Many Voices Working for the Community

Oak Ridge
Site Specific Advisory Board

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Approved November 8, 2000, Meeting Minutes
The Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board (ORSSAB) held its regularly scheduled monthly meeting on Wednesday, November 8, 2000, at the Garden Plaza Hotel in Oak Ridge, beginning at 6:00 p.m. A video tape recording of the meeting was made and may be viewed by calling the SSAB support office at 865-241-3665.

Members Present
Jeff Cange
Mary Lynn Fletcher1
Luther Gibson, Jr., Chair
Tami Hamby
Steve Kopp
Steve Lewis
Avalon Mansfield2
David Mosby, Vice Chair
Bill Pardue
Pat Rush
Peery Shaffer
Lorene Sigal
Darrell Srdoc
Coralie Staley
Kerry Trammell
Scott Vowell
Charles Washington

1Via conference phone
2Student representative

Members Absent
Jake Alexander
Shane Bellis2

Deputy Designated Federal Official and Ex-Officios Present
Rod Nelson, DOE-Oak Ridge Offices (DOE-ORO)
Pat Halsey, DOE-ORO
Connie Jones, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
John Owsley, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC)

Others Present
Sheree Black, SSAB support office
Chuck Jenkins, Bechtel Jacobs Company LLC
Tim Myrick, UT-Battelle
Pete Osborne, SSAB support office

Five members of the public attended the meeting.

Presentation
Mr. Myrick gave a presentation on the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Facilities Revitalization Project (Attachment 1). Information on the project is available on the web at http//: ntser3.cad.ornl.gov/frp. During the presentation, the following questions were asked by SSAB members and the public.

Questioner

Question

Response (abridged)
Charles Washington Has the project undergone a National Environmental Policy Act evaluation? It’s undergoing that evaluation right now.
Scott Vowell What is the incentive for private interests to build at ORNL? Since you can’t build private facilities on DOE land, the intention is to do a deed transfer from DOE to a non-profit UT-Battelle development corporation, which will then lease the land to a developer who will build the buildings and lease them to ORNL.
Have you addressed how you’ll handle private sector organizations subletting their buildings in the future? The leases and building use agreements will specify DOE ORNL mission only.
How much of the "footprint reduction" is related to closure of ORNL’s Y-12 facilities? Roughly 1.2 million square feet.
Is this the first time property in the middle of a DOE reservation will be deeded to private interests? The transfer of land has been done before, but this is the first time for DOE mission related purposes only.
Pat Rush Will the swans stay? Yes.
Will private interests be able to get loans? Yes. All the developers and lending institutions we’ve spoken with have no problem with the long-term leases.
Bill Pardue What happens with the support buildings on the far east end? At the moment we’re leaving them alone. But following completion of Environmental Management (EM) activities in the main campus core, we’d like to take the maintenance functions and site them in the central campus, leaving the old maintenance area for reindustrialization.
Peery Shaffer What deed restrictions will be put in the transfer of land to the UT-Battelle development corporation? There will be restrictions on groundwater and some relating to soil contamination.
What would happen if UT-Battelle were to lose the contract? The leases would transfer to another contractor.
Mary Lynn Fletcher If UT-Battelle loses its contract after 5 years, will it try to recover its costs? There won’t be any costs to recover, only a commitment to stand behind the leasing if occupancy falls below 100%.
Steve Kopp Will UT-Battelle’s fee be affected by the success of this project? Yes, we’ll be rated against our performance plan.
Did Battelle do this at Pacific Northwest Laboratory? Yes, but it was on the Battelle-owned property.
Will the building lessees have any liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)? No. DOE will retain responsibility.
What restrictions will there be on who leases facilities? It will be DOE mission only. The only commercial operators will be those with work-for-others relationships with ORNL.

Deputy Designated Federal Official and Ex-Officio Comments
Mr. Nelson made two announcements:

Mr. Owsley announced that the state has released its environmental justice plan and is currently accepting comments on the document. A summary of the plan will be presented at 5 p.m. on November 14 at the Scarboro Community Center. Copies of the document and additional information are available from TDEC at 1-888-891-TDEC or on the web at http://www.state.tn.us/environment/ epo/ej/plan.

Mr. Owsley announced (in response to a question from Ms. Halsey) that Earl Leming, TDEC DOE Oversight Division Director, will retire at the end of December. A retirement reception will be held November 29. Mr. Pardue suggested the Board send letter to Mr. Leming thanking him for his cooperation and influence on EM activities over the years. The Board concurred, and Mr. Pardue and Mr. Kopp offered to lead an ad-hoc writing committee.

Mr. Lewis asked Mr. Owsley to explain the protocols for offsite sampling around the Oak Ridge Reservation and why the well on his property wasn’t being sampled anymore. Mr. Owsley replied that sampling is performed by TDEC, and results are reported in the TDEC Annual Environmental Monitoring Report. Mr. Owsley was unable to speak to specifics of the sampling program, but he offered to follow up on Mr. Lewis’ question.

Ms. Jones reported that EPA, TDEC, and DOE have been working together to expedite the CERCLA process at East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) by cooperatively authoring a draft proposed plan and feasibility study for Zone 1 of the site. The document should be available for public comment by the end of December. Some innovative outreach activities will be implemented prior to release of the document to better educate and involve the public.

