Northern New Mexico Citizens' Advisory Board Meeting Minutes

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Taos, New Mexico

Ms. Crockett announced that the New Mexico Environment Department released today, December 16, the most recent sediment sample report.

A collaborative public meeting is being planned for March. The Los Alamos National Laboratory, the New Mexico Environment Department, the Northern New Mexico Citizens’ Advisory Board and the four Accord Pueblos are sponsoring the meeting. Larry Saunders with the Newnet Program and Paul Schumann of the Los Alamos National Laboratory are participating in the planning.

DOE Report MJ Byrne requested that Ann DuBois distribute her monthly report. She is updating the database to track the Board’s recommendations and requests for information. The Board will receive monthly progress reports.

Ray Armenta reported on his work organizing more tours to the Waste Isolation Pilot Project. More community and Pueblo leaders are participating on these tours.

Mr. Armenta described the efforts to recruit more nominations for the Board. He made more contacts to expand the pool of candidates. Mr. Chandler and Ms. Byrne scheduled interviews with these candidates. We expect that new Board members will attend the January meeting.

MJ Byrne added that the nominations process looks promising due to the additional outreach yielding good candidates. Ms. Byrne thanked George Chandler for time serving on the interview committee as having the Board represented on these selections is important.

Ms. Byrne said that the January meeting will be at the Nambé Pueblo. Anthony Armijo volunteered to arrange a tour of the Pueblo Environment Department before the meeting. Board members expressed an interest in having a tour.

Ms. Byrne highlighted the Journal North article about LANL’s stormwater permit. Board members received in their packets the original article and the later retraction printed by the newspaper. Ms. Byrne stated that the Environmental Protection Agency clarified that the stormwater permit is in effect.

Ms. Byrne announced that the public meeting on the Draft Spallation Neutron Source project will be at the Los Alamos Area Office on January 19. If Board members are interested, they can request a summary report.

Mr. Michael Smith asked about office space for the Board library. Ms. Byrne

responded that early in 1999, space for a library and offices for Ray Armenta and Ann DuBois will be found. A workspace for Board members and the public will also be available.

Chair Report Mr. Chandler announced a conference on Environmental Restoration techniques planned for January 22 in Albuquerque. He said that more public WIPP meetings will be held in February and March. Written comments are due on January 18.

The Intermodal Transportation comment period was extended to February 1.

Mr. Howard Vasquez of the Santa Fe WIPP Office sent the Board a letter clarifying his statement about the public notice of shipments. The DOE will notify the public when shipments to WIPP begin. However, the Department will not notify the public about when they will make particular shipments.

Mr. Chandler announced that the Board adopted an attendance policy that required Board members who miss three meetings in six months to express their interest in remaining on the Board. The Chair will make a recommendation to the Deputy Designated Federal Official whether the Department should remove the Board member. The Board requested that Ann DuBois keep an attendance record for this purpose.

Report Elizabeth Withers, the Los Alamos Area Office National Environmental Policy Act Compliance Officer, talked about the cleanup procedures on the land to be transferred to either the Los Alamos County or the San Ildefonso Pueblo. Public Law 105-119 governs this process. Ms. Withers distributed a handout that gave the time frames for these decisions. The title review was completed on time in November 1998 and established no clouds on the land titles.

The environmental restoration report and the Environmental Impact Statement are due on August 26, 1999. These reports are part of the allocation agreement between the Los Alamos County and San Ildefonso Pueblo. On February 22, 2000, the plans for the transfer are due. The Los Alamos Area Office sent the Environmental Impact Statement draft to DOE Headquarters for their review. Public notice will begin at the end of January 1999. The public comment period including public meetings will be during February and March. The final report is due in July 1999. August would be earliest time for the Record of Decision.

Mr. Michael Smith requested that the Board receive a draft copy of the Environmental Impact Statement. Ms. Withers said that the comment period will be at least 45 days and perhaps extended to 60 days.

Ms. Byrne asked about the impact of a possible lawsuit that could be filed by the Homesteaders and if an injunction is granted then what happens to the timeline. Ms. Withers said that these events would delay the timeline and Congress could grant an extension.

