The Hanford Site is located on land ceded by treaties with the Yakama Indian Nation and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in 1855. The Nez Perce Tribe has treaty fishing rights on the Columbia River. The tribes reserved the right to fish "at all usual and accustomed places" and the privilege to hunt, gather roots and berries, and pasture horses and cattle on "open unclaimed" land. The Wanapum people are not a federally recognized tribe, and are therefore ineligible for federal programs. However, they have historical ties to the Hanford Site and are routinely consulted regarding cultural and religious freedom issues.
The Hanford Site and its environment support a number of Native American foods and medicines and contain sacred places that are important in sustaining tribal cultures. The tribes hope to use these resources in the future and want to assure themselves that the Hanford environment is clean and healthy (Figure 4).
Figure 4. Native vegetation is important to Native Americans.
The DOE American Indian Tribal Government Policy (DOE Order 1230.2) states, "American Indian Tribal Governments have a special and unique legal and political relationship with the Government of the United States, defined by history, treaties, statutes, court decisions, and the U.S. Constitution." In recognition of this relationship, DOE and each tribe interact and consult directly. The tribes also attend formal meetings such as those of the State and Tribal Government Working Group and the Hanford Natural Resources Trustee Council. They actively participate in many issues, including groundwater remediation, land use, and cultural resources.
DOE provides financial assistance through cooperative agreements with the Yakama Indian Nation, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and Nez Perce Tribe to support their involvement in the environmental restoration and waste management activities on the Hanford Site.
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act requires the President to appoint federal officials to act on behalf of the public as trustees for natural resources when natural resources may be injured, destroyed, lost, or threatened as a result of a release of hazardous substances. The President appointed the Secretary of Energy as the primary federal natural resource trustee for all natural resources located on, over, or under land administered by DOE.
The federal National Contingency Plan authorizes state governors to designate a state lead trustee to coordinate all state trustee responsibilities. In addition to DOE, organizations that have been designated as natural resource trustees for certain natural resources at or near Hanford include the Yakama Indian Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Nez Perce Tribe, the state of Washington represented by the Washington State Department of Ecology and the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, the state of Oregon represented by the Oregon Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of the Interior represented by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Department of Commerce represented by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The trustees have signed a memorandum of agreement formally establishing the Hanford Natural Resource Trustee Council. The primary purpose of the council is to facilitate the coordination and cooperation of the member trustees in their efforts in mitigating impacts to natural resource resulting from hazardous substance releases from within the Hanford Site or the remediation of those releases.
Individual citizens of the state of Washington and neighboring states may influence Hanford Site cleanup decisions through public participation activities (Figure 5). The public has opportunities to provide their input and influence decisions through many forums, including Hanford Advisory Board meetings, Tri-Party Agreement activities, National Environmental Policy Act public meetings covering various environmental impact statements and environmental assessments, and many other outreach programs.
Figure 5. Pacific Northwest citizens provide input at public meetings on site cleanup.
To apprise the public of upcoming opportunities for public participation, the Hanford Update, a synopsis of all ongoing and upcoming Tri-Party Agreement public involvement activities, is published bimonthly. In addition, the Hanford Happenings calendar, which highlights Tri-Party Agreement-scheduled meetings and comment periods, is distributed each month.
Most of Hanford's public resides in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. To allow them better access to up-to-date Hanford Site information, four information repositories have been established. They are located in Richland, Seattle, and Spokane, Washington, and Portland, Oregon.
The three parties respond to questions that are received via a toll-free telephone line (1-800-321-2008). Members of the public can request information about any public participation activity and receive a response by contacting DOE's Richland Operations Office, Office of External Affairs at (509) 376-7501. Also, a DOE Internet home page provides a calendar listing public involvement opportunities (http://www.hanford.gov/whc/cal/cal.html).
The Hanford Advisory Board was chartered in January 1994 to advise DOE on major Hanford Site cleanup policy questions. The board was the first of many such advisory groups created by DOE at weapons production cleanup sites across the national DOE complex. The board comprises 32 members (stakeholders) who represent a broad cross section of interests: environmental, economic development, tribes and other governments, and the public. Each board member has at least one alternate. Merilyn Reeves, of Amity, Oregon, is the chairperson.
Values adopted by the board provide a basis for its current work in promoting cleanup. These values are simplified into the following 10 key principles:
For questions or comments about this page, please
send email to Bill.Hanf@pnl.gov
URL:
http://www.hanford.gov/docs/annualrp/sumholders.htm
Document Number: PNNL-11795-SUM
Document
Date: September 1998
Posted: November 1998
