"I don't want the country to forget what it took to win a war and what this community gave up to win it," said Senator Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat who secured $950,000 from Congress last year for the department to make B Reactor safe enough for cleanup workers, and to study the feasibility of converting it to a museum.
Many older residents are neither fit enough for beach cleanup jobs nor eligible for Social Security because they are not citizens, he said.
The ministry says radiation levels in these areas are low enough that the cleanup, along with the natural decay of radioactive materials, should make it possible for residents to return at an unspecified time after two years.
They say allowing even a small amount of pollution to remain in the ground limits the future use of that site and may contaminate neighboring properties In addition, some environmentalists say that the state has not done enough to promote cleanups in less desirable locations, including many low-income neighborhoods.
It is unclear whether even six to nine months will be enough to start a cleanup.
Senator Carl L. Marcellino, the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee chairman, said he did not think the Assembly bill went far enough in establishing detailed cleanup guidelines.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla .— In the hours before Tuesday's game, the Yankees were worried enough about their slumping cleanup hitter, Alex Rodriguez, that they wondered whether something was physically wrong with him.
It would remove requirements that the EPA periodically update and review solid waste disposal regulations, and would make it harder for the government to require companies that deal with hazardous substances to carry enough insurance to cover cleanup.
Canada plans to shut down the rail operator whose tanker train blew up in a small Quebec town last month, killing 47 people, because the company does not have enough insurance to pay for cleanup costs and other damage, the Canadian Transportation Agency said Tuesday.
Since 1980, Louisiana alone has earned about $4 billion from this arrangement — more than enough to pay for environmental cleanup.
