HCSHB1673--RADIOACTIVEWASTEINVESTIGATIONFUND
SPONSOR: Matthiesen
COMMITTEEACTION:Voted"DoPasswithHCS"bytheStanding
CommitteeonConservationandNaturalResourcesbyavoteof12to
0.
ThefollowingisasummaryoftheHouseCommitteeSubstituteforHB
1673.
Currently,theDepartmentofNaturalResourcesmustusethe
RadioactiveWasteInvestigationFundtoinvestigateconcernsof
wasteexposuresubmittedbyalocalgoverningbody.Thisbill
allowstheDepartmenttodeterminesitesforinvestigationbasedon
criteriaspecifiedinthebill.Thebillalsorequiresthe
Departmenttoprioritizetheinformationanddevelopaplanasto
howanyinvestigationwillproceed.
TheDepartmentmayholdmeetingsrelatedtoorganizationanddata
collection. Allfinalreportswillbepublicafterapublic
commentperiodonthepreliminaryreportofatleast90days.
Thisbillspecifiesthattheinvestigationmayincludecollection
ofsoil,dust,andwatersamplesfromthearea.IftheDepartment
suspectsthatradioactivecontaminantsareonapropertyownedbya
governmentalagencythatwillnotgrantaccessforthe
investigation, theDepartmentmustseekawarranttoaccessthe
property.
Currently,theGeneralAssemblycantransferupto$150,000tothe
FundtobeusedbytheDepartmentofNaturalResourcesto
investigateconcernsofexposuretoradioactivewaste.Thebill
alsoincreasestheamountofmoneytheGeneralAssemblycan
transfertothefundfromtheHazardousWasteFundto$1million
andlimitstheexpendituresperfiscalyearto$1million
transferedfromtheHazardousWasteFundandanyadditionalGeneral
Revenueappropriated.
Thefollowingisasummaryofthepublictestimonyfromthe
committeehearing. Thetestimonywasbasedontheintroduced
versionofthebill.
PROPONENTS: SupporterssaythatMissouriishometolegacy
radioactivewastefromtheManhattanProject. Thisbillwould
allowtheadditionalmoneytobeallocatedtoinvestigating
exposureconcernsrelatedtoradioactivewaste.Italsoallowsthe
Departmenttouseadditionalsamplingmethodsaspartofany
investigation. TestifyinginpersonforthebillwereRepresentative Matthiesen;
andSierraClubMissouriChapter.
OPPONENTS: Therewasnooppositionvoicedtothecommittee.
OTHERS:Otherstestifyingonthebillsaythat$150,000willallow
theDepartmenttodoapproximatelythreeinvestigations depending
onthecomplexityoftheinvestigation. TheDepartmentalsospoke
aboutwhataninvestigationwouldentail.
TestifyinginpersononthebillwasTJGraven,MissouriDepartment
ofNaturalResources.
Writtentestimonyhasbeensubmittedforthisbill.Thefull
writtentestimonyandwitnessestestifyingonlinecanbefound
underTestimonyonthebillpageontheHousewebsite.