdiction to regulate the operation and
maintenance of the facility, and
WHEREAS, the regulation of rad.ioactive waste facilities is
thus best suited to thE! Federal Government, not the individual
states, and,
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WHEREAS, we recogni:?;e .the need for radioactive materials in
the treatment of various forms of cancer and other medical
exigencies, and do not wish to impede the progress of the medical
communi ty in such efforts, but nevE!rtheless insist upon the safe
disposal of radioactive waste, such disposal to be made in
facili ties strictly regula1:ed by national standards, and built
only after leach community which may be adversely effected by the
operation of such a facility has had fair opportunity to assess
the risk involved in its construction and operation;
NOW, ~~HEREFORE, t.he ]~ohave County Board of Supervisors
having considered the risks involved in the construction of a
radioactive waste facility in Ward Valley, California, joins the
Fort Mohave Indian Tribe in formally opposing the use of the Ward
Valley site as a radioactive waste facility. This disposition,
by its nature in no way endorses the location of such facilities
in alternate sites particularly in Mohave County or other Arizona
locations.
PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 7th day of January, 1991.
MORAVE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
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LOISJ. HUPmARD, CHAIRMAN
Bl)ard
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