For immediate release: April 11, 2008

Tri-Valley Cares Heads to Washington, DC to Issue "Radioactive Report Card," Stop New Nukes, Promote Cleanup of Toxic Waste and Set New Policy Agenda for Next Administration

Tri-Valley CAREs will be in Washington, DC from April 13 through 16 to release a "Radioactive Report Card" grading U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear weapons policies during the George W. Bush years and laying out a new and different agenda for the next administration to follow.

The group will also meet with Members of Congress and agency officials to press for an end to nuclear weapons development and to recommend new bomb funding be used instead for environmental cleanup and other programs being slashed by the Bush administration's final budget request.

"We will ask Congress to again cut the funding for the so-called 'Reliable Replacement Warhead,' a new H-bomb being developed at Livermore Lab," vowed Jedidjah de Vries, Tri-Valley CAREs' Outreach Director and a resident of Livermore. "Further, we will demand that no money be given to DOE's 'Bombplex' plan to revitalize the infrastructure of the nuclear weapons complex and build new bomb plants."

"I am traveling to DC to represent the voice of my community and of my generation," the 21 year-old de Vries continued. "Together, we will stop nuclear weapons and build a new future."

The Tri-Valley CAREs team will be working with colleagues from more than a dozen other states who are participating in the 20th annual Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) "DC Days." The Tri-Valley CAREs delegation will meet with Senators and Representatives from California, leaders of congressional committees that oversee nuclear issues, and key federal agency staffers.

Marylia Kelley, the group's Executive Director who lives down the street from Livermore Lab said, "We will demand that Congress and the DOE reprioritize the Superfund cleanup of toxic and radioactive pollution at Livermore and other nuclear sites across the country."

Kelley explained, "Thirteen facilities at Livermore Lab that had been cleaning pollutants out of soil and groundwater have recently been turned off because of funding cuts. Contamination is moving unimpeded through our environment. I will tell the government that this is unacceptable."

Robert Schwartz, Tri-Valley CAREs' Staff Attorney, stated, "The 2008 elections will usher in a new administration and Congress, creating the opportunity to redirect U.S. policy. Elected officials need to make environmental protection, public health and compliance with our nation's legal obligations top priorities."

Tri-Valley CAREs has been a member group of the national Alliance for Nuclear Accountability since 1989. The ANA network represents more than 30 local, regional and national organizations whose members live downwind and downstream from U.S. nuclear weapons production and radioactive waste disposal sites. The four-day long "DC Days" will be followed by a meeting of the ANA member organizations to share information and strategies.