Page A12 SEARCH FOR NEW WASTE SITE A commission to find alternatives to a failed plan to store nuclear waste in the Nevada desert declared that the United States would have to develop a consent-based approach for choosing a site.
The new waste site would complement the existing buildings.
Re "E.P.A. Begins Cleanup at 10 Toxic Waste Sites and Says 10 Others Will Wait" (news article, July 17): That only half of the nation's most hazardous new waste sites will receive cleanup funds this year is not even the whole story.
Every year new waste sites are discovered, but for every one that is closed down, another is revealed.
A federal advisory commission on a new waste strategy met for the first time last week, but it is focusing on broad issues like choosing a disposal technology, not finding a new site.
Also, the system to transport waste from the tanks to a new waste treatment plant may clog and inadequately filter out certain parts of the waste.
Redding's Zoning Commission approved the master plan for the site, the Connecticut Department of Transportation approved the train station, and the State Department of Environmental Protection approved a new waste-water treatment plant.
Therefore, this program aims to save natural resources, such as energy and raw materials, in the manufacture of new products and to conserve areas for sites, such as to minimize the use of existing landfill sites, and to minimize the need for new waste treatment sites.
Citing budgetary concerns, the Bush administration has proposed new toxic waste sites for the Superfund program at a much slower rate than previous administrations, a practice criticized by state environmental officials who say it masks the true demand for cleanup in the country.
On the current trajectory, the U.S. EPA anticipates the need for 217,000 new hazardous waste sites over the next 20 years (U.S. EPA 2004, 2007).
