Piketon is the only major site in the country under order for an environmental cleanup without having an advisory board representing the interests of citizens near the site.  Cleanup of the contamination at Piketon was mandated in 1989 through a Consent Agreement between the US Dept. of Energy (DOE) and the EPA. Piketon’s gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment plant was shut down in 2001.  For the past several years the DOE has ignored demands by local residents for an advisory board that would have input on decisions being made at site.  The DOE has even reneged on its own meager commitment to meet with the public twice a year in a DOE-controlled 2-hour “public update meeting.”  Far from any semblance of democratic process, the semi-annual “public update meetings” at least provided a few minutes for local people to vocalize their concerns over the stalled cleanup and the secrecy surrounding the many goings-on at the site.  Now the DOE has cancelled three of the past four meetings, offering no reason.

Contrast this with the experience just two hours west of here at the DOE’s former Fernald uranium production site near Cincinnati.  At Fernald a federally-chartered Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) made up of local people was directly involved in decisions made over the 13 years of that site’s environmental cleanup.  Questions about the level of cleanup, where to put the contaminated materials, the target date for completion, and the permissible future use of the site were all matters that were decided by the Fernald Citizens Advisory Board in recommendations to the DOE.  Those recommendations became the foundation for Fernald’s successful cleanup and its end use.  In fact, the Fernald CAB became a model for establishing ten additional CABs at DOE sites across the country.  Only at Piketon have the people been completely shut out of decision-making in matters that profoundly affect their lives.  This could well be an environmental justice issue, with Piketon being a rural area with a low-income population and serious unemployment.

For the past year the Southern Ohio Neighbors Group (SONG) has been alerting the community that the DOE may be in violation of environmental laws that mandate the creation of a CAB for Piketon.  SONG has taken a leading role in demanding that the site be cleaned up, that the storage of high-level nuclear waste be prohibited, and that an authentic CAB be created. SONG presented DOE with nearly 5,000 signatures from local and regional people laying out these three demands.  An exception was made to include the signatures of 2 people outside the region who met with SONG and pledged their support—Erin Brockovich and Lois Gibbs. 

After years of silence and disregard to community demands, in Aug. of 2007 DOE rushed to put together its own version of a CAB.  The sudden interest in community involvement coincided with DOE issuing a “Critical Decision-1” order, which states that the buildings are now surplus and that decommissioning and decontamination can begin.  While DOE acts like the buildings are just now inactive, they have actually been out of production since 2001 when operations shut down.saying the plant was on "cold standby" (rather than surplus) they were able to pretend that operations might start up again.Lots of public money went into maintaining salaries, maintaining empty hopes, keeping nuclear fat cats eating frompublic trough, and stalling the cleanup for 6 years.Had the buildings been declared "surplus" in 2001, cleanup could have proceeded then.Many people believe the stall was a way of holding a place for the storage of high-level radioactive waste.

Since the DOE had done nothing in the past 55 years to identify and work with stakeholder groups at Piketon, people are suspicious of DOE’s timing.  We fear that the DOE may attempt to create a whitewash committee.  This fear is well founded, since whistleblower information has surfaced about an agreement between DOE and a business consortium, SONIC, to empty the buildings of old equipment and then stuff them full of the nation’s high-level radioactive waste from reactors across the country.  The plan involves “interim” storage of the hordes of irradiated fuel that DOE is stuck with now that the Yucca Mountain, Nevada repository is proving to be a no-go. SONIC also let the cat out of the bag in a document that became public last spring, in which they referred to an earlier proposal they submitted to the DOE for the creation of a spent nuclear fuel storage facility at Piketon.  Through the Freedom of Information Act, SONG has demanded that the DOE make this proposal public, but so far the DOE has failed to do so. 

Citizens Advisory Boards are supposed to foster trust; in this case, between the DOE and the people most affected by the DOE’s decisions.  Given the DOE’s abrupt turn-around in the matter of setting up a CAB at Piketon, it is crucial that the public understand its options regarding CABs. At Fernald the CAB was put together after several months during which time an independent convener (who had no ties to the DOE) interviewed candidates to include a broad range of affected people.  Candidates were sought through public meetings, mass mailings, recommendations from public interest groups and stakeholder organizations.  The Fernald advisory board was chartered by the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).  This charter defined the group as an independent public body established to provide policy and technical advice to the regulating agencies and it gave the board legal teeth to carry out its advice.  Advisory board members were given access to extensive technical trainings.  FACA also disallows people with financial conflicts of interest from serving on an advisory board.

At Piketon, the DOE has stated that it’s not necessary to set up a CAB chartered under FACA.  Bill Murphie, DOE Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office Manager, has publicly stated that a more “informal” group of people working with him should do just dandy for Piketon; no need for all those messy restrictions and legal guidelines.  Word has also leaked out that the DOE is giving a lead role in forming Piketon’s “advisory board” to SODI (Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative).   SODI is a business partner in SONIC!  No need for pesky laws about conflict of interest and transparency.

A genuine CAB at Piketon chartered under the FACA is the only way to ensure that the people of the Piketon region have any real say-so over clean-up of the contamination and over what happens next at this publicly-owned site.  

What You Can Do: Contact James Rispoli, DOE Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management at 202-589-7709 or and tell him you insist on the formation of an authentic, long overdue Citizens Advisory Board at Piketon. Insist that the DOE comply with FOIA law and make public the proposal submitted to them by SONIC to store high-level radioactive waste at Piketon.

Get involved!  Contact Lorry Swain at 606-932-2383 or . Get lots of information at the SONG website at <www.OhioNeighbors.org>.  Contact Pat Marida, Chair of the Ohio Sierra Club Nuclear Issues Committee, if you are interested in getting updated information on the Club’s nuclear work in Ohio or if you are interested in being part of  the committee: 614-890-7865 or .

Editorial note:  Moderators taking testimony from the DOE and citizens at Piketon have written a statement critical of the DOE and vindicating the citizen’s request for a CAB.  Stay tuned for more information!