ML22215A231
| ML22215A231 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Palisades, Big Rock Point File:Consumers Energy icon.png |
| Issue date: | 08/03/2022 |
| From: | Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel |
| To: | |
| SECY RAS | |
| References | |
| 50-155-LT-2, 50-255-LT-2, 72-007-LT-2, 72-043-LT-2, License Transfer, NRC-2049, Palisades & Big Rock Point-LT-2, RAS 56433 | |
| Download: ML22215A231 (20) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Entergy Nuclear Operations, et al.
Docket Number: 50-255-LT-2, 50-155-LT-2, 72-007-LT, 72-043-LT-2 ASLBP Number: 22-974-01-LT-BD01 Location: teleconference Date: Wednesday, July 27, 2022 Work Order No.: NRC-2049 Pages 1-19 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1716 14th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009 (202) 234-4433
1 1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3 + + + + +
4 ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD PANEL 5 + + + + +
6 HEARING 7 ---------------------------------x 8 In the Matter of: : Docket Nos.
9 ENTERGY NUCLEAR OPERATIONS, INC.,: 50-255-LT-2 10 ENTERGY NUCLEAR PALISADES, LLC, : 50-155-LT-2 11 HOLTEC INTERNATIONAL, AND HOLTEC : 72-007-LT 12 DECOMMISSIONING INTERNATIONAL, : 72-043-LT-2 13 LLC :
14 (Palisades Nuclear Plant and : ASLBP No.
15 Big Rock Point Site) : 22-974-01-LT-BD01 16 ---------------------------------x 17 Wednesday, July 27, 2022 18 19 Teleconference 20 21 BEFORE:
22 PAUL S. RYERSON, Presiding Officer 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com
2 1 APPEARANCES:
2 3 Counsel for the Petitioner 4 Michael Moody, Esq.
5 Joel King, Esq.
6 of: Michigan Department of Attorney General 7 525 W. Ottawa St.
8 Lansing, MI 48906 9 moodym2@michigan.gov 10 On Behalf of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission 11 Jeremy Wachutka, Esq.
12 Anita Ghosh Nabor, Esq.
13 of: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 14 Office of the General Counsel 15 Mail Stop O-14A44 16 Washington, DC 20555-0001 17 jeremy.watchutka@nrc.gov 18 On Behalf of Holtec International 19 Alan Lovett, Esq.
20 Jason Tompkins, Esq.
21 of: Balch & Bingham LLP 22 1710 Sixth Avenue North 23 Birmingham, AL 35203-2015 24 alovett@balch.com 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com
3 1 Jason Day, Esq.
2 General Counsel and Corporate Secretary 3 of: Holtec Decommissioning International 4 1 Holtec Boulevard 5 Camden, NJ 08104 6
7 On Behalf of Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.
8 David R. Lewis, Esq.
9 Anne R. Leidich, Esq.
10 of: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP 11 1200 Seventeenth Street, NW 12 Washington, D.C. 20036 13 david.lewis@pillsburylaw.com 14 15 Susan Raimo, Esq.
16 of: Entergy Services, LLC 17 101 Constitution Avenue, NW 18 Washington, D.C. 20001 19 sraimo@entergy.com NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com
4 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 2:00 p.m.
3 JUDGE RYERSON: Good afternoon everyone.
4 This is Judge Ryerson. We are here on a conference 5 call concerning the Michigan Attorney General's 6 challenge to Holtec's acquisition from Entergy of the 7 Palisades Nuclear Plant in the Big Rock Point Site.
8 On October 15, as you probably all know, 9 the Commission identified four very specific issues 10 for hearing before a single administrative judge as 11 presiding officer. My responsibilities as presiding 12 officer are limited to compiling the hearing record of 13 these four issues, ruling on motions related to 14 developing the factual record, presiding at any oral 15 hearing if we have one, and certifying the completed 16 hearing record to the Commission. Thereafter, the 17 Commission will issue a decision on the certified 18 record.
19 Before we take appearances, just a couple 20 of administrative matters. Please identify yourself 21 when speaking. It will make life much easier for the 22 reporter. This proceeding is being transcribed and a 23 transcript will be available on the NRC website in a 24 few days. We've also made available listen-only 25 telephone lines for the public so that interested NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com
5 1 members can follow along in real time.
