Released : November 21 2005
Written by : Jeremy Maxand, Chuck Brocious, Mary Woollen

November 21, 2005

Governor Dirk Kempthorne
Office of the Governor
700 West Jefferson, 2nd Floor
PO Box 83720
Boise, Idaho 83720-0034

Elizabeth D. Sellers
Manager, DOE-Idaho Operations Office
P.O. Box 1625
Mailstop 1203
Idaho Falls, Idaho 83415-1203

Kathleen Trever
Program Manager
Division of Environmental Quality
Idaho National Laboratory Oversight Program
1410 N Hilton
Boise, Idaho 83706

Dear Sirs and Madams:

We are requesting your help to make operations at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) more transparent and improve public access to information that could lead to improved worker, public, and environmental safety. Specifically, we are requesting that the Department of Energy (DOE) and state oversight agencies make available via the web, INL operational, incident, and safety reports. We would like this information shared with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality as well.

With a growing number of project proposals, it has become increasingly important that INL have independent oversight and the public has unfettered access to information that could lead to improved operations.

While the recent propane leak at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex was publicized to explain the evacuation of over 600 employees, many safety problems remain out of public site. For instance, the Idaho State Journal reported that 2 other gas leaks occurred at INL last year (11/9/05), but a review of past press releases from INL and DOE show no indication the public was alerted to these incidents.

In addition to public review of operations at INL, it is important to ensure DOE and its contractors are in compliance with reporting requirements as set forth in federal law.

These reports go by many names, such as “DOE Site Manager Reports to Headquarters,” “Active Emergency Duty Officers Log,” “Occurrence Reports,” “Unusual Occurrences,” “Potentially Inadequate Safety Analysis,” or “Unreviewed Safety Questions.”

The filing requirements for the Freedom of Information Act often require document names and event details. Posting these basic documents on your websites will greatly enhance public access to these often-elusive INL problem reports, and the details needed to pursue further information.

We are confident that the safety of Idaho and Wyoming is in the best interest of the Department of Energy and its regulators and we look forward to speaking with you directly about specific reports and how to make those reports accessible to the public.

Sincerely,

Jeremy Maxand
Executive Director
Snake River Alliance
PO Box 1731
Boise, Idaho 83701


Chuck Brocious
Executive Director
Environmental Defense Institute


Mary Woollen
Executive Director
Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free


David McCoy
Idaho Falls

Dr. Peter Rickards DPM
Twin Falls

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