The Evolution of DOE/Stakeholder Relationships at the Fernald Preserve, Ohio, Site - 19559
- US Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management, Harrison, Ohio (United States)
- Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Columbus, Ohio (United States)
- Navarro Research and Engineering, Inc., Harrison, Ohio (United States)
The Fernald Preserve, Ohio, Site is managed by the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Legacy Management. It is approximately 29 km (18 miles) northwest of Cincinnati, Ohio, on the site of a former uranium-processing plant established by the US Atomic Energy Commission in 1951. The production mission officially ended in 1991 when it was replaced by a remediation mission. Extensive environmental remediation was subsequently conducted under the Superfund program by the DOE Office of Environmental Management. After most of the remediation was concluded in 2006, the site was transferred to the DOE Office of Legacy Management, which continued comprehensive ecological restoration and is responsible for an ongoing aquifer remediation operation. The site was renamed the Fernald Preserve and opened to the public in 2008 as an undeveloped park, encompassing a diversity of natural habitats native to the area. The site now serves as a community asset, offering a Visitors Center with exhibits that tell the site story, hiking trails, wildlife observation opportunities, meeting spaces for community groups, educational program opportunities, and Interpretive Services personnel to engage the public. There was a long history of community mistrust about government operations at the site, beginning in the 1950's when land for the site was acquired by eminent domain, and continuing when contamination and hazardous waste management concerns were revealed in the 1980's. Resulting media coverage on possible contamination and cover-up concerns was extensive. In 1986, sitewide studies to determine the nature and extent of contamination and to consider cleanup options were instigated. In 1989, the site was placed on the National Priorities List of the Superfund program. Because of the longstanding mistrust held by many stakeholders, DOE faced a very serious challenge in achieving consensus among stakeholder groups about the cleanup levels, waste disposition, and the future uses of the site. Starting in the late 1980's, DOE, the regulators, site contractors and the community took a number of steps over many years to increase trust and achieve consensus among the many stakeholder groups. These steps included establishing a single cleanup mission, involving the community early and often as a critically important stakeholder, creating a citizens taskforce and community envoys, and providing extensive educational outreach. As a result, DOE, regulators, contractors, and community members moved from a position of very little trust to one of increased trust and collaboration among all concerned parties. The lessons learned from the Fernald site can be invaluable in the resolution of difficult environmental issues and should be considered as DOE seeks increased collaboration and consensus with stakeholders to solve other environmental remediation challenges. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 23005417
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US-21-WM-19559; TRN: US21V1344045751
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: WM2019: 45. Annual Waste Management Conference, Phoenix, AZ (United States), 3-7 Mar 2019; Other Information: Country of input: France; 5 refs.; available online at: https://www.xcdsystem.com/wmsym/2019/index.html
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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