ML11157A036

Letter from Heart of America Northwest Public Involvement Lists and Notices, Including Requests to Be Added to Lists and Requests for Hearings on the Draft EIS for Columbia Generating Station

ML11157A036
Person / Time
Site:	Columbia
Issue date:	06/05/2011
From:	Pollet G Heart of America Northwest
To:	Cunanan A, Dan Doyle, Gettys E Division of License Renewal
References
Download: ML11157A036 (2)

Text

June 5, 2011 Arthur Cunanan, Project Manager, License Renewal NRC Division of License Renewal Arthur.cunanan@nrc.gov Evelyn Gettys, Project Manager NRC Division of License Renewal Evelyn.gettys@nrc.gov Daniel Doyle, Project Manager NRC Division of License Renewal Daniel.doyle@nrc.gov RE: Public involvement lists and notices, including requests to be added to lists and requests for hearings on the Draft EIS, for Columbia Generating Station license renewal, NRC Dockets 50-397 and 2010-0029

Dear Mr. Cunanan,

Ms. Gettys and Mr. Doyle, We are requesting that you include our email and street address in your public notice lists for notifications relating to the Energy Northwest application for relicensing of the Columbia Generating Station (CGS). We request that hearings on the Draft EIS be held in several locations around the region to make it possible for the highly interested public and ratepayers to attend and comment within the region served by power from the facility and within the regions of locally publicly owned utilities which comprise Energy Northwest.

Specifically, we request that hearings on the Draft EIS be held in both Seattle, WA, home of Seattle City Light (a Board member and "participant" in Energy Northwest's Columbia Generating Station and convenient to other participants such as Snohomish PUD), and Portland, OR (to serve the interests of the SW Washington public utilities participating in Energy Northwest and the customers of other entities in Oregon purchasing power from BPA, which includes distribution of power from the facility).

Please provide a copy of the notice list for public notice utilized by the NRC for the relicensing application and EIS process; and, please provide a copy of the scoping document or direct us to where it is on the NRC website.Please inform us as to how the public can sign up to receive all notices in regard to the application and environmental impact statement (EIS). In reviewing the NRC website and clicking on public involvement for the Energy NW / CGS facility there does not appear to be a link or form for the public to sign up to receive notices. We ask that the NRC provide such an accessible means for the public to participate, which would be directly in keeping with the President's Open Government Directive.

We also request, in keeping with the Open Government Directive, that the NRC post on line its Requests for Additional Information and the applicants' responses.

As the region's largest citizens' group concerned with nuclear waste issues at Hanford, where the CGS facility is located, we are interested in ensuring that there is broad public involvement and adequate notice regarding the EIS and opportunity for the region's utility ratepayers and others to comment. We are concerned that we did not receive any notice of the scoping meeting held in April, 2010, nor did other organizations with whom we collaborate and who have a record of interest in the facility and it spent fuel storage and plans for fuel.Please explain to us why the deadline for requesting hearings on the safety of the facility elapsed prior to the NRC conducting the required NEPA environmental impact statement process. The NEPA process exists to inform both decision makers and the public in regard to potential significant impacts to human health and the environment.

Thus, requiring petitions to be filed for participation in, or hearings on, safety issues prior to the NRC performing its nondiscretionary duties under NEPA appears to run contrary to the intent of NEPA and sensible sequencing of public involvement.

Indeed, it requires the public to both be prescient and to file challenges to issues which may be adequately responded to otherwise in the NEPA process. We petition the Commission to reopen the petition deadline after the completion of the NEPA process and issuance of the Final EIS.Gerry Pollet, JD;Executive Director, Heart of America Northwest"The Public's Voice for Hanford Clean-Up" 1314 NE 56th St. #100 Seattle, WA 98105 (206)382-1014 office@hoanw.org and Gerrv@hoanw.org