2 With that, let's get appearances. Who do 3 we have for the state of Michigan today?
4 MR. MOODY: Thank you, Your Honor. This 5 is Michael Moody from the Michigan Attorney General's 6 Office. I also have with me Joel King from our 7 office.
8 JUDGE RYERSON: Okay. Thank you and 9 welcome.
10 Holtec International and Holtec 11 Decommissioning International, LLC. Do I have that 12 right?
13 MR. LOVETT: Thank you, Your Honor. Yes, 14 you do. This is Alan Lovett of Balch & Bingham for 15 Holtec International and Holtec Decommissioning 16 International. With me on the phone is my colleague 17 Jason Tompkins also of Balch & Bingham. And then 18 general counsel for Holtec Decommissioning 19 International Mr. Jason Day.
20 JUDGE RYERSON: Thank you. Welcome to 21 you.
22 And Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. and 23 Entergy Nuclear Palisades, LLC. Who do we have today?
24 MR. LEWIS: Good afternoon, Judge Ryerson.
25 This is David Lewis from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com
6 1 Pittman. Also on the line is Anne Leidich. We 2 represent Entergy. In addition, Susan Raimo who is 3 the Associate General Counsel for Entergy is on the 4 line.
5 JUDGE RYERSON: Okay. Thank you and 6 welcome.
7 Now, the NRC staff, of course, has yet to 8 decide whether they will be a party. I think 9 regardless the Commission has directed your 10 participation at a minimum on certain issues and 11 invited your participation on other issues. Who do we 12 have for the NRC staff today?
13 MR. WACHUTKA: Good afternoon, Your Honor.
14 This is Jeremy Wachutka from the NRC Office of General 15 Counsel representing the NRC staff. I am joined by 16 Anita Ghosh Nabor and Lois Room.
17 JUDGE RYERSON: Okay. Thank you and 18 welcome. By the way, do you have an impression as to 19 whether you are going to join as a full party or are 20 you going to defer that until Monday?
21 MR. WACHUTKA: The NRC staff hasn't made 22 that determination yet, Your Honor. We will 23 definitely inform you and the parties before or by 24 Monday, August 1st.
25 JUDGE RYERSON: Sure. Okay. You're NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com
7 1 entitled.
2 Let's see. Before we take up the issues 3 that we identified in the hearing notice, let me talk 4 first about the joint motion that I think came in last 5 Friday for an extension of time. As you know, the 6 Commission has encouraged the presiding officer to 7 adhere to the Subpart M model milestone to the extent 8 practicable. Strictly speaking, the milestones would 9 seem to call for the beginning of a hearing in mid-10 October which is about the time the parties proposed 11 to provide initial disclosures.
12 I think the Commission was well aware of 13 the date. The only real fact mentioned in the motion 14 was the closing of the license transfer transaction on 15 June 28th. Again, I think the Commission was well 16 aware of that. I think they mentioned it in Footnote 17 7. Perhaps the parties would like to provide a little 18 more explanation of why the initial delay is 19 necessary.
20 I turn to you first, Mr. Lovett. I think 21 you would probably have the initial lead on the four 22 issues that the Commission has identified. Would you 23 care to comment?
24 MR. LOVETT: Thank you, Your Honor. This 25 is Alan Lovett for the Holtec applicants. I'd be NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com
8 1 happy to comment. As you know, obviously, this sort 2 of license transfer has already occurred, as indicated 3 in the Commission's order. The Michigan Attorney 4 General has not challenged the Holtec applicant's 5 technical wherewithal to decommission the plan, nor 6 does that relate to any of the issues admitted for 7 hearing.
8 Obviously sort of the meat of the matter 9 is to be potentially put to hearing and is financial 10 in nature. Given the schedule that the Holtec 11 applicant submitted in their initial LTA application, 12 or alongside their initial LTA application, which was 13 filed back in December of 2020, wholesale sort of full 14 decommissioning activity ostensibly at which the 15 financial concerns raised by the Attorney General 16 might occur, would not happen until 2036 based on the 17 PSDAR filed by the parties in December 2020.
