Assessment team to visit DOE disposal facility, meet with community

Three members of the consulting team selected to conduct a community impact assessment of the U.S. Department of Energy’s proposed Environmental Management Disposal Facility will visit Oak Ridge on Monday and Tuesday, September 8 and 9. The purpose of the visit is to tour the existing disposal facility and the site of the proposed EMDF, to gather information, and to meet with local stakeholders, a press release said.

The team members are Karl Kalbacher, project manager and director of environment, economics and grant services for The Ferguson Group in Washington, D.C.; Mark Rockel, principal consultant for ENVIRON International Corporation; and Jason Miller, principal of ENVIRON International Corporation.

The team will be available to meet community stakeholders on both days:

• From 5:30-7 p.m. Monday, September 8, in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Training Room at 200 South Tulane Avenue, and
• from 2:30-4 p.m. Tuesday, September 9, at the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation at 761 Emory Valley Road in Oak Ridge

The team is preparing a Community Impact Assessment that evaluates long-term, community impacts associated with the proposed EMDF. The study will include:

• A technical review of existing studies including the DOE’s 2012 Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) that identifies potential environmental impacts to the Oak Ridge community;
• A life cycle cost analysis of the proposed facility that incorporates additional factors and alternatives not evaluated in the DOE RI/FS such as short- and long-term economic opportunity costs, and costs and benefits associated with alternatives not considered in the RI/FS; and
• An analysis of factors that would assist the Oak Ridge community in determining whether the community could accept the proposed EMDF.

Though no formal presentation is planned, team members will be available to discuss the assessment and address questions related to the scope of work. The assessment is expected to be completed by January 2015.

For more information, visit the city’s website at www.oakridgetn.gov.