[NukeNet] Release: Livermore Lab "Green Team" Decries Contract Award

[Marylia Kelley]

for more information
Marylia Kelley, Tri-Valley CAREs, (925) 443-7148
Jay Coghlan, Nuclear Watch of New Mexico, (505) 989-7342

for immediate release, May 8, 2007
Livermore Lab "Green Bid" Team Decries Dept. of Energy Contract Award,
Cites Missed Opportunity to Move Livermore From H-bombs to "World Class
Center for Civilian Science"

The decision to award management of the Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory (LLNL) to the University of California and Bechtel, the same
consortium recently selected to manage the Los Alamos nuclear weapons lab,
demonstrates the failure of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to conduct
a fair and open, competitive bidding process, according to groups that
sought to transform LLNL into a premier environmental research facility.

"It's DOE conducting business as usual," said Marylia Kelley, executive
director of the Livermore-based Tri-Valley CAREs and one of the leaders of
the Livermore Lab GREEN, LLC team. "The network of nuclear weapons
'good-old-boys' who have done so much damage to the nation's budget,
security and environment are in charge of both research labs."

"The DOE missed a key opportunity to take Livermore Lab in a new
direction," Kelley added. "Our management proposal would have promoted
world class science by transforming Livermore Lab from a nuclear weapons
design facility into a center for civilian science."

She continued, "By focusing on socially-beneficial scientific initiatives
like sustainable energy, global warming and environmental cleanup
technologies, DOE could have increased cutting-edge research at the
Livermore Lab while providing more security and safety for its employees.
Instead, DOE has demonstrated its lack of vision. We are disappointed, but
not surprised"

Jay Coghlan, executive director of Nuclear Watch of New Mexico and one of
the partners in the GREEN, LLC bid, added, "Bechtel, whose bottom line is
profit, is now in the business of designing at Livermore Lab and producing
at Los Alamos Lab the first new U.S. nuclear weapons in 20 years.
Apparently Bechtel and its partners expect business to boom, at the expense
of the American taxpayer and global security."

"This is essentially the same consortium, with the University of California
and Bechtel at the helm, that has taken a bad management situation at Los
Alamos and made it much worse," Coghlan continued.

"If the Los Alamos Lab contract is indeed the harbinger for Livermore, I
fear for the future of the employees and our community," stated Kelley.

"In contrast, our management plan contained specific health and safety and
whistleblower protections for employees," she added.

The Livermore Lab GREEN, LLC management proposal would have transitioned
Livermore Lab from nuclear weapons development to an unclassified "World
Class Center for Civilian Science" within 5 years. Plutonium and highly
enriched uranium would have been removed in 4 years.

The GREEN, LLC bid was arbitrarily eliminated from consideration by DOE
earlier in the process.

The Livermore Lab GREEN (Green Renewable Energy and Environmental Nexus),
LLC consisted of two nuclear "watchdog" organizations, Tri-Valley CAREs and
Nuclear Watch of New Mexico, partnered with an academic institution, New
College of California, and a green energy company, WindMiller Energy.

A copy of the Livermore Lab GREEN, LLC bid and follow up documents,
including the team's protest of DOE's "biased" rejection of the green bid,
are available on the web at www.trivalleycares.org.

Marylia Kelley,
Executive Director

Tri-Valley CAREs
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA  94551

Ph: (925) 443-7148
Fx: (925) 443-0177
Web: www.trivalleycares.org
Email: marylia at trivalleycares.org or marylia at earthlink.net