DOE/EIS-0236, Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Stockpile Stewardship and Management () Volume 4 Chapter 1 Introduction Public Hearing Format Organization of this Comment Response Document How to Use this Comment Response Document Changes from the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement Chapter 2: Comment Documents Public Hearing: Los Alamos, New Mexico not available electronically Public Hearing: Albuquerque, New Mexico not available electronically Public Hearing: Las Vegas, Nevada not available electronically Public Hearing: Oak Ridge, Tennessee not available electronically Public Hearing: Kansas City, Missouri not available electronically Public Hearing: Livermore, California not available electronically Public Hearing: Washington, D.C. not available electronically Public Hearing: Amarillo, Texas not available electronically Public Hearing: Santa Fe, New Mexico not available electronically Public Hearing: North Augusta, South Carolina not available electronically All Public Hearings not available electronically Chapter 3: Comment Summaries and Responses Land Resources Site Infrastructure Air Quality Water Resources Geology and Soils Biotic Resources Cultural and Paleontological Socioeconomics Intersite Transportation Waste Management Radiation and Hazardous Chemicals Environmental Justice Cumulative Impacts Stewardship-Contained Firing Facility Stewardship-National Ignition Facility Stewardship-Atlas Facility Management-Weapons Assembly/Disassembly Management-Nonnuclear Components Management-Pits Management-Secondaries and Cases Management-Weapons Assembly/Disassembly Management-High Explosives Components Nuclear Weapons Policies Regulatory Compliance Relationship to Other DOE Programs/Activities General/Miscellaneous Environmental file:///I|/Data%20Migration%20Task/EIS-0236-FEIS-04-1996/Vol4toc.htm[6/27/2011 2:26:44 PM] DOE/EIS-0236, Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Stockpile Stewardship and Management () List of Figures Comments From Private Individuals Comments From Organizations and Public Officials List of Tables Public Hearing Locations, Attendance, and Comment Summaries Document and Comment Submission Overview Issue Categories Table 1.3-2. Index of Attendance at Public Hearings Index of Commentors, Private Individuals Index of Commentors, Organizations, and Public Officials Comment Document and Summary Locator Comments Sorted by Summary Code file:///I|/Data%20Migration%20Task/EIS-0236-FEIS-04-1996/Vol4toc.htm[6/27/2011 2:26:44 PM] DOE/EIS-0236, Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Stockpile Stewardship and Management () CHAPTER 1: Public Comment Process This chapter of the Comment Response Document describes the public comment process for the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Stockpile Stewardship and Management and the procedure used in responding to those comments. Section 1.1 describes the means through which comments were acquired, summarized, and numbered. Section 1.2 discusses the public hearing format that was used to solicit comments from the public. Section 1.3 describes the organization of this document as well as how the comments were categorized, addressed, and documented. Section 1.3 also provides guidance on the use of this document to assist the reader. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the major comments and changes to the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Stockpile Stewardship and Management resulting from the public comment process. 1.1 Introduction In February 1996, the Department of Energy (DOE) published the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for Stockpile Stewardship and Management , which described and analyzed alternative ways to implement the proposed actions for the Stockpile Stewardship and Management Program. DOE developed the Program to provide a single highly integrated technical program for maintaining the safety and reliability of the nuclear stockpile in the absence of underground nuclear testing. The 60-day public comment period for the Stockpile Stewardship and Management Draft PEIS began on March 8, 1996, and ended on May 7, 1996. During the comment period, public hearings were held in Los Alamos, NM; Las Vegas, NV; Albuquerque, NM; Oak Ridge, TN; Kansas City, MO; Livermore, CA; Washington, DC; Amarillo, TX; Santa Fe, NM; and North Augusta, SC. Figure 1.1-1 shows the locations and dates of the hearings. Five of those public hearings were joint meetings to obtain comments on both the Stockpile Stewardship and Management Draft PEIS and the Storage and Disposition of Weapons-Usable Fissile Materials Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Storage and Disposition Draft PEIS) (DOE/EIS-0229-D, February 1996). Two of the joint