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Federal Facilities ForumThe Federal Facilities Forum was created in the Spring of 2004 by combining the DOE Forum and the DOD Forum. The Forum allows ECOS members the opportunity to interact with DOE, DOD, DOI, and EPA regarding federal facilities. The ECOS-DOD Sustainability Work Group works under the Federal Facilities Forum by charter of the Executive Committee and is co-chaired by Bill Ross of the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and representatives of various federal agencies including DOE, DOD, EPA, and DOI. The other current Co-Chair is Alex Beehler (U.S. Department of Defense). The Staff Liaison for both the Federal Facilities Forum and the ECOS-DOD Sustainability Work Group is Matthew C. Jones (ECOS). Energy Communities Alliance Annual Conference The Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) will hold its annual conference on February 21-22, 2008 in Washington, DC. At the meeting, members of Congress, committee staff members, and DOE officials will be invited to share their perspectives on important Department of Energy issues including Presidential politics, changes in Congress, FY09 appropriations for the Department of Energy, the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), integration of DOE missions with cleanup at sites, environmental cleanup, waste disposition and more. If you would like more information about this meeting visit ECA's website at www.energyca.org or contact Carolyn Hanson at 202-624-3501. DOE Environmental Management Engineering and Technology Update - October 2007 In October 2007, DOE published this update on the activities and accomplishments of their Office of Engineering and Technology.
2007 DOE Intergovernmental Meeting On October 17-18 in Snowbird, Utah, five national intergovernmental groups that work closely with the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management met with the U.S. Department of Energy on issues related to the cleanup of the nuclear weapons complex. The meeting included both presentations and small group breakout sessions. Below are links to the three main presentations made by the Office of Environmental Management. More information on recommendations for action from the breakout sessions will be posted here as it becomes available.
2007 ECOS Annual Meeting The Federal Facilities Forum held a joint session with the ECOS-DoD Sustainability Work Group at the 2007 ECOS Annual Meeting in Sun Valley, Idaho on September 16. The major activities of the meeting included an update on the activities and products of the ECOS-DoD Sustainability Work Group, a presentation from DOE on the Roadmap for Cleanup, and a discussion of DSMOA issues. More information from the session can be found below.
Defense-State Memorandum of Agreement (DSMOA) As a result of some apparent changes in interpretation of DSMOA policy, in April 2007, ECOS passed a resolution to pursue work with DoD and Congress to address these changes. To pursue this issue with DoD, ECOS sent a letter to Philip Grone, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment, on April 25, 2007 asking for clarification of the changes they have made in interpreting DSMOA policy. On July 23, 2007, ECOS received response letter from DoD clarifying their position.
EIS for Greater-Than-Class C Low-Level Radioactive Waste On July 23, 2007, the Department of Energy issued a Notice of Intent to prepare an environmental impact statement for the disposal of Greater-Than-Class C Low-Level Radioactive Waste. DOE is proposing to evaluate alternatives for disposal in a geologic repository, in intermediate depth boreholes, and in enhanced near surface facilities. Locations that are being considered for storage include the Idaho National Lab, Los Alamos National Lab, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the Nevada Test Site, Yucca Mountain, the Savannah River Site, Oak Ridge Reservation, and the Hanford Site, as well as commercial facilities. Written comments on the Notice of Intent are being accepted until September 21, 2007.
In addition to accepting written comments, a series of public scoping meetings are being held in August and September. To read the full Notice of Intent, to view the list of public scoping meetings, to submit comments, or to learn more about DOE's Greater-Than-Class C Low-Level Radioactive Waste EIS, visit the DOE webpage dedicated to this.
DOE-EM Five-Year Plan The Department of Energy's Environmental Management Office (DOE-EM) has published its five-year plan for fiscal years 2008-2012.
DOE Draft Engineering and Technology Roadmap The Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Office (DOE-EM) has published a draft Roadmap for Engineering and Technology that identifies technology gaps that exist in the current program and contains a strategy to address those gaps. These gaps affect DOE-EM’s efforts to clean up their sites. The roadmap and strategy is divided into three areas: Waste Processing, Groundwater and Soil Remediation, and Deactivation and Decommissioning/Facility Engineering. If you have comments on this document, please send them to Carolyn Hanson by June 15, 2007 so they can be compiled into a set of comments from ECOS.
