[CPEO-MEF] PADUCAH CITIZENS ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS RESIGNING IN PROTEST

[loc@icx.net]

Media Statement
For Immediate Release
August 14, 2003

PADUCAH CITIZENS ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS RESIGNING IN PROTEST


U. S. Department of Energy Citizens Advisory boards were established 
after hard fought gains by people who lived in the shadow of DOE nuclear
processing facilities.  During the 1990s the many years of silence and 
secrecy gave way to the right of the public to know the dangers in which 
they lived.  This led to the establishment of the Site Specific Advisory 
Boards now informally referred to as Citizens Advisory Boards (CABs). 
DOE has made a substantial investment of resources and time in the CABs 
in order to establish a dialogue and credibility within the local 
communities in the region of these facilities.  Although Paducah was one 
of the last of the major DOE sites to get an advisory board, public 
involvement reform did purport to come to Paducah in 1996 in the face of 
local pressure and national organization oversight.

Many of us who had been involved in DOE activities before formation of 
the Board decided to give DOE the benefit of the doubt and to 
participate in the Citizens Advisory Board process.  Some of us who 
signed this statement joined after the formation of the Board.  All of 
us had hoped that as Board members we would be able to have meaningful 
input into DOE's decision-making process.  After all, these boards are 
chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).  The purpose 
of this act is to insure that federal advisory boards operate under 
strict guidelines and reflect a balanced, wide range of views.  However, 
we have been disappointed.  Our tenure on this Board has been difficult 
due to the lack of information from DOE combined with the lack of 
dedicated support staff and the failure of DOE to take board points of 
view and recommendations seriously.  Now difficult has turned into 
impossible and impossible has turned into embarrassing.  We are 
accomplishing nothing, but we are spending tens of thousands of dollars 
of public money with little or no accounting.  This is the shared view 
of all seven of us who now submit our resignations from this Board.  We 
can no longer be a part of this failure, a failure that has to be laid 
directly upon the DOE.

Some of the most critical reasons it has become intolerable to stay on 
the CAB are as follows:

1.    There is no difference in being involved as a general citizen in 
DOE public participation activities compared to being a Board member. 
Yet the Board is costing the taxpayers $200,000 a year or more. What's 
worse is that Board members cannot even get access to detailed records 
about how contractors are spending CAB money.  It is becoming 
embarrassing to be a part of this waste of money at a time when the rest 
of the public is being cut out of the process and cleanup money is being
jeopardized.  This is not to say that public participation is not an 
important part of an agency such as the DOE.  The DOE has a legal 
obligation and a civic duty to involve the public in its decision-making 
process. However, the Paducah CAB process is not providing the public 
with the information necessary to fulfill those obligations and duties, 
yet it is spending a good portion of the public participation budget.

2.    DOE is not providing the CAB with information in a timely manner 
to allow it to do its job despite the Board's continuing complaints 
about this problem.  In some cases, the DOE officials seem to be  making 
it difficult to obtain key information about environmental problems at 
the site that could be important in cleaning up the site and surrounding 
lands. (Apparently, some of this is done deliberately to hide problems 
in their proposed processes.)

3.    Recently, the DOE handpicked a new Board member bypassing the 
Board's procedures.  Such action interferes with the balance the Board
is supposed to maintain.

4.    The fact that the Board's administrative staff works for the main 
cleanup contractor appears to be a conflict of interest.  It is 
particularly troubling that the very Company that provides the Board 
with information and support reports to the prime contractor for the 
cleanup work at the PGDP.  This systematic conflict of interest 
adversely affects the Board's ability to get information and do its work.

5.    DOE's rejection of existing cleanup agreements and abuse of the 
dispute resolution procedure in the Federal Facilities Agreement has 
made it virtually impossible for the public, including the Board, to 
keep up with and be involved in the progress of the attempted resolution 
of these disputes.  Resolution of these disputes is at the core of any 
progress being made in site cleanup.

6.    DOE has distanced itself from public input by moving the decision 
process to Lexington and by putting Bill Murphie in charge.  Now all 
major decisions and discussions are taking place far from Paducah where 
neither the Board nor the public has access or input to these 
discussions. This shows a lack of faith in public input and in the 
Board.  The Board has become a public involvement hoax.

7.    DOE continues to reject recommendations from the Board. This makes 
our efforts even more meaningless.

8.    DOE's actions indicate a desire to ignore fundamental federal 
regulations that pertain directly to the cleanup and handling of waste 
materials (i.e. hazardous/toxic waste treatment through blending).

9.    DOE indicates a willingness to support violations of DOE 
guidelines meant to promote the free flow of information pertaining to 
the correction of environmental problems.

10.    De facto removal of the DOE site manager without any explanation 
caused us grave concern.  He was the first and only DOE manager to show 
that he was really serious abut getting to the heart of issues and 
having an honest debate.  Was this person removed because he was, as 
they say, "acting too much like a regulator"?  We have no idea:  he 
simply vanished from the process with no official DOE word on the matter.

The resigning CAB members are not saying that the public should not be 
concerned and involved in public oversight on DOE's cleanup activities 
at the Paducah site.  Indeed, it is critical that citizens become 
involved in these activities.  However, it borders on public deception 
to present the Board as a public involvement vehicle.  Those now leaving 
the Board intend to remain involved in all DOE public involvement 
processes, including meeting together to discuss current issues from 
time to time.  Too much money has been wasted on the sham cleanup at the 
Paducah DOE site.  Unfortunately, now we believe we can make more of a 
difference off the Board than on it.  The resigning members no longer 
want to be a part of this waste.  Instead, we want to speak out loud and 
clear as independent citizens to help our community confront the huge 
environmental and economic problems at the facility in a way that is 
sustainable both environmentally and economically.

    Merryman Kemp, Chair   270 442-7636
    Mark Donham            618 564-3367
    Ronald Lamb            270 462-3636
    Craig Rhodes           618 564-2645
    Rosa Scott             270 442-7814
    John Tillson           270 898-4332
    Greg Waldrop           270 444-9997


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.....................................................
Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director
Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee
102 Robertsville Road, Suite B, Oak Ridge, TN 37830
Toll free 888-770-3073 ~ www.local-oversight.org
.....................................................

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