Relations between DOE Facilities and their Host Communities: A Pilot Review

This report is about how the Department of Energy (DOE) can improve its relationships with the<br/>communities in which its facilities are located. In March 2000, Secretary Richardson asked the<br/>Openness Advisory Panel (OAP) of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board to review and<br/>assess DOE’s relationships with the communities surrounding its laboratories and facilities and<br/>to provide an independent assessment of how DOE is perceived as a neighbor, what it is doing<br/>well, and what it could do better. As a first step, the OAP conducted a pilot review at several<br/>sites representative of DOE’s varied missions and provide a basis for developing a more<br/>extensive review process. The selected sites were Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a<br/>multi-purpose science laboratory; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, an active defense<br/>laboratory; and the Fernald Plant, a former defense site now being cleaned up and shut down,<br/>and a widely recognized example of good community relations.<br/>The review consisted of two-day visits and meetings with individuals or small groups<br/>representing a cross section of interests and views. These included state and local regulatory<br/>authorities, elected officials, public service providers (e.g. police and fire officials), business<br/>leaders, union leaders, educators, public interest groups, DOE or site advisory boards,<br/>contractors, and DOE site and operations office personnel. The visits were conducted by a site<br/>review team consisting of four OAP members. A total of more than 100 individuals at the three<br/>sites were interviewed during the course of the pilot review. The following conclusions and<br/>recommendations are based on the observations of the OAP site review team that visited the<br/>three sites and subsequent discussions with other OAP members.