meetings (Pantex Plant [Pantex] in Amarillo, TX and Savannah River Site [SRS] in North Augusta, SC) also included the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Continued Operation of the Pantex Plant and Associated Storage of Nuclear Weapon Components (Pantex Site-Wide Draft EIS) (DOE/EIS-0225-D, March 1996). In addition, the public was encouraged to provide comments via mail, fax, electronic bulletin board (Internet), and telephone (toll-free 800-number). Attendance at each hearing, together with the number of comment summaries recorded, is presented in table 1.1-1. Attendance numbers are based on the number of participants who completed and returned registration forms and may not include all of those present at the meetings. In addition to comments received at the public hearings, comments were also received during the public comment period through the other means described above. All public hearing comment summaries were combined with comments received by other means during the public comment period. Comments received by mail, fax, Internet, or telephone were date stamped and assigned a sequential document number according to origin (e.g., fax or mail) of the document. Chapter 2 of this volume contains copies of the documents DOE received. Table 1.1-2 provides an overview of the number of documents and comments submitted by each method. The document number codes that were assigned to each document based on the method of submission are given in parentheses in table 1.1-2. For example, all documents that were handed in at public hearings have document numbers beginning with SSM-H. Table 1.1-1.-- Public Hearing Locations, Attendance, and Comment Summaries Hearing Location Total Attendance Comment Summaries Los Alamos, NM 87 89 Las Vegas, NV 51 54 file:///I|/Data%20Migration%20Task/EIS-0236-FEIS-04-1996/V4c1pt1.htm[6/27/2011 2:26:43 PM] DOE/EIS-0236, Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Stockpile Stewardship and Management () Albuquerque, NM 41 87 Oak Ridge, TN 200 128 Kansas City, MO 21 7 Livermore, CA 176 177 Washington, DC 145 21 Amarillo, TX 350 95 Santa Fe, NM 276 195 North Augusta, SC 91 68 Table 1.1-2.-- Document and Comment Submission Overview Method Documents Received Total Comments Received Hand-in at public hearings (SSM-H) 101 222 Mail-in (SSM-M) 128 446 Letter/postcard campaigns (SSM-C) 6,675 7,038 Fax (SSM-F) 30 155 Phone (SSM-P) 9 10 Electronic bulletin board (SSM-B) 0 0 Transcripts (SSM-ET) 2 11 1.2 Public Hearing Format The public hearings used a modified traditional hearing format which allowed for two-way interaction between DOE and the public and encouraged informed public input and comments on the document. Neutral facilitators were present at the hearings to direct and clarify discussions and comments. Court reporters were also present to provide a verbatim transcript of the proceedings and record all formal comments that the public wished to present. The transcripts are available in DOE Public Reading Rooms near each site and in Washington, DC. These transcripts have been marked with sidebars to identify specific comments and how the comments were categorized into issue codes. The format used for each hearing included a Program overview, interactive discussions, and a summary session. There was also an opportunity for formal comment provided for any attendee who wished to read a prepared statement of no more than 5 minutes. The Program overview session opened with a welcome from a site representative, followed by an overview of the Stockpile Stewardship and Management Program by a DOE representative. After clarifying questions, the facilitator opened the interactive general question and discussion period. A notetaker was present at each session to document and consolidate comments for the preparation of the Stockpile Stewardship and Management Final PEIS. Following the question and discussion period, a summary session was held to present the major comments and issues identified in each discussion group. An opportunity for additional comments or clarification was provided at this time. Modifications to the format were made at each public hearing location to best fulfill special needs or requests from the attendees. Following the public hearings, comment summaries were prepared by the notetakers (see chapter 2) with the verbatim transcripts being used as a reference. 1.3 Organization of this Comment Response Document file:///I|/Data%20Migration%20Task/EIS-0236-FEIS-04-1996/V4c1pt1.htm[6/27/2011 2:26:43 PM] DOE/EIS-0236, Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Stockpile Stewardship and Management () This Comment Response Document has been organized into the following sections: Chapter 1 describes the public comment process and contains tables to assist readers.