The Hanford Advisory Board is asking the Department of Energy for a larger budget in fiscal year 2010 after having to suspend operations before recent fiscal years ended because of a lack of money.

In 2002 the board's budget was $607,000, but in 2004 it dropped to $471,000 and has remained there since, including the 2009 budget proposal now being considered by Congress.

The board is requesting a fiscal year 2010 budget of $560,000.

"The board is now approaching the point where budget shortfalls will prevent the board from continuing to provide effective public input and advice on Hanford cleanup issues," the board said in a letter sent to the Department of Energy's Hanford offices.

HAB has reduced board meetings to five times a year. Typically, three of those are held in the Tri-Cities to reduce travel costs and all committee meetings are held in the Tri-Cities or in connection with full board meetings held in other Northwest locations. The board plans to consider holding all meetings in the Tri-Cities next year to further cut costs. Organizations represented on the board are based in Oregon, Washington and northern Idaho.

The board, which dates to the mid-'90s, originally met monthly and had an annual budget of more than $1 million, said Chairwoman Susan Leckband.

During 2009 the board will continue its work to advise on Hanford nuclear reservation cleanup issues and projects such as protecting ground water from contamination, the vitrification plant and retrieving radioactive waste from leak-prone underground tanks.

But 2009 will be a particularly busy year because of the additional projects planned, the board told DOE. Those include providing advice and encouraging public and tribal input on the Tri-Party Agreement negotiations and the draft Tank Closure and Waste Management Environmental Impact Statement.

"Board funding levels are simply not adequate to sustain the high-quality research, development and facilitation expertise required to support board activities," the board's letter said.

In other business at the board's meeting last week, HAB approved a revised charter to address Department of Energy concerns that the charter it has used for more than a decade does not meet requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

The board usually reaches consensus on issues, but in this case a vote was required to approve the charter because of opposition by a few organizations holding seats on the board, including those held by Heart of America Northwest and Columbia Riverkeeper.

However, the majority of the board concluded the revised charter would address DOE concerns without imposing changes on the board to make it more like DOE's other advisory boards. HAB will continue to have no term limits, an issue that had concerned members because of the complex issues addressed by the board, and will be allowed to advise the Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Washington in addition to DOE.