RE: DOE cleanup to fund tax cut

[Susan Gawarecki <loc@ICX.NET>]

Ruth makes some good comments, but misses the point regarding citizen

participation.  There will always be upset parties screaming for action

whether or not there are Citizen Advisory Boards.  In fact, the

membership of the CABs tend to be much better informed on the issues

because of the willingness of DOE to provide technical assistance, and

when the activists are seated on the CABs it tends to moderate their

rhetoric.



The CABs are probably one of the reasons that more dialogue has taken

place between different sites in the DOE complex and more cross-cutting

issues have been appropriately addressed.  Moreover, when a CAB comments

on a proposed remediation strategy and has its concerns addressed, the

community as a whole is more likely to accept the path forward, a result

not seen previously when unilateral decisions were made without

significant community input.  Finally, the CABs are involved in the

annual budget cycle and generally review the site's priorities,

including the risk-based vs. the compliance-driven, which gives the

members a better understanding of why tradeoffs are made.  Letting

citizens have a good glimpse inside the system and understand at least a

little of the costs and benefits has, I believe, moved DOE forward in

accomplishing its cleanups.  This is certainly true in Oak Ridge, and

I've seen similar results at other sites.



I think James Stokes exaggerates the extent of the contamination.  The

vast majority of DOE lands are buffer zones, not contaminated areas.  In

Oak Ridge, about 15% of the 35,000 acres is contaminated.  Furthermore,

the impacted areas are the industrially developed or waste disposal

areas, not prime wildlife habitat.  No one realistically believes that

the contaminated areas will be returned to pristine condition, nor is

there any proposal to do so.  That is why stewardship has become such a

hot topic in Environmental Management--there has to be a way of

monitoring, maintaining protection, and disseminating information

regarding remediated sites with residual contamination or where wastes

remain in place.  And this has to be balanced with the desire of local

communities to have some of the developable land for

"reindustrialization" and the desire of preservationists to maintain

large undisturbed tracts of ecologically sensitive lands.



My opinions only,



Regards,

Susan

-- 

.....................................................

Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director

Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee

                       -----                       

A schedule of meetings on DOE issues is posted on our Web site

http://www.local-oversight.org/meetings.html - E-mail loc@icx.net

.....................................................

************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.