Hanford Challenge

It's week 47 of Hanfordle! Play and try to guess the Hanford-related word: https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=ycjwd

Hanford Challenge just wrapped up a week in Washington DC with the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability where we asked officials to protect communities and reduce nuclear risk. Hanford Challenge, Columbia Riverkeeper, and other ANA groups had a productive week attending over 80 meetings on the Hill,

ANA's collaboration of grassroots groups has worked for 39 years at local, regional, state, and national levels to address health and safety issues at Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration sites for workers, the public, and the environment.

We encourage you to read and sit with one of our Hot Poetry contest winning poems, As the river goes, by Eloise Longmeier, a student at Madison Middle School!

Read the other winning poems here: https://www.hanfordchallenge.org/hotpoetry

Check out the recording of Brahim El Guabli’s talk about deserts worldwide where exploitative and extractive industries damage and destroy these ecosystems that are vital to human and non-human life - a problematic theory/practice he has named Saharanism. Brahim talked about the history of Saharanism, how it operates today, and shared a concept that counters this exploitative framing: the unity of creatures. Watch the recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uob_-WwSO8o
Brahim Benmbark

Nuclear Waste Scholar Series with Brahim El Guabli Funded in part by a Public Participation Grant from the Washington State Department of Ecology.

Save the date! The Oregon Hanford Cleanup Board meets next Mon, June 1st from 1:30pm-5:30pm. Attend the meeting at Cousins Country Inn in The Dalles or virtually on Microsoft Teams to hear updates on Hanford cleanup from Hanford Site, Washington Department of Ecology - Hanford, U.S. EPA Northwest Region & Oregon Department of Energy. Meeting info: https://tinyurl.com/2sd629wj

We are thrilled to welcome Sophia Rainey as our 2026 Tom Carpenter Grassroots Activist Fellow! Sophia is a rising 3L at the University of Oregon School of Law. She earned her BA in Political Science and Ancient Mediterranean Studies from Mizzou. She has a passion for public policy and workers' rights. Welcome to the team Sophia!

We have another winning poem for you to read and sit with this week! Read "I Sing the Body Radioactive", by Roya Porshahidy, a student at St. Louis Community College-Forest Park. Roya's poem is inspired by Walt Whitman's “I Sing the Body Electric.” Check out the other winning poems on our website: https://www.hanfordchallenge.org/hotpoetry

Play week 46 of Hanfordle and try to guess the Hanford-related word: https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=lwghd

"The administration proposed a cut of about $400 million from the record-high Hanford budget of more than $3.2 billion for the current fiscal year, which began in October. The House proposes an additional cut of about $55 million for a total budget of just under $2.8 billion for the coming fiscal year. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., in a visit to the Tri-Cities earlier this month, said finding money to boost administration budget requests will be more difficult for Congress for fiscal 2027 due to pressure to increase defense spending."

Read the Tri-City Herald article:

U.S. House proposes even deeper Hanford cuts than Trump administration Layoffs are possible in a tough budget year, says senator.

We invite you to take some time to read another winning poem from our 2026 Hot Poetry contest: Untitled, by Urso Blackburn—a student at The Academy at Charlemont.

Read all of the winning poems here: https://www.hanfordchallenge.org/hotpoetry