II. ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION AND LONG-TERM STEWARDSHIP

BACKGROUND

The Department of Energy (DOE) relies on long-term stewardship as a critical component of its risk based remediation strategies.

ISSUES

By creating the Office of Legacy Management (LM) and in turn moving the stewardship management responsibilities from Environmental Management (EM) to LM, DOE is moving post-closure stewardship activities to an office that may not be part of the remedy and long-term stewardship tool selection. The possibility that remediation planning and implementation (an EM responsibility) and planning and implementation for long-term stewardship (an LM responsibility) will be bifurcated is real. Thus, ECA is concerned that DOE may not sufficiently meet its cleanup obligations to consider the long-term effectiveness of remedies when selecting remediation options.

The issue is of great importance as contamination will remain at approximately 109 DOE sites at levels that will preclude unrestricted use of land, surface and/or groundwater. With these restrictions come the need to maintain systems that adequately protect human health and the environment for 100 years, 10,000 years and even longer at some sites.

Of particular concern to local governments is the evidence that suggets land use controls, institutional controls and other stewardship measures are not reliable over the long term and not enforceable for the life of the contaminants. The lack of clear roles between DOE, state and federal regulators, and local governments in implementing long-term stewardship remains a significant concern. Similarly, DOE’s and Congress’ insistence to fund stewardship through annual appropriations raises the specter that sufficient funds will not be provided to properly implement long-term stewardship for the life of the contaminants.

Local governments are charged with the health and safety of their communities and accountable for specific legal mandates under state and federal laws and serve as stewards of public resources such as land and revenue, including land use planning and control. ECA is committed to working with DOE to have a substantive role along with the federal government, agencies and state governments, in long-term stewardship planning and implementation to protect the human health, welfare and the environment in their communities.

Yet while local governments may be relied upon to implement long-term stewardship, these governments are not provided with a substantive role and are not permitted to adequately participate in the formal environmental remediation decision-making process at DOE sites in, or adjacent to, their communities. DOE’s risk-based end-state policy and corresponding implementation guidance relegates local governments to a limited, cursory role.

Finally, DOE still lacks a complete national long-term stewardship policy and implementation plan. DOE must address implementation, enforceability and funding of long-term stewardship before local communities will fully support DOE’s reliance on long-term stewardship as part of environmental cleanups.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In order to fully address the requirements of environmental remediation and long-term stewardship, DOE must consider the following issues:

1.   Substantive Role for Local Governments:Local governments must have a formal role in the remedy decision-making process, especially where they will be relied upon to implement the remedy. In addition, DOE must continue to involve local governments in DOE long-term stewardship decision-making at a national level.

2.  Preference for Permanent Remedies:Wherever possible, DOE facilities should be cleaned up to a level that allows unrestricted use, avoids long-term stewardship liabilities for the federal government and necessitates minimal long-term stewardship systems to implement.

3.  Planning for Stewardship:Planning for site disposition and stewardship needs to be more systematic and include the identification and involvement of all parties that may have a role in stewardship activities, including local governments. With the creation of DOE’s Office of Legacy Management, this goal will be increasingly difficult to achieve as stewardship planning is split between at least two DOE program offices.

1. A national policy on long-term stewardship should be developed within each DOE office that manages real property The policy should include an outline of the potential roles of various parties, address the limitations of relying upon stewardship as a remedy and identify Office of Environmental Management, National Nuclear Security Agency and Office of Legacy Management roles and responsibilities.
2. DOE must recognize the local land use policies and laws to understand the tools available to implement long-term stewardship.

4.   Contingency Planning:The federal government should take seriously the National Research Council report, Long-Term Institutional Management of U.S. Department of Energy Legacy Waste Sites. One key recommendation in that report states that DOE must ensure “planning for uncertainty and fallibility, development of appropriate incentive structures; undertaking necessary scientific, technical, and social research and development; and planning to maximize follow-through on phased, iterative and adaptive long-term institutional management approaches at sites where contaminants remain.” These contingencies must be included in long-term stewardship planning at both DOE Headquarters and the field level, and such contingency planning must be discussed with local governments and the regulatory agencies.

5.   Funding for Long-Term Stewardship:Funding sources for stewardship activities must be clearly identified and must be adequate and reliable to ensure that remedies can be effectively implemented for the life of the contaminants. DOE has yet to explain how stewardship funding will be immune from the historic cycles in the federal budget process which could cause a raid on critical stewardship funding.

6.   Implementation of Cleanup:

1. Environmental Contamination:To deal with long-term stewardship failures when they occur, the federal government should ensure that local governments are provided detailed characterization and environmental contamination information that is documented, mapped and comprehensive.
2. Technological Advances:The federal government must implement a systematic process for reevaluating and modifying cleanup end states to ensure that developments in science, technology and other knowledge that becomes available are incorporated into long-term stewardship strategies.
3. Recordkeeping:The success of long-term stewardship activities requires a record management facility at or near the location of the stewardship activities that is accessible to the community and compatible with the local government’s recordkeeping system. National and local records management facilities that local communities can easily access will be required to maintain duplicate records as failsafe measures.