Long-Term Stewardship Roundtable & Training On April 4-5, 250 people representing 42 states, EPA, local governments and other groups met at the 2007 LTS Roundtable and Training to discuss issues related to long-term stewardship (LTS) and institutional controls. In plenary sessions, participants heard a panel discussion on roles and responsibilities related to LTS and presentations by several companies that offer products that can address data availability and collatoration challenge related to institutional controls. In breakout sessions, attendees had the opportunity to learn about and discuss isues related to financing and costing of LTS; LTS data exchange; LTS and institutional controls tools; optimization; partnerships, roles, and responsibilities; and tracking, implementation, monitoring , and enforcement. Numerouse state representatives made presentations based on experience in their agencies. Copies of the presentations are available on the CLU-In website. DOE's Proposed 2008 Budget for Office of Environmental Management On February 5, DOE released the President’s proposed budget for the department for 2008. While the department’s overall proposed budget reflects an increase of 3% over the 2007 request, the proposed budget for the Office of Environmental Management reflects a 3% decrease below the 2007 request. The largest cut was related to Defense Environmental Cleanup Closure Sites under which the cleanup at several sites including Rocky Flat, Fernald, and Columbus have been completed and transferred to the Office of Legacy Management. The proposed budget also reflects significant budget cuts for most of the Non-Defense Environmental Cleanup Sites such as the
DOD's Efforts Related to Unexploded Ordnance Safety A January 2007 letter from Alex Beehler, Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, briefly describes DoD efforts to educate the public on the hazards of unexploded ordnance (UXO).
2006 Intergovernmental Meeting with DOE Representatives of ECOS, the National Governors Assocation Federal Facilities Task Force, the National Association of Attorneys General, the Energy Communities Alliance, and the State and Tribal Government Working Group met with the Department of Energy on November 29-30 in Arlington, Virginia. At the meeting the groups and DOE shared information related to: DOE's performance-based project management, the current status of Yucca Mountain legislation, DOE's waste disposition strategy, long-term stewardship, DOE's budget, natural resource damage assessment, and the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). In breakout groups, the participants discussed how to improve decision-making, communication, and consultation between DOE and the various groups and their members. Below are links to some of the presentations that were made.
DOE's Waste Information Management System As part of its work to address disposition of waste at its sites, DOE has created WIMS. WIMS allows users to visualize and understand the volumes, categories, and problems of forecasted waste streams. WIMS can be accessed at the link below: 2006 Annual Meeting Notes from the joint meeting of the Federal Facilities Forum and the ECOS-DoD Sustainability Work Group at the 2006 Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon are available here. The presentation by Shannon Cunniff of DoD on DoD's work related to emerging contaminants can be found here. The presentation by Bill Ross of North Carolina that provided an update on the activities of the Southeast Regional Partnership for Planning and Sustainability (SERPPAS) can be found here. 2005 Intergovernmental Meeting with the U.S. Department of Energy Representatives of ECOS, the National Governors Assocation Federal Facilities Task Force, the National Association of Attorneys General, the Energy Communities Alliance, and the State and Tribal Government Working Group met with the Department of Energy on November 9-10 in Washington, DC. At the meeting, the groups and DOE shared information on their activities related to long-term stewardship, natural resources damanges assessment, DOE's End States Initiative, and DOE's new waste disposition strategy. Copies of the presentations made at the meeting can be accessed on the National Governors Association Federal Facilities Task Force website. 2005 Annual Meeting Notes from the Federal Facilities Forum at the 2005 Annual Meeting in Kennebunkport, Maine are available here. The presentation by Cliff Rothenstein and Mark Barolo of EPA's Office of Underground Storage Tanks on USTs and the 2005 Energy Bill can be found here. A summary of the 2005 Energy Bill created for the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) can be accessed here. |
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