Senator questions Hanford legal fees

[alp227]

Source: AP

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Private contractors for the U.S. Department of Energy have spent at least $3.5 million in legal expenses to battle two critics of a massive construction project at the nation's most polluted nuclear site, according to a letter obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

The letter is from the chairwoman of a U.S. Senate subcommittee that is investigating whether there was retaliation against two Hanford Nuclear Reservation workers who raised safety concerns and then lost their jobs at the former nuclear weapons production site.

"The Department of Energy may be providing an incentive to contractors to engage in protracted litigation with whistleblowers by reimbursing the contractors' legal expenses," said the letter from Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz.

The Energy Department said in a news release that such payments were lawful.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ap-newsbreak-senator-questions-hanford-legal-fees

[Tikki]

1. Good for Senator McCaskill....someone cares...

You can't even imagine how many billions the Hanford site and maintenance has cost the tax payers over the last 50+ years...


Tikki

[bananas]

2. "incentive to contractors to engage in protracted litigation with whistleblowers"

McCaskill also questioned nondisclosure agreements the two contractors required employees to sign. The agreements prohibit employees from disclosing confidential information without the contractors' permission. McCaskill wondered if such agreements prevented other workers from coming forward with safety and environmental concerns.

"As you know, reporting those concerns, including to Congress, is protected by law," McCaskill wrote.

DOE pays contractors to legally harass and intimidate workers.

These NDA's are a big reason so many problems go unreported.

When a worker considers blowing the whistle, they know they will be fired and sued, they will have large legal fees and no income to pay it, let alone putting their kids through school.

[Tikki]

3. It is a huge mess up there at Hanford and they keep that area going with a massive scheme...

of fighting back and forth on how they are going to handle the waste, the maintenance and the clean~up there.

But it really is a never-ending money pit, billions of tax payers' money spent, and there was never meant to be a solution or a conclusion to the waste problem.


Tikki