ML12340A563

Official Exhibit - CLE000051-00-BD01 - David B. Matthews, Environmental Justice and the NRC: a Progression to Excellence (Apr. 22, 2012)

ML12340A563
Person / Time
Site:	Indian Point
Issue date:	04/22/2012
From:	Matthews D NRC/NRO/DNRL
To:	Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel
SECY RAS
References
RAS 22852, 50-247-LR, 50-286-LR, ASLBP 07-858-03-LR-BD01
Download: ML12340A563 (20)

Text

United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission Official Hearing Exhibit Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. Exhibit CLE000051 In the Matter of:

(Indian Point Nuclear Generating Units 2 and 3)

ASLBP #: 07-858-03-LR-BD01 Submitted June 28, 2012 Docket #: 05000247 l 05000286 Exhibit #: CLE000051-00-BD01 Identified: 10/15/2012 Admitted: 10/15/2012 Withdrawn:

Rejected: Stricken:

Other:

Environmental Justice and the NRC A Progression to Excellence David B. Matthews Director Division of New Reactor Licensing Office of New Reactors

Background

• February 1994, President Clinton issued E.O.

12898, Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations

• March 31, 1994, NRC Chairman Ivan Selin, in a letter to President Clinton, indicated that, while the NRC was not required to conform to EO 12898 because of its status as an independent agency, NRC would endeavor to carry out the measures set forth in the E.O. as part of its efforts to comply with the requirements of NEPA.

Who Are Our EJ Constituents?

The Easy Minority Populations The Poor Ones:

Subsistence Resource Users Native Americans

Who Are Our EJ Constituents?

The Less Obvious Ones:

People With Minority- and Special Needs Women-Owned People with Different Businesses Religious Practices Anyone without full access to, or protection from, the decision making process is conceivably an Small environmental justice The Elderly and Those 4 Businesses on Fixed Incomes constituent.

The LES Story

• LES sought an NRC license for a uranium enrichment facility between two African American communities, Center Springs and Forest Grove, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana.

• Citizens Against Nuclear Trash (CANT) sued, claiming LESs ER was deficient because it failed to fully assess the disproportionate socioeconomic impacts on the adjacent African-American communities.

• The ER and EIS indicated construction of the LES would mean closing and relocating Parish Road 39, which bisects the site from North to South.

• The NRCs environmental justice analysis found no specific evidence that racial considerations were a factor in the site selection process.

The LES Site Center Center Springs Springs CME Community Church Proposed LES Site Forest Grove Community

ASLBs LES Decision

• ASLB determined NRC had limited its inquiry to a facial review of LESs ER instead of a thorough and in-depth investigation.. . the NRC Staff must lift some rocks and look under them.

• The staff left the intervenors evidence largely unrebutted or ineffectively rebutted even though it raised a concern that racial considerations played some part in the site selection process.

• The FEIS did not deal adequately with the impact on those who must regularly make the trip on foot [and]

ordered the NRC Staff to revise the FEIS to deal with the road closure . . .

Commission Decision on LES:

CLI-98-3 Disparate impact analysis is our principal tool for advancing environmental justice under NEPA. The NRCs goal is to identify and adequately weigh, or mitigate, effects on low-income and minority communities that become apparent only by considering factors peculiar to those communities.

VC SUMMER NUCLEAR STATION NRCs Best Success Story for Environmental Justice Analysis Applying Lessons Learned from the LES Decision

LES v VC Summer COL The LES LeSage Site Jenkinsville, South Carolina Predominantly African American (over Predominantly African American (over 90 percent) 90 percent) the FEIS did not deal adequately with With a large percentage of the the impact on those who must population below the poverty line and regularly make the trip on foot of unemployed, many of the local relocating Parish Road 39 (Licensing residents along State Route 219 Board Decision) walked as their principal means of transportation Intervenors claimed the process for Scoping meeting comments from local selecting the LeSage site and the residents indicated the Jenkinsville siting criteria were discriminatory area had been historically subjected to discrimination

The VC Summer Story

• South Carolina Electric and Gas (SCE&G) applied for licenses for two nuclear generating units at the VC Summer Nuclear Station in Fairfield County, SC, on the same site as the current VCSNS Unit 1.

• Initial scoping efforts revealed a large number of Black and African-American census block groups in the vicinity of the plant, but did not identify any low-income populations of interest nearby.

Black and African American Census Block Group Populations of Interest for 50 Mile Region Around VC Summer Site

Low-Income Census Block Group Populations of Interest for 50 Mile Region Around VC Summer Site The closest low-income population of interest to the Summer site was over ten miles away.

Jenkinsville, South Carolina Jenkinsville Road To VC Summer Nuclear Plant

The Process at Work Comments at the scoping meeting revealed that a newly incorporated community (Jenkinsville) had been overlooked in the NRCs Government-to-Government meeting process, and that Jenkinsville was the closest community to the proposed site.

A Harder Look Revealed

• Most of the Jenkinsville population near the site was below the poverty level and unemployed

• People in Jenkinsville were unable to participate effectively in the formal public meeting process despite their serious concerns

• The local roads in Jenkinsville (the only route to the site) were narrow, two-lane blacktop, with little or no shoulder. A large proportion of the population walked as their normal means of transportation 16

Mitigation of EJ Concerns:

Matching the Public Hearing Process to Community

• Staff held an additional, less formal, open house style scoping meeting to receive public comments in Jenkinsville

• Commenters were able to have their comments personally transcribed by staff, rather than having to speak into a microphone or use internet comment forms

• Local residents also conducted an informal survey of local residents and the responses were included on the record as comments 17

Other EJ Mitigation Strategies

• SCE&G committed to traffic impact mitigation

• Other EJ mitigation actions

- A new local job training center in Dawkins

- Partnership between construction contractors and local community colleges to train workers

- Active recruitment of new industry to Fairfield County 18

Ned Wright discusses emergency preparedness with citizens of Jenkinsville, SC.

19

Kamau Marcharia, Fairfield County Council member (hand extended),

discusses local African American issues with Greg Stuber and Alicia Williamson of the NRC in Jenkinsville, SC