ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP / COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Local Government Officials Request Response to Health and Safety Questions from DOE on EM Proposed Oak Ridge Landfill
ECA Staff | 7/24/2019
Local government officials in Oak Ridge and surrounding communities are seeking responses from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to questions they have raised about the agency’s proposal to build a new onsite landfill over several years prior to DOE making a final cleanup decision.
In a July 12 letter from the City of Oak Ridge to DOE, the City states, “Frankly, as the host community, the City of Oak Ridge finds the delay in addressing our questions and comments – dating back several years – disrespectful to the strong relationship we have had through the years with DOE-EM.”
ECA has stated repeatedly that community questions about health and safety should not be pushed until “formal comment.” The successes of the EM cleanup program are based on answering hard questions about health and safety and not just following a process. Not one success story at DOE is based on a formal process being followed; rather, all focus on intensive community engagement, especially when there are disagreements. In this case,
the communities around the DOE site have raised critical health and safety concerns, and a public meeting to answer all of the questions seems to be a reasonable request (instead of only including the response in a formal Record of Decision (ROD) where the final decisions is already being made – which is what DOE is proposing).
In a July 1 letter to DOE’s local Environmental Management (EM) office, the Oak Ridge Reservation Communities Alliance (ORRCA), a consortium of local governments reviewing DOE’s cleanup activities, requested a public meeting to discuss the agency’s plans to construct a new on-site landfill. “The ORRCA Board is aware that a number of questions have been asked but have not been answered. Therefore, we are requesting this meeting to
address those questions.”
DOE has stated that the agency does not intend to respond to the comments and concerns about a proposed on-site disposal facility located in Oak Ridge prior to issuing a draft ROD on August 2.
Oak Ridge City leadership responded to DOE in the July 12 letter, stating that their understanding is that a federal facilities agreement among DOE, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the State of Tennessee allows for DOE to proceed directly to the EPA Administrator for approval after issuing a draft ROD, affording local governments no further opportunity to engage federal and state decision makers in efforts to resolve
community concerns.
Ahead of the issuing of the ROD, the City has many questions on topics that include “site characterization, waste acceptance criteria, mercury treatment and disposal, long term leachate and water management, contingency planning, and lifecycle costs for on-site versus off-site disposal.”
Like ORRCA, the City is requesting that DOE hold an informational public meeting in Oak Ridge prior to issuing a draft ROD in order to address the “serious and unanswered public health, safety, environmental, and socioeconomic issues that the City and Oak Ridge citizens have asked.”
DOE should learn from past interactions with host communities that ignoring local governments is neither an effective, nor a best practice. In fact, it only leads to delays and conflict. It is imperative that DOE allow for community input, concerns, and objections to be given due consideration throughout the decision making process.
View the Oak Ridge Reservation Communities Alliance (ORRCA) (July 1, 2019) letter here.
View the City of Oak Ridge letter (July 12, 2019) letter here.
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NATIONAL CLEANUP WORKSHOP
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"Advancing Goal-Oriented Nuclear Waste Cleanup, Today and Tomorrow"
September 10-12, 2019
Hilton Alexandria Mark Center
Alexandria, VA
Join more than 700 attendees, including senior DOE officials, Congressional leaders, DOE contractors, and state, tribal and local government leaders for the largest EM-focused gathering in the D.C. area.
Confirmed speakers include:
- Paul Dabbar, DOE Under Secretary for Science
- Todd Shrader, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Environmental Management
- Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN), Co-Chair, House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus
- Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Co-Chair, House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus; Assistant House Speaker
- Melissa Burnison, DOE Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs
- Ron Woody, ECA Chair; County Executive, Roane County, Tenn.
- Sandra Fairchild, EFCOG Vice Chair; Director, Project Services and Support, Savannah River Remediation
- Fred Hughes, Program Manager, Fluor Idaho
- Zack Smith, President and Project Manager, Mid-America Conversion Services
- Ken Rueter, President, UCOR
- Karen Wiemelt, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Jacobs
- James Taylor, General Manager-Environmental, Bechtel
- Greg Meyer, Senior Vice President, Fluor
- Mark Whitney, Executive Vice President and General Manager, AECOM
- Ty Blackford, President, CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company
- Bob Wilkinson, President, Mission Support Alliance
- John Eschenberg, President, Washington River Protection Solutions
- Stuart MacVean, President, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions
- Vahid Majidi, Director, Savannah River National Laboratory
- Jack Craig, Vice President, Atkins
Scheduled sessions at this year's workshop include:
- Insights from the House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus Leadership
- 30 Years of EM Cleanup: A Foundation of Success
- EM Contracting: Moving Forward on Contract Management Enhancements
- Legislative Challenges and Opportunities for the EM Program
- Clarifying the Definition of HLW: Challenges and Opportunities
- Continuing Progress on Direct Feed LAW at Hanford
- The Future of the Savannah River Site
- Congressional Staff Perspectives
- Roundtable with DOE Field Office Managers
- Investing in Infrastructure to Enable Cleanup and Future Missions
Read about DOE's High Level Waste Interpretation
Have questions about DOE’s recent high-level waste (HLW) interpretation? Download ECA’s Key Points and FAQs on the issue to better understand what ECA believes are the potential benefits of implementation.
Interested in learning more? Read the ECA report “Making Informed Decisions on DOE's Proposed High Level Waste Definition” at www.energyca.org/publications
Stay Current on Activities in the DOE World
Read the latest edition of the ECA Bulletin, a regular newsletter providing a detailed brief of ECA activities, legislative news, and major events from across the DOE complex. Have suggestions for future editions? Email bulletin@energyca.org.
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Learn More about Cleanup Sites with ECA's DOE Site Profiles
ECA's new site profiles detail DOE's 13 active Environmental Management cleanup sites and national laboratories, highlighting their history, missions, and priorities. The profiles are a key source for media, stakeholders, and the public to learn more about DOE site activities, contractors, advisory boards, and their surrounding local
governments.
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