For Immediate Release:
Friday, June 16, 2006

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Congressman Dan Boren (D-Okla.) and U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) today announced plans for the removal of depleted uranium from Gore, Okla.  The announcement follows inclusion of language in the Defense Authorization Act requiring removal by the Army no later than March 31, 2007.

 

“Today we have a solution to this long standing problem in Gore and I am pleased we were able to reach an agreement with the Army allowing us to clean up this site,” Inhofe said.

 

“After 13 years of uncertainty we can now safely say the uranium will be out of Gore within a year,” Boren said.  “It’s long past time to get it out of Eastern Oklahoma.”

 

Approximately 1,200 barrels, or 1.5 million pounds, of depleted uranium has been stored at the former Sequoyah Fuels Corporation site in Gore since 1993, when the facility finished contract work involving uranium provided by the federal government.  The site was used to convert DU6 to DU4 for use by the U.S. Army in anti-tank ammunition.

 

Over the past 13 years Sequoyah Fuels and the Army have been deadlocked over whose responsibility it was to remediate the site.  Inhofe broke the log jam this week by including language in the Senate version of the Defense Authorization Act, requiring the Secretary of the Army to transport all government-furnished uranium from Sequoyah Fuels in Gore no later than March 31, 2007.

 

After numerous attempts to engage the Department of Defense on the issue, Boren offered an amendment to the House version of the Defense Authorization Act in May requiring the Secretaries of Defense and Energy to submit a report to Congress outlining remediation plans for the site.  The Army responded on June 5, noting that “the indefinite storage of the material at the Gore site is not an acceptable solution.”  It was also noted, however, that the agency lacked congressional authorization to remove the depleted uranium. 

 

“I appreciate Rep. Boren’s assistance with this issue and I am confident we have lasting solution after this week’s action,” Inhofe said.

 

“With the senator’s help we were able to put this issue to rest once and for all,” Boren said.

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