Federal judge to hear arguments in Gov. Hodges-DOE lawsuit

Posted 7:52AM on Thursday 13th June 2002 ( 23 years ago )

AIKEN, S.C. - After countless letters, phone calls and allegations traded in the media, Gov. Jim Hodges and the federal Department of Energy will finally meet in U.S. District Court. At stake Thursday is whether plutonium shipments can enter South Carolina as early as Saturday. Hodges has threatened to block shipments any way he can, including using state troopers to block the roads leading into the Savannah River Site, a former nuclear weapons complex near Aiken. But first Hodges plans to ask the court to step in. He sued the Energy Department on May 1, saying the agency didn't properly complete environmental impact studies. The governor wants Judge Cameron Currie to stop the shipments until the studies are done again, a process that could take years. The agency argues Hodges' attempts to block the shipments are unconstitutional. The weapons-grade plutonium is being shipped to SRS from the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant in Colorado. It is supposed to be processed over the next two decades into fuel for nuclear power plants or immobilized so it can no long be used for nuclear bombs. Hodges worries the federal government will fail to find the money to pay to convert the plutonium, leaving the nuclear material in South Carolina indefinitely. He wants a binding agreement with the Energy Department, including a timetable on when the plutonium must leave whether it is processed or not. The governor has been running commercials telling residents to call the Energy Department and stop the shipments. He also says transporting the plutonium the 1,500 miles from Colorado to South Carolina poses an unnecessary security risk. Federal officials say the nuclear material will be under constant guard, and its exact path and time of arrival will be kept secret. Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes said Wednesday he is considering entering the lawsuit. The western edge of SRS runs along the South Carolina-Georgia line. Before Hodges and the federal government square off Thursday, Currie will hear arguments in a lawsuit filed by The Associated Press and other media companies asking the judge not to seal some Energy Department records. The agency said the documents should be sealed under a federal law limiting the release of nuclear information. The documents were described by the agency as pertaining to the long-term storage of nuclear material. The media companies argue the material does not qualify to be kept secret under the law.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/6/193587