Public Comment
Mr. Norman Mulvenon, Chairman of the Citizens Advisory Panel of the Local Oversight Committee (LOC), invited Board members to the November 14 meeting of the LOC. Paula Cox will speak on the Administrative Record.

Dr. Malcolm Knapp of Parallax, Inc., introduced himself as the facilitator of the phase II water quality investigation project at ETTP. Mr. Gibson informed the Board that he had volunteered at the October 26 Executive Committee meeting to serve as the Board’s liaison to the project. Ms. Hamby volunteered to work on the project as well.

Mr. Robert Jolly, a local stakeholder, asked for information on the Board’s annual budget, how much of the budget is dedicated to travel, and the mechanism for financial disclosure. Mr. Nelson offered to supply Mr. Jolly with the information.

Announcements and Other Board Business
The next Board meeting will be Wednesday, December 13, at the Comfort Inn. The presentation will focus on the proposed plan for ETTP Zone 1.

During the meeting, the Board took the following actions:

Ms. Rush gave a report on Environmental Restoration Committee activities and urged the Board to consider making comment on the Environmental Assessment for Parcel ED-3.

Mr. Gibson gave a report on Executive Committee activities, noting approval of travel requests from Mr. Alexander and Mr. Peery and requests for technical assistance from the Stewardship and Waste Management committees.

Ms. Sigal called members’ attention to three documents: the Tennessee portion of Volume 2 of the National Defense Authorization Act Report; the draft Summary of Long-Term Stewardship Study, prepared by Ms. Sigal for the Denver Stewardship Workshop; and the Long-Term Stewardship Study, which was prepared by DOE to comply with the terms of a settlement agreement in the case of the National Resources Defense Council vs DOE.

Ms. Sigal submitted recommendations from the EMSSAB Stewardship Workshop for consideration and approval at the December 13 Board meeting (Attachment 3). The recommendations are going before all SSABs across the DOE complex and are not open for revision by the individual SSABs.

Mr. Kopp gave a report on Waste Management Committee activities and announced that the committee is planning travel to the Nevada Test Site during the SSAB Chairs’ Meeting, February 7–10. All Board members were invited to consider the opportunity and supply travel requests to Ms. Black.

Mr. Pardue gave a report on the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee (CROET). Several meetings have been canceled for lack of agenda items. CROET may get $2M from DOE for economic development initiatives.

Mr. Osborne gave a report on public outreach activities. Among other actions, staff has recently completed work on an informational booklet designed for distribution at the Information Resource Center and other venues. Mr. Vowell requested that the booklet be distributed to all Board members.

Mr. Pardue discussed a request from the East Tennessee Environmental Business Association for assistance in writing a white paper on the Melton Valley Record of Decision process. Mr. Pardue suggested that Doug Sarno assist since he was involved in the End Use Working Group that studied Melton Valley. The Board agreed that Mr. Pardue should investigate the matter further and bring a recommendation back to the Board.

The meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.

Attachments to these minutes are available upon request from the ORSSAB support office.

Motions and Recommendations
M10/11/00.1
Mr. Pardue moved that the Board write a letter to Earl Leming expressing appreciation for his cooperation and influence on EM activities. Mr. Vowell seconded the motion and the motion was unanimously approved.

M10/11/00.2
Ms. Rush moved to approve the agenda. Mr. Washington seconded the motion and the motion was unanimously approved.

M11/8/00.3
Mr. Mosby moved to approve the amended minutes of the October 11, 2000, Board meeting. Ms. Rush seconded the motion, and the motion was unanimously approved.

M11/8/00.4
Mr. Mosby moved to approve revision to Board Bylaws Article II.B.3.a. Ms. Rush seconded the motion, and the motion was approved, 13 in favor, none opposed, two abstentions (Ms. Rush and Mr. Washington).

M11/8/00.5
Mr. Washington moved that nominations for Board Secretary be closed and that Ms. Staley be elected by acclamation. Ms. Rush seconded the motion, and the motion was unanimously approved (Ms. Fletcher was not available for the vote.)


Respectfully submitted,
Coralie A. Staley, Secretary

CAS/plo

Attachments (3)

Action Items

  1. Mr. Pardue and Mr. Kopp will draft a letter to Mr. Leming expressing appreciation for his cooperation and influence on EM activities. Completed 11/13/00
  2. Mr. Owsley will respond to Mr. Lewis’ request for information on off-site well sampling. Completed 12/13/00. Mr. Owsley added Mr. Lewis to the list for off-site well sampling. Action is to begin after the first of the year.
  3. Staff will distribute to all Board members copies of the November 15 Waste Management Committee agenda. Completed 11/9/00
  4. Staff will distribute copies of the informational booklet to all Board members. Completed 11/13/00
  5. Mr. Nelson will supply Mr. Jolly with information on the Board’s annual budget, how much of the budget is dedicated to travel, and the mechanism for financial disclosure. Completed 11/13/00
  6. Mr. Nelson will arrange for a discussion on conflict of interest at a future Board meeting. (Carryover item from 10/11/00) Completed 11/30/00. Presentation scheduled for January Board meeting

1 Motion

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