18 Given that the transaction is closed and, 19 as we said, obviously the Commission was aware of 20 that, I mean, our view is it was worth our collective 21 time with the consultation with the Attorney General 22 to have some early discussion about ways to 23 potentially limit the scheduled issues for hearing 24 and/or potentially enter into some negotiations.
25 In full candor we are still sort of having NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com
9 1 these discussions to kind of feel out whether that is 2 a viable option. In the interest of respecting the 3 parties' resources, we didn't want to start producing 4 extensive discovery until we at least had the 5 opportunity for an early discussion.
6 JUDGE RYERSON: All right. Thank you, Mr.
7 Lovett.
8 Entergy. I suppose you're the seller now 9 and you perhaps still have a lot at stake. Any 10 further comments from Entergy?
11 MR. LEWIS: Only that we are very 12 supportive of providing the opportunity to Holtec and 13 the Attorney General's office to have discussions and 14 see if they can resolve matters that follows in the 15 interest of the parties and of the NRC. I think this 16 motion would further that. This is Mr. Lewis.
17 JUDGE RYERSON: Thank you, Mr. Lewis.
18 All right. Mr. Moody, I suppose you have 19 a great an interest as anyone in the prompt 20 adjudication of your claims. I take it you're 21 comfortable with this two-month extension.
22 MR. MOODY: Yes, that's correct, Your 23 Honor. The Attorney General in talking with Holtec's 24 attorneys we believe an effective and efficient use of 25 time might be to talk among the parties and see if we NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com
10 1 can resolve potentially some of these things. We're 2 early stages but we thought it might be just a waste 3 of a lot of resources so to push this along quickly 4 and maybe we can come together.
5 JUDGE RYERSON: Okay. Thank you. And, 6 again, the NRC staff, not yet a party, but does not 7 oppose. Am I correct?
8 MR. WACHUTKA: This is Jeremy Wachutka.
9 You are correct, Your Honor.
10 JUDGE RYERSON: Okay. Thank you.
11 Well, let's put off a decision on that.
12 Obviously it's a joint motion. We encourage joint 13 motions and agreements. I did want to get perhaps the 14 context of how we might be going forward if there's a 15 two month extension.
16 Why don't we turn back to the issues that 17 we identified in the hearing notice, the Notice of 18 Call. First, do you parties contemplate asking for a 19 written hearing? All you need to do is have one 20 objection, I believe, under the rule. Let me turn to 21 you, Mr. Lovett.
22 MR. LOVETT: Thank you, Your Honor. We've 23 actually talked with Entergy and the Attorney General.
24 I think our collective preference is to do an oral 25 hearing.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com
11 1 JUDGE RYERSON: All right. And if there's 2 a hearing, an oral hearing, I know it may be early but 3 any projection of the length? I must say these 4 Subpart M hearings are not high drama. They're 5 basically questions from the presiding officer to the 6 witnesses there would be. I guess there are four 7 different issues. Any projection of two days, one 8 day, three days? Any thoughts about that at this 9 point?
10 MR. LOVETT: Your Honor, I mean, with the 11 caveat that it's a complete swag at this point, our 12 best guess is two days. We're still obviously 13 developing sort of who would be a witness and how much 14 pre-trial testimony would there be for these issues.
15 Of course, that will drive how long the questioning 16 will take.
17 JUDGE RYERSON: Right. Very 18 understandable. The third question that we ask, where 19 if there is a hearing might it be? Obviously today we 20 can probably, especially with financial issues, do it 21 remotely, virtually, or here in the NRC's hearing 22 room. Let me turn to the Office of the Michigan 23 Attorney General on that point.
24 Would you have a preference for holding it 25 in Michigan if that were possible?
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com
12 1 MR. MOODY: I didn't think that was a 2 possibility but that would be -- from the Attorney 3 General's point of view obviously that would be 4 preferable. We're somewhat flexible. We do a lot of 5 Public Service Commission hearings virtually so we 6 know how to do that. We're not exactly sure how the 7 NRC process would work virtually.
8 We're used to this kind of uploading 9 process. You know, you have -- I think we do a Teams 10 type situation. We're flexible but live sometimes 11 does work easier with documents and witnesses, people.