Mr. Chandler asked about any cloud on the title. Ms. Withers responded that the Army Corps of Engineers did not find any cloud. Mr. Chandler asked if a copy of the Army of Engineers report were available for the Board. Mr. Michael Smith asked about the public meetings. Ms. Withers said that Pojoaque and Los Alamos would be the sites for public meetings. Mr. Smith suggested that Santa Fe and Española be added to the list of meeting places. He thought that having a private meeting with homesteaders would be helpful, the County of Los Alamos and the Pueblo of San Ildefonso.

Paul Shumann, LANL Project Manager for land transfer for Environmental Restoration, made a presentation He said that the Environmental Restoration report and the Environmental Impact Statement to support Land Conveyance and Transfer under Public Law 105-119 are due at same time. If new issues come up with parcels that they have conveyed then the Environmental Restoration project would be involved. The plan is to convey uncontaminated parcels by February 14, 2000. Mr. Smith asked about remediation plans to bring the parcels up to standard. Ms. Withers stated that the Department would convey the property when remediation is completed and that the Environmental Impact Statement was an evaluation step. Mr. Smith asked about what happens if restoration causes environmental impact. Ms. Withers explained that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) covers environmental restoration actions. She has the responsibility to certify if the environmental restoration impacts will comply with NEPA.

Right now they are exploring the various sites about what problems they have. TA-21 has more complex problems than most of the transfer sites. Of the 200 Potential Release Sites (PRSs) 10% of all the sites in the Lab or 154 of the 200 PRSs are on the land that DOE may transfer. The parcels must be cleaned within ten years of the date that Congress passed Public Law 105-119. If the clean up can’t be done by that date, then the parcel comes off the transfer list.

Ms. Withers explained that CERCLA Section 120 (h) applies because LANL is federal property. The Department has to identify all CERCLA hazardous substances and list them in the deed when DOE transfers the property. Mr. Smith asked about the process for determining the chemicals. Paul Schumann said that they had to go through the historical files but did not collect new sampling data.

The findings of the Endangered Species Act and Section C106 of the National Historical Preservation Act will be applied when the Los Alamos County and the San Ildefonso Pueblo decide who gets the particular parcel.

Mr. Chandler asked Julie Canepa about the PRSs evaluation process for the land parcels that DOE proposed for transfer. Ms. Canepa explained that a database by site exists for each of the transferable sites. A one page summary exists for these sites. Mr. Chandler said that the Board would like to have this information for all the PRSs. Mr. Smith has already asked for this information by site, and contaminants listed on it. Ms. Rivera-Lyons wanted to know why LANL put a site on this PRS list. Ms. Canepa explained that 190 sites already have the data and 337 sites will have the data organized. Ms. Canepa requested a meeting to discuss the Board requests and the format for this information. The Board wants to share this information with the public. Mr. Smith and Mr. Ted Taylor are organizing this meeting.

The FIMAD database does not have complete information. LANL staff is entering data from the historical records. LANL submitted 557 sites to the Environment Protection Agency and now has given this information to the New Mexico Environment Department. The state is evaluating this data under new standards.

Mr. Smith asked about a fast track to clean up the land transfer parcels. Ms. Canepa said that the parcels were not on a fast track now. The Department requested that LANL look at the cost and impact of expediting the cleanup of these parcels. This information will be in the Environmental Restoration report. Mr. Gurulé said that Senator Dominici required good faith cleanup efforts by the year 2000. The Department recognizes that the whole job cannot be completed in this timeframe. Ms. Rivera-Lyons asked if the ER report would include recommendations on how to do the cleanup. LANL will detail the long term corrective measures. Money is coming to cleanup these parcels including $5 million for TA-21. Ms. Byrne asked Mr. Gurulé if the Board could receive the report when the Lab sends it to the Los Alamos Area Office. Mr. Gurulé said that when the report is ready for a public release then the Board can receive a copy.

Mr. Chandler asked if the Board could make recommendations about the cleanup standards or do these standards already exist? Fred Bruggerman of the Los Alamos County said that the standards were based on risks associated with particular contaminants. Mr. Chandler clarified that he was interested in the future use standards not for the particular contaminants. Joe Mose of the Department of Energy Los Alamos Area Office said that no chemical standards existed for soil cleanups.

Ms. Withers said that the standards were based on human health risk as specified in the EPA Risk Assessment Guidelines. No federal or state standards for cleanup by contaminant exist. Joe Mose said that the Department followed the EPA 10-4 and 10-6 standards. We will discuss this topic at the Risk Assessment Workshop on January 30.

