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For immediate release: May 8, 2007

Livermore Lab 'Green Bid' Team Decries Dept. of Energy Contract Award

Cites Missed Opportunity to Move Livermore From H-bombs to 'World Class Center for Civilian Science'

for more information, contact:
Marylia Kelley, Tri-Valley CAREs, (925) 443-7148
Jay Coghlan, Nuclear Watch of New Mexico, (505) 989-7342

The decision to award management of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to the University of California and Bechtel, the same consortium recently selected to manage the Los Alamos nuclear weapons lab, demonstrates the failure of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to conduct a fair and open, competitive bidding process, according to groups that ought to transform LLNL into a premier environmental research facility.

"It's DOE conducting business as usual," said Marylia Kelley, executive director of the Livermore-based Tri- Valley CAREs and one of the leaders of the Livermore Lab GREEN, LLC team. "The networks of nuclear weapons 'good-old-boys' who have done so much damage to the nation's budget, security and environment are in charge of both research labs."

"The DOE missed a key opportunity to take Livermore Lab in a new direction," Kelley added. "Our management proposal would have promoted world class science by transforming Livermore Lab from a nuclear weapons design facility into a center for civilian science."

She continued, "By focusing on socially-beneficial scientific initiatives like sustainable energy, global warming and environmental cleanup technologies, DOE could have increased cutting-edge research at the Livermore Lab while providing more security and safety for its employees. Instead, DOE has demonstrated its lack of vision. We are disappointed, but not surprised"

Jay Coghlan, executive director of Nuclear Watch of New Mexico and one of the partners in the GREEN, LLC bid, added, "Bechtel, whose bottom line is profit, is now in the business of designing at Livermore Lab and producing at Los Alamos Lab the first new U.S. nuclear weapons in 20 years. Apparently Bechtel and its partners expect business to boom, at the expense of the American taxpayer and global security."

"This is essentially the same consortium, with the University of California and Bechtel at the helm, that has taken a bad management situation at Los Alamos and made it much worse," Coghlan continued.

"If the Los Alamos Lab contract is indeed the harbinger for Livermore, I fear for the future of the employees and our community," stated Kelley.

"In contrast, our management plan contained specific health and safety and whistleblower protections for employees," she added.

The Livermore Lab GREEN, LLC management proposal would have transitioned Livermore Lab from nuclear weapons development to an unclassified "World Class Center for Civilian Science" within 5 years. Plutonium and highly enriched uranium would have been removed in 4 years.

The GREEN, LLC bid was arbitrarily eliminated from consideration by DOE earlier in the process.

The Livermore Lab GREEN (Green Renewable Energy and Environmental Nexus), LLC consisted of two nuclear "watchdog" organizations, Tri-Valley CAREs and Nuclear Watch of New Mexico, partnered with an academic institution, New College of California, and a green energy company, WindMiller Energy.

A copy of the Livermore Lab GREEN, LLC bid and follow up documents, including the team's protest of DOE's "biased" rejection of the green bid, are available on the web at www.trivalleycares.org.

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