12 We in Michigan so that would be great. We're 13 flexible. Let me put it that way.
14 JUDGE RYERSON: Okay. I probably should 15 interject that my preference -- I mean, the rules are 16 flexible in terms of whether a witness who files 17 written testimony absolutely needs to be present. My 18 own preference would be that they should be. I guess 19 that's a factor as well.
20 Mr. Lovett, how do you feel about either 21 coming to the NRC or virtual hearing?
22 MR. LOVETT: I think both Holtec and 23 Entergy would sort of prefer to do it live in 24 Rockville. We're certainly happy to travel to 25 Michigan as well to accommodate travel if it comes to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com
13 1 that, but our first preference would be to do it at 2 the NRC.
3 JUDGE RYERSON: Yeah, okay. While 4 sometimes the NRC staff -- well, you're not even a 5 party yet. Sometimes the NRC staff has expressed a 6 neutral feeling. I'm sure that there's no objection 7 from the staff to do it here in Rockville.
8 MR. WACHUTKA: This is Jeremy Wachutka 9 from the NRC staff. We will have a sponsoring witness 10 even if we are a non party. The NRC staff would 11 prefer in-person and is neutral as to where NRC 12 Headquarters are within the vicinity of Palisades.
13 NRC staff would be fine with either of those options.
14 JUDGE RYERSON: I didn't quite hear you.
15 Which option?
16 MR. WACHUTKA: Either NRC headquarters or 17 within the vicinity of Palisades in Michigan.
18 JUDGE RYERSON: I see. Okay. Well, if 19 there's a hearing, I take it the Office of the 20 Attorney General is not opposed to traveling to 21 Rockville. Do you have a budget for that?
22 MR. MOODY: No, Your Honor. We could 23 travel to D.C. -- Rockville. I'm sorry.
24 JUDGE RYERSON: Yeah. All right. I am 25 personally leaning towards here in Rockville because, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com
14 1 again, even the post-COVID age of minimal travel is 2 kind of desirable. Let me think about that.
3 The fourth issue that we identified in the 4 hearing notice would be the scheduling of specific 5 components of the hearing. I must say I am inclined 6 to granting your unopposed motion if, in fact, the 7 parties can comply with, say, a two to three-month 8 hearing schedule that's contemplated by the model 9 milestones.
10 In other words, with the initial 11 disclosures on October 14th basically there are 12 somewhat different schedules actually on the 13 regulations and the model milestones but there's 14 basically a sense that there ought to be two to three 15 months thereafter after the initial disclosures.
16 I guess I'm wondering is that consistent 17 with what the parties envision? If you joint motion 18 is granted, that would put us in a time frame of 19 either two months, roughly mid-December or three 20 months, roughly mid-January. Again, let me ask Mr.
21 Lovett because you have probably the initial laboring 22 ore on these issues. Is that something you 23 contemplate if the motion is granted? In other words, 24 two to three months for the beginning of a year.
25 MR. LOVETT: Thank you, Your Honor. This NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com
15 1 is Alan Lovett for the Holtec applicants. In full 2 candor we have talked a little bit internally and 3 obviously we are going to need to coordinate with 4 everybody's sort of schedules. You said if you kind 5 of kick out the natural progression if you do grant 6 our motion to have initial disclosure on October 14th.
7 By my math we would have started sort of 8 roughly the first week or second week of January.
9 After a little bit of internal discussion our ideal 10 situation would be to start a hearing in February 11 which I understand would be a little bit outside of 12 sort of the window that you just talked through but 13 mostly to avoid sort of witness crunch over the 14 holidays.
15 Again, I say that with the caveat that 16 while I think we may have indicated that to Mr. Moody 17 in the AG's office, yeah, we certainly haven't talked 18 at length about when sort of an optimal hearing might 19 occur from the AG's perspective.
20 The one thing I'll add in the interest of 21 -- along these lines is that my hope would be, you 22 know, obviously once we kind of know staff's 23 preference that the parties might get together and 24 propose, you know, a little bit more granular schedule 25 for your consideration, as well as probably pretty NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com
16 1 standard sort of joint motion on what those initial 2 disclosures are going to look like.
3 JUDGE RYERSON: Yeah.
4 Mr. Moody, is that somewhat consistent 5 with your view that there might be a deferral of an 6 oral hearing until February?
