I. LOCAL GOVERNMENT ROLE IN DOE DECISION-MAKING

BACKGROUND

Local governments are responsible for the health and safety of communities affected by past, current or proposed U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) actions and must be consulted on a pre-decisional basis. Early involvement of these elected and appointed officials is critical for establishing trust among communities, regulators, DOE, and other citizens. Such input includes the full range of technical, socio-economic, and risk-based issues that impact the health, safety and welfare of the affected communities.

ISSUES

Local governments are charged with specific legal mandates under state and federal laws, and serve as stewards of public resources and assets. Local governments are responsible for land use planning and control and as such represent the citizens with the primary stake in DOE site decisions. Local governments and DOE must work together to have safe, secure, and compatible land uses surrounding the sites.

Further, local governments support DOE by creating a high quality of life for DOE’s employees and their contractors. These entities are responsible for service delivery to support the additional demand due to DOE, even if services are provided pursuant to state law. Local governments provide functions that DOE needs such as the following:

• Police, fire, emergency response, and medical services.
• Utility and transportation infrastructure.
• Land use planning.
• Education, health and social services.
• Political support for DOE activities.
• Repositories for historical artifacts, information, and cultural resources.

Because local officials represent the first line of communication with the citizens and are held accountable to their constituency, DOE should turn first and foremost to local governments for consultation. Public participation should play an important role in DOE decision-making, but public meetings, DOE created advisory boards, and community reuse organizations (CROs) are not a substitute for direct communication and interaction with affected local governments. Local governments should be engaged in decision-making by DOE as official representatives of their communities.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In order to maintain a healthy and productive relationship with local governments, DOE should work to:

1.  Create a formal mechanism for working with local governments. The local governments should have a funded seat at the table in discussions of and decisions about the site’s federal facilities agreement (FFA) and state oversight agreements. Resources must be available to support the local government’s capability to participate in all relevant DOE decision-making. Local governments need to have a substantive role in:

1. Emergency response planning and training.
2. Homeland Security.
3. Cleanup agreements at DOE sites (especially where long-term stewardship/legacy management will be relied upon).
4. Land use planning on DOE facilities, especially where DOE is considering “downsizing” the facility/site.
5. Transfer of land from DOE for new, nonfederal uses, as well as federal uses pursuant to a Natural Resources Damages Assessment Claim, and conveyance to other state or federal agencies.
6. Economic development assistance.
7. Payments in Lieu of Taxes for local government support functions; e.g. education.

2.  Ease the budgetary burdens on local governments by providing financial assistance to cover public service and infrastructure needs expanded to accommodate DOE missions. DOE is in part dependent on services provided by local governments and places a significant extra burden on those services without paying taxes to support those services. At many sites, local governments have increased their capabilities (utilities and schools are good examples), then have been hit by DOE downsizing that results in overcapacity, which itself is costly to maintain and causes economic disruption.

3. Negotiate with local governments regarding economic transition and reuse of its sites. Local governments are a key driver of economic development, conversion and job replacement for their communities. DOE must consult with local governments regarding its management practices (e.g., workforce assignment, community investment, residency incentives, contracting and procurement) as they affect the community. DOE and its contractors should make a dedicated effort to contract for goods and services in the immediate local community. Some local governments currently have or may assume legal, administrative or regulatory roles at DOE sites post-closure and post-cleanup. Such institutional relationships should be formally established now so that they will be well-defined at the time the sites are assumed by DOE’s Legacy Management organization.

4. Include local government input in the DOE contracting process. The DOE contracts impact communities significantly. Local governments have interests in ensuring that contractors have incentives to become part of the community while accomplishing DOE’s missions. Where local governments have participated in this contracting process DOE and the communities have benefited.