WASHINGTON - The powerful chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee said Tuesday that the 16-year-old agreement covering the cleanup of the Hanford nuclear reservation needs to be rewritten.

In calling for state and federal officials to negotiate a new Tri-Party Agreement, Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said the current pact was too inflexible, has hindered the actual cleanup and has driven up its cost.

"Maybe we ought to sit down and think about another agreement," Domenici said during a hearing on the Department of Energy's environmental cleanup program. "I'm hoping people think it is time to start anew."

Domenici's comments came a day after Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire said the state was considering suing the federal government and would not "sit idly by" as the Energy Department and Congress cut funding, breaking their promise to clean up Hanford.

Gregoire, in a statement Tuesday, showed no interest in negotiating a new Hanford agreement and insisted the federal government has a responsibility to provide the necessary funding.

"The Tri-Party Agreement is a carefully negotiated, legally enforceable agreement and it is unconscionable of the federal government to fail to provide the funding to do the job, try to get out of the agreement or pursue any delaying tactics," Gregoire said.

A top DOE official, however, told Domenici a new agreement would make sense.

"Your suggestion is a valid one," testified James Rispoli, the department's assistant secretary for environmental management.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said the proposal for a new agreement was a non-starter.

"No and no," Cantwell said after the hearing when asked whether she would support rewriting the current pact. "It's just another gimmick."

A Cantwell aide later said the state has agreed to more than 420 changes in the Tri-Party Agreement over the years, including adjusting some of the deadlines or milestones driving the cleanup.

The agreement, signed by the state, DOE and the federal Environmental Protection Agency in 1989, spells out in detail how the Hanford cleanup was to be carried out. Gregoire, while serving as state attorney general, helped negotiate the agreement.

The Senate Energy Committee, which Domenici chairs, has jurisdiction over the cleanup program. Domenici is also chairman of the Senate energy and water development appropriations subcommittee, which controls funding for the cleanup program.

Domenici made it clear he was increasingly concerned about the cleanup effort at Hanford, saying it had been marked with continual confrontations between the state and DOE. The ever-increasing costs had to be reined in, he said.

"We have to find a way to do this at a more reasonable price and still get it done," he said, adding that those who "oppose, argue, insist and litigate" need to sit down with Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and negotiate a new agreement.

"If the state is looking for a secretary who is capable of putting something together, this man could do it," Domenici said of Bodman.

Domenici said the cleanup of the department's Rocky Flats site in Colorado was a model for how local, state and federal officials along with contractors can work together on cleanup.

Originally, Rocky Flats was expected to take 70 years and $37 billion to clean up. The work, however, took 10 years and cost $7 billion.

Rispoli said DOE was able to shorten the cleanup and cut costs at Rocky Flats by offering contractors incentives. Rispoli and Nancy Tuor, chief executive of Kaiser-Hill Co., the prime contractor at Rocky Flats, said the cleanup proceeded without litigation and in the final years of the cleanup milestones had not been imposed.

Domenici said he was concerned workers at some sites believed they had "lifetime" jobs until the cleanup was completed. At Rocky Flats, Risploi and Tuor said, workers were told early on their jobs would be ending sooner rather than later and they were offered incentives to complete the work early.

The New Mexico senator said the Rocky Flats cleanup was in sharp contrast to the one at Hanford, where he said there are constant disputes about money and meeting deadlines.

"All we talk about are milestones," he said. "No one wants to change. People out there seem to think all we need to do is push more money at it. But something is missing."

Under questioning from Cantwell, Rispoli said the department already has met 700 milestones at Hanford and said there were more than 300 remaining. He also said several milestones, mostly involving underground storage tanks, will not be met.

"I understand your frustration," Rispoli told Cantwell. "It is our intent to move forward and fulfill our obligations."

Cantwell said the administration and Congress were prepared to cut roughly $400 million from the Hanford budget, including $100 million from the critical Waste Treatment Plant and $200 million in funding for the Office of River Protection and the tank farms.

"If I sound frustrated, it's because I am," Cantwell said. "How should the state view this?"

Cantwell asked whether the funding cut now would be restored in future budgets.

Rispoli said it was unclear, but he added he thought Hanford would continue to receive between 28 percent and 30 percent of the department's $6.6 billion cleanup budget.

After the hearing, Cantwell said that every time a new energy secretary takes over, the department's cleanup program faces yet another review and there is additional talk of contract reform.

"Everyone comes in and says they have a plan," she said. "There are no quick fixes."