Tri-Valley CAREs
Communities Against a Radioactive Environment
For immediate release: July 16, 2007
Public Meeting on Bigger Bomb Blasts at Livermore Lab Site 300
Environmentalists, Community Members to Oppose Increase in Open Air Detonations, Demand Environmental Impact Report and Safer Uses for Testing Range Near Tracy
for more information, contact:
Loulena Miles, Staff Attorney, Tri-Valley CAREs (925) 443-7148
Robert Sarvey, Business Owner in Tracy, (209) 835-7162
What: First public meeting on the new Livermore Lab / Dept. of Energy plan to increase bomb testing at Site 300. The event will be hosted by the San Joaquin County Air Pollution Control District, the agency charged with evaluating the Lab's permit application and its attendant health and environmental impacts. Media briefing on key provisions of the permit application will be held just outside the Tracy City Council chambers one-half hour before the public meeting.
When: Wednesday, July 18, 2007. Media briefing at 7 pm; public meeting at 7:30 pm
Where: Tracy City Council Chambers - 333 Civic Center Plaza, Tracy
Who:: Participants will include:
- Loulena Miles, Staff Attorney, Tri-Valley CAREs
- Marylia Kelley, Executive Director, Tri-Valley CAREs
- Janis Turner, Board Member, Tri-Valley Sierra Club / Spokesperson, SF Bay Area Sierra Club
- Bob Sarvey, Tracy business owner and close neighbor to Site 300 on Corral Hollow Road
Why: Livermore Lab wants to increase its open-air bomb blasts at Site 300 eight-fold, from 1,000 pounds of explosives to 8,000 pounds annually. These detonations may contain as much as 4,500 pounds of "depleted uranium" according to the Lab's permit application. This meeting is intended to give the public an opportunity to discuss the health and environmental consequences of the blasts.
Tri-Valley CAREs will argue that, pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act, the San Joaquin County Air Pollution Control District must conduct an Environmental Impact Report and hold formal public hearings and a public comment period before making a decision on the Lab's permit application.
Located on Corral Hollow Road between Livermore and Tracy, Site 300 is the Lab's high explosives testing range. It has operated since 1955, and, in 1990, was placed on the EPA Superfund list due to contamination from past bomb blasts. No longer "remote," 5,500 homes are slated to be built near Site 300's fence line.
Participants are available for pre-event interviews. Livermore Lab's application package and additional information is also available upon request. Visit www.trivalleycares.org for more information on Site 300.