Annette Cary / Tri-City Herald (TNS)
The federal government has a new plan for land it has controlled in the Tri-Cities area since World War II.
By April 15 the Department of Energy wants to hear proposals from companies wishing to negotiate leases and develop unused land into clean energy projects, such as solar farms.
The 14,000 acres are at the south end of the Hanford nuclear site by Richland in Eastern Washington.
A decision on how to use the land could be announced in September, according to DOE.
But Tri-Cities development and local government leaders say that DOE is not seeing the big picture when it comes to the land.
In its apparent rush to develop the land, at least until Hanford environmental cleanup is completed, DOE does not appear to be considering what the Tri-City Development Council considers the best use of the land — both to diversify the Tri-Cities economy and for the nation’s effort to build a clean energy future.
“It is important to work now to make sure that our community does have the diversified economy and it stays strong after (Hanford) cleanup is complete or begins to wind down,” said David Reeploeg, TRIDEC vice president of federal programs.
This year about $3 billion in federal money will be spent at the Hanford nuclear reservation to clean up radioactive and chemical waste and contamination left from producing nearly two-thirds of the plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program from World War II through the Cold War.
Hanford jobs plus jobs at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, both Department of Energy facilities, account for just over 11% of jobs in Benton and Franklin counties.
But they pay about 23.4% of all wages in the two counties, TRIDEC has said as it looks ahead to replacing well-paid Hanford environmental cleanup jobs when work at the site ramps down or is completed.
While solar energy production may be a good use of some of the 14,000 acres, TRIDEC believes that DOE should also be considering clean industrial development and energy storage.
DOE has indicated it is aware of the community vision, but does not plan to go that route, said Sean O’Brien, executive director of the new Tri-Cities-based Energy Forward Alliance.
Instead, it appears set to advance with a “short-term, nonstrategic approach,” he said.
TRIDEC vision for Hanford land
Industrial production contributes 30% of greenhouse gas emissions and is a growing share of emissions because it is one of the most difficult sectors to abate and typically involves extensive retrofitting that costs more than twice the cost of building a new clean industrial plant.
New technologies are needed for critical industries, such as fertilizer, cement, batteries, sustainable aviation fuels and chemicals, according to TRIDEC.
It believes that unneeded DOE land near Hanford is the place to show how that can be done.
TRIDEC, with the support of Tri-Cities area governments, has been working toward its vision of the Northwest Advanced Clean Energy Park.
“Our vision includes demonstrating for the country and the world how to deeply decarbonize the electrical grid — and industrial processes,” TRIDEC told DOE. “We believe this demonstration will be critically important in helping the federal government and Washington state meet their aggressive clean energy and decarbonization goals.”
The acreage that DOE wants to use for clean energy generation is the only land near the city of Richland that would be suitable for future clean industrial development, the use that local officials propose for unused Hanford land nearest to Richland.
“Without access to it for development, the Tri-Cities will be severely limited in our economic development and diversification efforts moving forward,” TRIDEC said in a letter when DOE initially asked for information on its proposal.
In the past DOE has worked with TRIDEC to transfer unneeded Hanford land to the community, most…
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