Groundwater Contamination Issues at Hanford and the Resulting Legal Issues and Health Risks

Gerald Pollet
Executive Director
Heart of America Northwest

17 April 2007

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About the speaker

Gerald Pollet is an attorney and executive director of Heart of America Northwest, the region's largest public interest group watchdogging the cleanup of America's most contaminated area - the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Gerry was the Sponsor of Initiative 297, which led to the end of the Department of Energy’s use of unlined trenches at Hanford as a national radioactive waste dump. The initiative was passed by Washington voters in 2004 with a record total vote. As chair of Yes on I-297: Protect Washington, and part of the legal team defending the initiative, Gerry continues to fight to uphold the right of Washington’s voters to require cleanup and compliance before USDOE gets to dump more mixed radioactive and hazardous waste from other USDOE nuclear weapons plants at Hanford. www.hoanw.org

Since its founding in 1987, Heart of America Northwest has been in the forefront of the lobbying effort for the cleanup of Hanford and all U.S. Department of Energy nuclear weapons production sites. Mr. Pollet has served on numerous advisory boards for state and local governments and the U.S. Department of Energy. He currently serves as the chair of the "Budgets and Contracts" Committee of the Hanford Advisory Board, which is responsible for preparing advice for USDOE, Washington Ecology and USEPA on Hanford budget (which at nearly $2 billion per year is the largest public works project in the nation), management and contracting issues.