Committee Mr. Smith distributed a written report for the Environmental Restoration

Reports Committee. He distributed the Department’s formal responses to the Board’s recommendations including 98-2 on the Inspector General’s Audit of LANL’s Environmental Restoration program, 98-3 Permit Modification request and

98-4 on the past No Further Action Permit Modifications. Mr. Smith reported that the Department is taking action to improve the New Mexico Environment Department’s resources. He said that on December 10, LANL presented its Habitat Management Plan that is a first step to manage its resources.

Mr. Smith announced the Risk Assessment Workshop on January 30. The Committee invites the Board and the public to attend. At this workshop, the ESH-20 Risk Assessment materials will be available for the Board.

The Board did not act the recommendations drafted by this Committee during the November meeting due to the lack of a quorum. No quorum exists at this meeting. The Committee had a recommendation about the underground organic plume at Area L. Since the committee is making a request for information, the full Board does not need to give approval. Therefore, Mr. Smith will send a letter requesting this information.

Mr. Smith said that we had a tracking system for requests. Ms. Byrne asked that committees contact her with their requests. Ms.Byrne can decide whether full Board action is necessary or if a request can be processed. The questions or requests must be in writing and sent to Ms Byrne.

Mr. Smith thanked Ms. Canepa and Mr. Taylor for their responsiveness to this Committee.

Anthony Armijo distributed a written report for the Monitoring and Surveillance Committee. The seven members of this Committee are looking at air and water quality documents. They are planning a public workshop. The Committee is concerned about a Journal North article written by Ian Hoffman about strontium 90. The Committee will pursue this issue. Mr. Chandler asked Mr. Armijo to give a written request for information to Ms. Byrne.

Catherine Rivera-Lyons made a report for the Waste Management Committee. They held no meeting in December. The Committee will present its findings to the next Board meeting on the 17 recommendations and 6 options on Waste Management. The Committee requested information on the new materials and chemicals used at LANL. Ann DuBois relayed the request to the Community Relations Office liaison Elmer Torres.

Menice Manzanares made the report for the Bylaws Committee. The Board cannot pass the proposed amendments because the Board does not have a quorum. We will put the amendments on the January agenda. Mr. Smith asked about the recommendation on using consensus. Mr. Chandler said that he talked to other Board Chairs about how other the Boards use consensus for recommendations only as this method supports more discussion to reach consensus. He also asked if other Boards have term limits and they do not. The Board can make this change to the bylaws if it chooses. The Board also needs to add that the Secretary of the Department of Energy makes the appointments to the Board. Ms. Byrne reported that the Department of Justice attorney did not have a problem with making these changes on the term limits. A lawyer at the Los Alamos Area Office was concerned about the Board Guidance section 4.3.3 on membership. Ms. Byrne will continue this discussion and clarify this interpretation before the January meeting.

Connie Thompson-Ortega made the report for the Budget Committee. Mr. Smith noted that 1/3 of the publicity budget has been spent. He was concerned about the cost of this meeting considering the number of members of the public who attended. Ray Armenta developed radio public service advertisements. We could structure the advertisements and the agenda to reflect some local interest.

Board Judith Bradbury and Kristi Branch distributed a draft evaluation report and

Evaluation requested comments. This report is part of an overview evaluation for all the Site-Specific Advisory Board sites. The purpose of the Boards is to give community input to the Department’s decision-making. The Board should articulate a consensus from the public on areas of agreement. The purpose is not to give technical advice. The evaluation process has identified the factors that contribute to an effective Board.

Ms. Bradbury suggested that Board members read the overview report first then go to your site report. This is a preliminary draft and not a finished product. The evaluators want your comments and identify problem areas. They request these comments by January 4. Ms. Byrne thanked Ms. Bradbury and Ms. Branch for coming and making this report.

Agenda The agenda for the January meeting was suggested: a tour of the Nambé Pueblo, a

Joint Meeting with the Monitoring and Surveillance Committee and a public Workshop in March, 17 Recommendations and 6 Options on Waste Management, Bylaw amendments, new members welcomed and introduced to the public.

The Chair adjourned the Board meeting at 9:10 P.M.

The minutes are an accurate and complete summary of the matters discussed and conclusions reached at the Northern New Mexico Citizens' Advisory Board meeting held on December 16, 1998.

Certified by:

George Chandler, Chair
December 16, 1998

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