July/August 1984 RAIN Page 31 Hanford/PUREX Organizing Located north of Richland, Washington, four hours east of Portland on the Columbia River, is the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, the world's largest nuclear complex, comprising 570 square miles. In November 1983 the PUREX (Plutonium-URanium Extraction Plant) was reactivated at a cost of $150 million (see RAIN X:2) to reduce irradiated fuel rods from Hanford's N Reactor to a plutonium solution for use in the production of nuclear weapons. This January, the PUREX plant experienced a two-week-long leak of radioactive thorium from a plant smokestack. A Hanford spokesperson reported that the thorium leaks "pose no hazard to the public" and stated that more radioactive materials (including plutonium and strontium) will continue to leak from the plant in small amounts. Also, in a new standard established by the operators of the plant, a new thorium release limit was set—specifying an amount higher than that released into the atmosphere in January. Under the new standard, releases like the one in January will not be recorded in an "unusual occurrence" report to the U.S. Department of Energy. Concern over radioactive contamination of the environment, and the social and economic problems associated with weapon-building, has prompted a regional organizing effort focused pn the Hanford facility. The Northwest Action for Disarmament has formed a special Task Eorce on Hanford. It plans to do an organizing tour through communities on the Columbia River this summer in an effort to generate more concern about Hanford's activities. Northwest Action for Disarmament, Box 4212, Portland, OR 97208; 503/295-2101. The Hanford Oversight Committee, based in Washington state, is focusing on Hanford's high-level-waste repository. It has developed a slide show that illustrates the problem. Hanford Oversight Committee, 814 NE 40th, Seattle, WA 98105; 206/632-0500. Land Trust Exchange Three years ago, Oregon Community Land Trust (OCLT) was founded by a group of people interested in furthering and protecting the connections between people and land. Based on the belief that a community land trust can empower a community to care for the preservation and use of its land, the community land trust takes the form of a group of people joined to protect land that has been trusted for use by members of the community. The "trusting" process transfers ownership from the private into the quasi-public realm of a nonprofit land- trust corporation. The trust's land is made available for community members through a long-term lease agreement, and members make decisions cooperatively regarding the use of trusted land. The OCLT in Eugene serves as a resource center for people who want to know more about a community land trust and how it could work in their situation. Inquiries range from single land owners looking for ways to protect their land from development pressures, to intentional communities looking for a way to state their shared land ethic; from community activists looking for ways to house low-income people, to organizers looking for ways to address the issues of land use and local control. In addition to their information services, OCLT produces a newsletter, and recently it has helped sponsor a VISTA volunteer who will assist in the formation of an agricultural land trust in Lane County. With a focus on under-capitalized people, the project aims to form a land-trust corporation with tax-exempt status, while securing funding and land to make available to people who will farm it. The challenge of the project is two-fold: to protect the precious soil for growing food, and to show the community that it is to their economic and aesthetic advantage to do so. Contact OCLT to see how you can become involved. OCLT, PO Box 295, Eugene, OR 97440. Sasquatch Gets Protection At last, that elusive, apelike creature commonly known as.bigfoot has been granted a legal sanctuary in the Pacific Northwest. All three commissioners of Skamania County, a largely rural area in Washington bordering the Columbia River and inhabited by many Native Americans, voted recently to make killing a Sasquatch in the county a misdemeanor. Such a crime is punishable by up to one year in jail anjJ a $5,000 fine. Sasquatch is the only creature on the endangered species list of Skamania County. Now, if we can only convince the Oregon and Washington legislatures ... Oregon Country Fair What's become a Northvyest tradition, the you've-got-to-experience-it- once Oregon Country Fair, will provide three days of playful enjoyment, wholesome food, and arts and crafts July 13 to 15 (see "Not Just a Country Fair" by Camille Cole, RAIN IX:6/X:I, page 53). The fair features the Community Village of nonprofit organizations, which offer workshops and activities on everything from beekeeping and herbology to New Games and massage. Follow the signs west of Eugene on highway 126 to Veneta. For details, contact the fair at PO Box 2972, Eugene, OR 97402; 503/345-1163.
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