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Organized By The National Governors Association Federal Facilities Task Force In Association With The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection Bureau of Federal Facilities |
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Organized By The National Governors Association Federal Facilities Task Force In Association With The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection Bureau of Federal Facilities |
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This is an Archive File  The National Governors' Association NGA NGA is the only bipartisan national organization of, by, and for the nation's Governors. Its members are the Governors of the fifty states, the commonwealths of the Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico, and the territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. NGA was founded in 1908 after the Governors met with President Theodore Roosevelt to discuss conservation issues. The NGA Center for Best Practices is a 501(c) 3 corporation that is governed by a board of four Governors who report to NGA’s Executive Committee. The board recommends Center priorities, provides direction to Center projects, and approves the Center’s annual budget.Clean-up of the Nuclear Weapons Complex is one of the focus areas for the Center activities. Since 1993, the NGA Center for Best Practices has been working with states hosting weapons production and research facilities to aid them in discussing and negotiating waste and disposal issues among themselves and with DOE. This work led to the successful negotiation in 1995 of approximately forty-eight cleanup agreements between states (or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) and DOE. It also provides an opportunity for continuing dialogue on waste treatment, nuclear materials disposition, and waste disposal options. A Task Force composed of state regulators and Governors’ policy advisors guides project activities. Project activities center around periodic task force meetings that are open to federal and state regulators. Long-Term Stewardship (LTS) is now a key focus areas for the Task Force.
NGA Federal Facilities Task Force Collective Message to DOE - April 11, 2001
NGA Long-Term Stewardship Project Activities
NGA has formed a LTS Steering Committee made up of interested members of the NGA Federal Facilities Task Force. This committee will develop policy recommendations and maintain a continued focus on LTS and emphasize its importance in, and inseparability from, current cleanup planning. LTS committee members include: Dan Miller, Chair (CO), Steve Tarlton (CO), Tom Winston, Co-Chair (OH), Tuss Taylor (KY), Paul Liebendorfer/John Walker (NV), Mike Grainey (OR), John Owsley (TN), and Max Power (WA). NGA plans to undertake the activities described below to facilitate an effective state/DOE dialogue on long-term stewardship. Short-Term Tasks and Products
1. Produce a report summarizing ongoing LTS activities and research. This would include a status update and synthesis of LTS work, with an annotated bibliography. This paper will serve as a “scorecard” to help understand which organization is working on which issues, and will identify gaps that need to be filled. (Additional work elements may logically flow out of this analysis. One example of a gap that may need to be filled is the need to develop an annotated model state statute creating a uniform hazardous waste easement). 2. Track DOE’s LTS Strategic Plan and develop a consolidated state response. 3. Track DOE’s LTS “Roadmap” and develop a consolidated state response. 4. DOE’s “National Study” (PEIS settlement study) provides DOE’s perspective on many LTS issues, but it does not make policy recommendations—presumably such policy issues would be taken up by the next administration. This is an excellent opportunity for the states to weigh in with constructive leadership that will help influence the next administration. Working through the NGA LTS steering committee, we will help states in providing substantive comments to DOE on the study. This task will be coordinated with other state groups, e.g., NAAG, STGWG. The Notice of Availability was published in the FEDERAL REGISTER October 31, 2000 (65 FR 64934) - 123KB PDF file. Comments are due December 15, 2000. Comments were submitted by NGA and several states. We will track and review changes to any revised document issued by DOE. 5. Work with NGA’s Natural Resources Committee to draft either an amendment to NGA’s policy regarding compliance at federal facilities or alternatively proposing a new policy for consideration at NGA’s 2001 summer meeting that would state DOE must maintain focus on, and funding for LTS with a discrete organizational home within DOE. 6. Establish and maintain ongoing liaison between states and DOE; coordinate with ECOS, NAAG, ECA, STGWG, RFF, ASTSWMO, EMAB, and ITRC. 7. Mantain this LTS website in order to share information about what is happening at sites, status of LTS budget, calendar, and other information as efficiently and expediently as possible. 8. Organize and hold a Coordination Meeting in order to capture synergy among efforts. Participants will include staff from NGA, ECA, NAAG, ECOS/GETF, STGWG/NCSL, ELI, and RFF. Among other things, coordinate outreach on LTS issues to other federal agencies including: Interior, DoD, GSA, EPA, and NRC. 9. Review DOE’s Report to Congress under NDAA (the data report) and coordinate a consolidated state response. 10. Compile and summarize information about successes and failures of institutional controls and why and how the failures could be avoided.
Long-Term Tasks and Products
1. Prepare a “Handbook” of Best Practices for long-term stewardship. Standalone portions of the handbook will be issued as work progresses. The handbook will focus on the following: Define objectives and key principles for stewardshipDefine role of the states: authority and responsibility, and local authority via state lawList of things to be dealt with in order to do LTS rightAddress both on-site and off-site actions needed to carry out LTSBuild out of field experience: Use site-specific efforts to learn about optionsConsider drafting a Model Agreement between DOE and a State regarding LTSProvide options for enforceability under RCRA, CERCLA, UMTRA, and AEA models2. Produce a report titled Building Confidence for an Uncertain Future. This report will describe the issues and the facts regarding LTS, including a detailed discussion of roles and responsibilities for performing LTS, including requirements for a plan to reduce the footprint/costs over time, contingency plans, metrics to recognize problems, assured understanding of why controls must be maintained, possible funding mechanisms, and local land use control mechanisms. The report will serve as a primer for Governors [and congressional staff] on the issue and will likely lead to additional specific policy positions by the Governors. The report will synthesize progress toward the development of a well-thought-through stewardship process that builds the states’ and public’s confidence both in current cleanup decisions and that, in spite of the uncertainty of the future, stewardship will be effective in protecting human health and the environment. 3. Identify need for federal legislation on long-term stewardship: Declaration of overarching policyStatutory authority and framework for federal agencies to do LTS Clarify status of “151(b)” sitesIdentify roadblocks to incorporating LTS concerns
Other Possible Tasks
1. Analyze CERCLA RODs: how many require institutional controls, how many have been implemented? Key Long-Term Stewardship Issues for GovernorsFundingRoles and responsibilities (federal, state, local, private)Institutional controls (many issues, including enforcement)Legislative needsData and information management infrastructure for LTSLTS at NNSA sites: access to information, etc.The site-specific LTS plan: content and processR&D to develop better treatment, monitoring, and institutional controls
Related Information NGA Center for Best Practices Clean-up of the Nuclear Weapons Complex |
