perceived the passage of HR3809 as a renaissance of the true meaning of Concurrence was eliminated from the Federal consultation and cooperation. vocabulary by the Congressional decision to allow any state in which a repository site is selected to file a "Notice of Disapproval" to the Congress on that decision. This is the States' preferred two-house override provision of the Act, supported completely by my State's delegation. The states would have preferred an outright veto, but that would have guaranteed the failure of the deep geologic disposal program. Soon after passage of the NWPA (PL. 97-425), a decisive move by Secretary Hodel, establishing the Nuclear Waste Policy Act Project Office, was implemented. One of the most visable changes in the Department's approach to Federal/State relations was the immediate change in how the consultation True consultation is like a In this case the traffic is com and cooperation processes were to work. highway traffic moves in two directions. munication and exchange of information. consultation appeared to us in Mississippi as if it were a one-way, deadend alley. The monodirectional alley had always been from the DOE to the states. Prior to passage of the Act Dialogue of a meaningful nature was impossible. DOE was perceived as the omniscent Big Brother with a "Trust me, everything will be all right" attitude. As a direct result of Secretary Hodel's move to establish the NWPA Project Office, that image has faded to near transparency. There are several reasons for the change. Most importantly, the Director of the Project Office, Robert Morgan, is a professional manager with a very high level of technical expertise in many subjects, the most important of which are how to get along with people and how to deal with real issues. The decision-makers in DOE prior to passage of the Act were either technical experts with little managerial experience or professional bureaucrats who had the propensity to speak endlessly on an issue and wind up having said nothing. Mr. Morgan has structured the NWPA Project Office in such a manner that the management level staff as well as the support personnel are Heretofore, headquarters level DOE staff presented an omnipo accessible. tent appearance to the, states and were totally inaccessible. Because of those past performances, we hold a cautiously optimistic attitude about the consultation and cooperation processes. There has recently been a signif icant increase in the consultation process. Much of the consultation has been directed to the issue of the Guidelines required under Section 112.(a) of the Act. We were told in early March and again more formally on March 25, 1983, that the Department was seeking positive, constructive input to their proposed general guidelines. My State, through our legislativelycreated Nuclear Waste Technical Review Committee, accepted that challenge and provided a 57 page constructive commentary on those guidelines. Many other states provided, perhaps not so voluminous, yet just as substantive, commentary on the proposed guidelines. All of the States are now somewhat anxiously awaiting the revision of those guidelines as that revision will be the strongest indicator of whether the consultation process is truly working. Mr. Chairman, I do not purport to verbally paint a perfectly rosy picture regarding the C and C processes. We have had problems in the past. Those problems, which I have chosen not to detail, have been the result of two flaws in the Department's program. (1) firstly, there has been less than a perfectly coordinated line of communication between DOE and our State those problems are currently being worked out; (2) secondly, legal logjams created by the Department's Office of General Counsel have on many occasions thwarted effective communications between my State and the Department. Resultantly, the free flow of information and a continued dialogue between the State of Mississippi and the Department have been severely hampered. Resolution of that problem is guaranteed only by DOE headquarters staff and operational staff being communicative to the extent that the right hand knows what the left is doing. Additionally, this situation has been alleviated by there being less of a paranoia expressed by the Attorneys of DOE's legal counsel on the release of information. The final point on which I would like to present comment, Mr. Chairman, is the one on which I have the strongest feelings. The point is this: The only means through which this nation is going to effectively solve the problem of radioactive waste disposal is through the process of gaining a public confidence that the Federal, State and local governments and the public sector are satisfied that the waste disposal program is credible and is designed to absolutely assure the public health and safety and the environmental quality. There is only one mechanism by which such a program That mechanism is a comprehensive, completely objective can be successful. 22-891 0-83-9 public information program. The terms "radiation" and "nuclear waste disposal" strike stark fear into the minds of many citizens of this nation. The stigma of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Alamogordo, Bikini, Eniwetok and the Nevada test site must be overcome before this society will be confident that deep geologic repository disposal of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel is a viable option for this Nation to pursue. The State of Mississippi would like to go on record as totally supporting and encouraging the development and implementation of a responsible public information and education program on nuclear waste management. I hope that I have presented a clear picture of our State's perceptions of the C and C processes. I would welcome the opportunity to respond to any and all of your inquiries on these and any other subjects related to nuclear waste management. Thank you. STATEMENT OF SENATOR JOE STROHL AT THE HOUSE INTERIOR SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT MAY 26, 1983 OVERSIGHT HEARING ON HIGH LEVEL NUCLEAR WASTE MANAGEMENT MY NAME IS SENATOR JOE STROHL AND I AM APPEARING HERE TODAY ON BEHALF OF THE WISCONSIN RADIOACTIVE WASTE REVIEW BOARD. THE RADIOACTIVE WASTE REVIEW BOARD IS A STATUTORILY CREATED BODY WHOSE PRINCIPAL DUTY IS TO COORDINATE ACTIVITIES RELATING TO HIGH LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL, ADVOCATE THE INTERESTS OF WISCONSIN'S CITIZENS, PROMOTE PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT AND MONITOR FEDERAL ACTIVITIES. I AM THE CURRENT CHAIRMAN OF THE RADIOACTIVE WASTE REVIEW BOARD, AND I AM ALSO THE STATE SENATOR REPRESENTING THE 21ST SENATE DISTRICT AND CHAIRMAN OF THE SENATE ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE. TO MY KNOWLEDGE, WISCONSIN IS THE ONLY STATE TO HAVE A STATUTORY RADIOACTIVE WASTE REVIEW BOARD. THIS SEEMS LIKE A DUBIOUS DISTINCTION SINCE WE DO NOT NECESSARILY WANT TO BE FIRST OR SECOND FOR A HIGH LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE REPOSITORY. HOWEVER, IT IS THIS VERY FEAR WHICH HAS LED TO WISCONSIN'S INTEREST AND INVOLVEMENT IN HIGH LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL SINCE THE MID-1970's. FORMAL MECHANISMS FOR DEALING WITH THE ISSUE HAVE BEEN IN PLACE SINCE 1980 ON A STATE LEVEL. EACH SUCCESSIVE STEP IN OUR EVOLUTION HAS LED TO |