7 MR. MOODY: That's correct, Your Honor.
8 Thank you.
9 JUDGE RYERSON: Okay. Here is what I 10 propose. Why don't the parties, and I don't mean to 11 leave you out, Entergy, but I think probably the two 12 laboring parties will mostly be Holtec and the 13 Attorney General. Why don't you propose, if you can, 14 a schedule that has the principal dates in it.
15 Assuming that there's disclosures -- initial 16 disclosures October 14.
17 I think a combination of the rules and the 18 model milestones involve initial statements of 19 position, direct testimony, and exhibits. That's the 20 first stage. The next stage is written response and 21 rebuttal testimony and exhibits and proposed questions 22 for the presiding officer to ask. The third stage is 23 proposed questions addressed to the rebuttal 24 testimony.
25 The last time we had an emiary at the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com
17 1 ASLBP, which was I think six or eight years ago, there 2 was a provision allowing written concluding statements 3 of positions prior to the oral hearing. That's not in 4 the rules but I think the parties agreed to that. It 5 might be optional.
6 Then there's an oral hearing and then 7 clearly under the rules, a written post hearing 8 statement of position within 20 days of the close of 9 hearing and the presiding officers certification to 10 the Commission just five days after that.
11 Do you think that you could outline those 12 broad issues, broad progress, say starting in -- well, 13 targeting an oral hearing in February. Is that 14 something that would be worthwhile for you, Mr.
15 Lovett?
16 MR. LOVETT: Yes, Your Honor. We've 17 already sort of got a starting version of that just 18 working internally and we're happy to circle up with 19 the AG's office and then, I suppose, staff as well if 20 they decide they are going to be a full party to put 21 something on the docket for you.
22 JUDGE RYERSON: Okay. And that would be 23 okay with Mr. Moody?
24 MR. MOODY: Yes, Your Honor. Thank you.
25 JUDGE RYERSON: Okay. I take it there is NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com
18 1 no objection from the staff at this point?
2 MR. WACHUTKA: No objection from the NRC 3 staff.
4 JUDGE RYERSON: Okay. Again, no objection 5 from Entergy to that proposal?
6 MR. LEWIS: No objection.
7 JUDGE RYERSON: Okay. All right. How 8 long do you think you would take to outline a 9 proposal? Ideally a joint proposal.
10 MR. LOVETT: Your Honor, this is Alan 11 Lovett for the Holtec applicants. I think -- I mean, 12 I think we can have something to you to give staff 13 time to digest it. Maybe by the 5th which would be 14 the end of next week we can certainly align -- try to 15 align earlier than that. I just want to make sure the 16 staff has an opportunity to consider it as well.
17 JUDGE RYERSON: Okay, yeah. Again, it's 18 not a very complicated schedule. Let's target that.
19 I'm really optimistic you can all agree on a schedule.
20 If you can't, certainly after that date submit 21 competing schedules but I'm pretty optimistic you can 22 agree on a schedule.
23 And I really don't think -- on good faith 24 I will issue an order granting the motion. Obviously 25 if the parties can't agree, we'll just issue a NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com
19 1 scheduling order at some point. I don't think there 2 is really a need for any direction at this point 3 beyond what we've just stated. I will grant the 4 motion, the joint motion.
5 All right. Is there anything else we 6 should be talking about today?
7 Mr. Moody?
8 MR. MOODY: No, Your Honor. I appreciate 9 the hearing and for granting the motion. Thank you.
10 JUDGE RYERSON: And Mr. Lovett?
11 MR. LOVETT: Nothing further from Holtec.
12 Thank you, Your Honor.
13 JUDGE RYERSON: And nothing further from 14 the NRC staff?
15 MR. WACHUTKA: Nothing further.
16 JUDGE RYERSON: Okay. And Mr. Lewis for 17 Entergy?
18 MR. LEWIS: Nothing further, Your Honor.
19 JUDGE RYERSON: Nothing further. All 20 right. Well, again we'll expect ideally a joint 21 proposal targeting a hearing in February at the end of 22 next week. We will grant the motion and we stand 23 adjourned. Thank you.
24 (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter went off 25 the record at 2:26 p.m.)
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com