ML20085A292

Memorandum Supporting West Valley Agricultural Protection Council Motion for Protective Order.Question Relates to Potential Salt Damage to Area Crops,Not Council Member Crops.Certificate of Svc Encl

ML20085A292
Person / Time
Site:	Palo Verde
Issue date:	06/29/1983
From:	Berlin K WEST VALLEY AGRICULTURAL PROTECTION COUNCIL, INC.
To:	Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel
Shared Package
ML20085A284	List: ML20085A281 ML20085A287 ML20085A292
References
NUDOCS 8307050251
Download: ML20085A292 (6)

Text

,

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION BEFORE THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD

)

In the Matter of )

)

ARIZONA PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY, ) Docket Nos. STN 50-529 et al. ) STN 50-530

)

(Palo Verde Nuclear Generaging )

Station, Units 2 and 3) )

) ,

[ ._

WEST VALLEY AGRICULTURAL PROTECTION COUNCIL, INC.'S MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE ORDER The question raised by West Valley's participation in this licensing proceeding for the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station (PVNGS) can be simply framed: What are the potential effects of PVNGS salt emissions on area agriculture? West Valley contends, and the Board has acknolwedged, that this question is serious yet inadequately addressed. West Valley further contends,  ;

and awaits decision by the Board, that this defect in the environ- l mental analysis for PVNGS must be remedied by the agency through further study in accordance with the National Environmental. Policy Act, 42 U.S.C. 4331 et seq. Regrettably, much of the current approach to discovery adopted by Joint Applicants and the NRC Staff is at odds with answering the salt impact question and with NEPA requirements.

8307050251 830629 PDR ADOCK 05000529 O PDR

_2-l t

Joint Applicants and the NRC Staff, treating this licensing proceeding in adversary fashion, seek through their interrogatories detailed information concerning the land holdings, crops yields, and profits of West Valley members. Yet the question West Valley has brought to the NRC's attention concerns potential salt damage to area crops, not to the crops of West Valley members. Even were West Valley to provide the extensive information requested, information concerning the rest of the area surrounding PVNGS would be necessary to a full evaluation of potential salt drift costs.

In West Valley's Supplemental Answers to Interrogatories and Exhibit A to those answers, West Valley has identified publicly available sources of information relevant to the salt drift impact question. Those sources include the Soil Survey of Maricopa County, Arizona, Central Part (U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Services), photographic files of the Arizona Depart-ment of Water Resources, and records of the Federal Bureau of Reclamation, Arizona Project Office. These sources generally describe total area acreage devoted to agriculture, area acreage devoted to particular corps, and individual farm holdings. Such information is considerably more relevant to determining the potential impacts of PVNGS salt drift on area crops than informa-tion limited to the farms of West Valley members.

l

. o

-i In addition to failing to address the full agricultural impacts of pVNGS, the adversary approach of Joint Applicants and the NRC Staff unfairly burdens West Valley. preparation of the data requested would be time consuming, expensive, and would intrude upon proprietary business records. Although a burden of time and expense might not justify a protective order in ordinary litigation, the salt drift issue concerns the public interest in a full analysis of environmental effects under NEPA, not merely the parochial interests of West Valley. It is the responsibility of the NRC, not West Valley, to develop the information necessary to protect that public interest and to comply with NEPA. NEPA squarely places the burden of environmental inquiry and analysis upon federal agencies, not upon interested membars of the public. l The anomaly of the course followed by Joint Applicants and the Staff becomes plain if one considers usual procedures i

for preparing environmental impact statements. Under NEPA, the j federal agency, with the assistance of the project proponent, conducts whatever research is feasible in order to identify and evaluate the environmental consequences of a project. While area residents certainly may provide information useful to evaluation of a proposed federal action, they shoulder no burden of prepara-tion and proof. Yet Joint Applicants and the Staff would have West Valley undertake the inquiry and prove the potential harm from salt drift to area agriculture.

l I _4_

It is petitioner's position that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has the responsibility for compiling the data contained in the sources described above. Petitioner will notify the Joint Applicant and the NRC of the experts it will use to review the NRC's data as soon as it hires such experts.

Petitioner has a copy of the Maricopa County Soil Survey in its possession.

Respectfully submitted, s

Dated: 1 -i 4 i / "' i ' S By b s.r..t D 4 OA 4.0,.

. <3

' ~

Kenneth Berlin

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION i

BEFORE THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD In the Matter of )

)

ARIZONA PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY ) Docket Nos. STN 50-529 et al. ) STN 50-530

)

(Palo Verde Nuclear Generating )

Station, Units 2 and 3) )

)

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that copies of the attached Petitioner West Valley Agricultural Protection Council, Inc.'s SUPPLEMENTAL ANSWERS TO INTERROGATORIES, MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE ORDER AND MEMORAN-DUM IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR FROTECTIVE ORDER have been served upon the folloxing listed persons by deposit in the United States mail, properly addressed and with postage prepaid:

Robert M. Lazo, Esq., Chairman Warren Platt, Esquire Administrative Judge Stell & Wilmer Atomic Safety & Licensing Board 3100 Valley Bank Center U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Comm. Phoenix 3 Arizona 85073 Washington, D.C. 20555 Docketing and Service Section Dr. Richard F. Cole Office of the Secretary Administrative Judge U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Comm.

Atomic Sa'fety & Licensing Board Washington, D.C. 20555 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Comm.

Washington, D.C. 20555 Lynne Bernabei, Esquire The Institute for Policy Studies Dr. Dixon Callihan 1901 Q Street, N.W.

-Administrative Judge Washington, D.C. 20009 Union Carbide Corporation P. O. Box Y Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830

Rand L. Greenfield Edwin J. Reis, Esquire Assistant Attorney General Office of the Exec. Legal Dir.

P. O. Drawer 1508 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Comm.

Sante Fe, New Mexico 87504-1508 Washington, D.C. 20555 Arthur Gehr, Esquire Lee Scott Dewey, Esquire Snell & Wilmer Office of the Exec. Legal Dir.

3100 Valley Bank Center U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Comm.

Phoenix, Arizona 85073 Washington, D.C. 20555 Dated:

Q -

AM -

M[3  !

Gefi L. Kelly Secretary to:

Kenneth Berlin 2550 M Street, N.W.

Suite 500 Washington, D.C. 20037 (202) 429-8501 Attorney for Petitioner West Valley Agricultural ,

Protection Council, Inc.

h . . _ -