Section 469.586 - Findings The Legislative Assembly and the people of the State of Oregon find that:
(1) The maintenance of healthy, unpolluted river systems, airsheds and land are essential to the economic vitality and well-being of the citizens of the State of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.(2) Radioactive waste stored at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation is already leaking into and contaminating the water table and watershed of the Columbia River and radioactive materials and toxic compounds have been found in plants, animals and waters downstream from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation and constitute a present and potential threat to the health, safety and welfare of the people of the State of Oregon.(3) The Hanford Nuclear Reservation is now one of the most radioactively contaminated sites in the world, according to government studies, and will require billions of dollars in costs for cleanup and the ongoing assessment of health effects.(4) In November 1980, the people of the State of Oregon, by direct vote in a statewide election, enacted a moratorium on the construction of nuclear power plants, and no nuclear power plants are presently operating in the State of Oregon.(5) In May 1987, the people of the State of Oregon, by direct vote in a statewide election, enacted Ballot Measure 1, opposing the disposal of highly radioactive spent fuel from commercial power plants at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.(6) In 1995, the Legislative Assembly resolved that Oregon should have all legal rights in matters affecting the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, including party status in the Hanford tri-party agreement that governs the cleanup of the reservation.(7) Throughout the administrations of Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan and Bush, the policy of the federal government banned the use of plutonium in commercial nuclear power plants due to the risk that the plutonium could be diverted to terrorists and to nations that have not renounced the use of nuclear weapons.(8) The federal government has announced that it will process plutonium from weapons with uranium to produce mixed oxide fuel for commercial nuclear power plants and other nuclear facilities. The Hanford Nuclear Reservation, located on the Columbia River, is a primary candidate site being considered for the production facilities.(9) The production of mixed oxide fuel will result in enormous new quantities of radioactive and chemical wastes that will present significant additional disposal problems and unknown costs.469.586 and 469.587 were enacted into law by the Legislative Assembly but were not added to or made a part of ORS chapter 469 or any series therein by legislative action. See Preface to Oregon Revised Statutes for further explanation.