Editorial
Hanford worker safety needs Senate hearing

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No matter how pointedly worded is the letter Washington state officials sent this week to U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham regarding Hanford worker safety, the state has very little authority to protect the health of its citizens working at the federal complex.

Neither do federal workplace regulators — which leaves the Energy Department itself in charge of ensuring workplace safety. That the agency polices itself is particularly troublesome in light of recent allegations that as many as 100 workers at Hanford tank-waste farms might have been exposed to toxic vapors.

This issue begs for more trans-parency from Secretary Abraham. He should immediately release the results of his agency's internal investigation. But that is not enough.

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Pete Domenici should honor Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell's 3-month-old request for hearings.

The Government Accountability Project made the allegations in a report last fall, but concerns have grown to include reports that some health-care providers at a Hanford contractor discouraged workers from filing claims.

This week's letter from Gov. Gary Locke and Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire included state investigators' findings that the Energy Department and its tank-farm contractor must do a better job of characterizing the tank waste and managing the data.

Locke and Gregoire vowed to bring whatever authority the state has to bear on the agency and its contractors. That could come in the form of requiring vapor-management plans in required cleanup permits, more vigilantly watching for threats to the public health, watching for patterns in industrial insurance claims and pursuing complaints against state-licensed health-care providers.

Again, not much authority.

The Government Accountability Project is calling for Congress to give the Occupational Safety and Health Administration jurisdiction over the Hanford workers. But OSHA might not have the necessary expertise to regulate nuclear work.

Former Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary made worker safety her priority when she took over in 1993, launching pilot projects of external oversight that were canceled in 1999.

Now that concerns have emerged again, the question of outside oversight of worker safety needs another look.