Stewardship Planning & Stewardship Planning &

Local Governments: Local Governments: What’s Next?What’s Next?

David M. Abelson

Executive Director, Rocky Flats Stewardship CouncilPrincipal, Crescent Strategies, LLC

Intergovernmental Meeting, November 29, 2006

What is Long-Term Stewardship? Stewardship:Stewardship: “the conducting,

supervising, or managing of something; especially : the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care <stewardship of our natural resources>” (Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Long-term:Long-term: depends on ones perspective, on funding, on politics, on local interests, on planning horizons, on cultural views… (Source: lessons learned at DOE sites)

The Omniscient Ones Cleanup issues “are not solely legal, technical or economic

ones, but also speak to the ethics and values of the community.” (Rocky Flats Stewardship Dialogue Planning Group, Beyond Closure: Stewardship At Rocky Flats, 1999)

“In relying on long-term stewardship controls, the issue is not simply one of developing engineered barriers and land use controls that are based on technical risk assessment but also of values, political negotiations, and trust. …” (Center for Public Environmental Oversight, Re-Evaluating Remedies: Strengthening Public Involvement in Long-Term Stewardship, 2005)

“Successful environmental cleanups are not limited to reducing risk and thus minimizing the federal government’s liability; rather success is also predicated on substantively incorporating the local community’s values into the cleanup process, which in certain cases has led to additional cleanup beyond a strictly risk-based cleanup.” (ECA, The Politics of Cleanup, November 2006 (draft))

What is the Goal of Cleanup?(Is there a singular goal?) Is the goal of remediating DOE sites…

To reduce DOE’s liability? To reduce DOE’s liability and ensure site is an asset for

the local community? Is there a difference?

Who answers this question and who decides what it means for site to be an asset? DOE, the regulators, Congress, local community?

Different parties have different goals and different understandings of success

Stewardship and the definition of “long-term” are core to answering these questions

Oak Ridge, Mound, and Rocky Flats Lesson learned – Answers to questions must be

resolved locally with an eye towards the national framework

There is no singular answer as cookie-cutter approaches do not work Oak Ridge: Cleanup comes within framework of

ongoing mission (Steward: DOE but not Legacy Management)

Mound: Cleanup is end of DOE mission with community ownership of site (Steward: Local development corporation)

Rocky Flats: Cleanup does not end federal mission or ownership (Stewards: DOE-Legacy Management and US Fish & Wildlife Service)

Common Challenges Defining site-specific future uses and ensuring

long-term funding sources to support such uses Balancing local objectives with DOE objectives

(and navigating the difficult waters of Congressional appropriations and DOE precedent)

Agreeing to acceptable level(s) of future risk, including balancing technical risk with community perceptions of risk

Developing mechanisms for local community to be substantively involved in decision making process “Partnership, however, can be a dubious term, when the

capacity and ability of two partners to influence decisions is grossly unequal.” (Center for Public Environmental Oversight)

DOE Left Hand versus Right Hand In creating LM, DOE and Congress have increased

institutional oversight critical to effective stewardship management: Developed program office dedicated to managing

remediated sites Created budget line-item, which is essential to ensuring

sufficient funding for post-closure activities Downside is that stewardship planning has been

bifurcated – LM is largely not involved in EM decision making and there is no clear program authority within EM charged with integrating stewardship planning and remedy selection

In certain cases DOE steward is not LM but is EM, Science or another program office – additional set of challenges Lack of clarity as to who has stewardship responsibilities

when EM or Science retains remediated portion of site

Role of Local Governments Local governments are asset holders and are

closest to the community Key to the success for both cleanup and

stewardship Must be part of solution where lack of regulatory

role should not diminish standing What is the role of local government?

Advise? Consent? Something more substantive?

How does the local government role change if they assume ownership of site?

The 5th Beatle – little credit on album but critical to success