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| | | published Tuesday, October 31, 2006 | 1821 Views :: 0 Comments | |  |
Alliance for Nuclear Accountability
A national network of organizations working to address issues of
nuclear weapons production and waste cleanup
October 31, 2006
Theodore A. Wyka
Complex 2030 SEIS Document Manager
Office of Transformation
U.S. Department of Energy
NA–10.1, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW.
Washington, DC 20585.
RE: Extension of Public Comment Process and Addition of Hearing Locations
Dear Mr. Wyka:
We recently received the Notice of Intent to Prepare a Supplement to the Stockpile Stewardship and Management Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement—
Complex 2030. Due to the significance of this document for the future of U.S. nuclear weapons policy and the associated environmental and health effects that could flow from decisions made in this document, we urge you to extend the public comment period on the scoping process for this document and add public hearings for the City of Livermore and Kansas City.
The Department of Energy must hold additional scoping hearings to allow participation
by the greatest number of local residents. For example, the scoping hearing for the City of Livermore is only scheduled to be held during the day from 11am – to 3pm, when many residents are working. It is necessary to hold a hearing in the evening which will allow more people to attend.
The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) is a network of more than 30 local, regional and national peace and environmental groups representing the concerns of communities near U.S. nuclear weapons sites and radioactive waste dumps. Since 1987, we have brought transparency to the operations of the U.S. Department of Energy to address pollution, obsolete and unsafe facilities, and worked to stop nuclear weapons testing.
In order to provide a fair and equitable opportunity to comment, DOE must extend the comment period. Based on our experience, we believe that the holidays are not the best time to conduct a scoping process. People are busy with holiday preparations and are often out of town. It is for this reason that the public comment period should be extended for at least sixty (60) days to March 17, 2006.
Given Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s high profile in the nuclear weapons complex, two hearings are not sufficient to elicit public opinion. Also, ANA feels that communities around the Kansas City Plant, a site affected by the Complex 2030 plan, have the right to voice their opinions to the Department of Energy.
As you are aware, the purpose of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is to ensure that governmental decision-making is conducted on the basis of sufficient and sound information and in a manner than ensures public participation. It is essential that this process incorporates the unique local perspective of the affected communities and enables them to learn about projects through public hearings and public documents.
ANA and its member groups have submitted extensive comments on many NEPA documents over the years and have facilitated thoughtful dialogue and informed debate on these issues through the public hearings and the media. It is clear to us that in order to successfully gather public input on this scoping process, you will need to extend the public comment period and hold additional hearings.
Should you have any questions or comments, please contact me either by phone or email to susangordon-at-earthlink-dot-net.
Sincerely,
Susan Gordon
Director
(PDF of this letter here)
Seattle Office: 1914 North 34th St., Suite 407, Seattle, WA 98103, 206/547-3175, Fax: 206/547-7158
Washington, DC Office: 322 4th Street NE, Washington, DC 20002, 202/544-0217, Fax: 202/544-6143
www.ananuclear.org |
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