External Stakeholders' Influence on the DOE's Long‐Term Stewardship Programs
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Cited by 5 publications
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This article discusses a framework and tools for evaluating ecological resources and the effects of cleanup on hazardous waste sites, particularly those with ecological buffer lands. Environmental professionals are faced with assessing the risks of contamination to humans and ecological receptors (organisms and ecosystems) at hazardous waste sites. While exposure assessment has focused largely on human receptors, environmental managers have recently taken a broader view, recognizing the intrinsic value and aesthetic importance of ecological resources and services, and of including a range of stakeholders in remediation decisions. The assessment process involves understanding exposure pathways from source to receptor, and determining how best to interdict these pathways. Environmental characterization and exposure assessment, indicator and biomarker identification, and biomonitoring and surveillance are the major components of ecological assessments. Using the Department of Energy as a case study, this article offers a framework for ecological exposure assessment, recognizing that humans are important components of ecosystems and, like other biota, are exposed to contaminants that move through environmental media. O c 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. INTRODUCTIONIncreasingly, the public has become concerned about environmental contamination from industrial, utility, urban, and agricultural sources. Governmental agencies and private industries that own contaminated lands face the often costly burden of remediating these lands to reduce current or future risk and to render the land usable. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is faced with the task of cleaning up contamination left from the Cold War and the production of nuclear weapons. This daunting task involves some 113 sites in 34 states that contain chemical and radiological wastes (Crowley & Ahearne, 2002; DOE, 2001). DOE and other federal agencies are relinquishing some land that is no longer required for the agency's mission to other uses, and protecting the ecological resources on others. Many hazardous waste facilities have extensive buffer lands that hold important ecological resources. For example, approximately 79 percent of DOE land has been undisturbed for over 50 years because it served to buffer the nuclear production facilities 71A Framework for Analysis of Contamination on Human and Ecological Receptors at DOE Hazardous Waste Site Buffer Lands (DOE, 2001). The approaches and tools needed to examine the human and ecological risks, particularly on buffer lands, are varied and range from qualitative assessments to sophisticated geographical information system (GIS) models with predictive value.The objectives of this article are (1) to present the context for incorporating ecosystem exposure and ecological risk into future land-use planning, (2) to review tools and approaches needed to select appropriate future land uses, and (3) to weigh options at DOE sites for important buffer lands. Although human health risk considerations (both public and occupati...
This article discusses a framework and tools for evaluating ecological resources and the effects of cleanup on hazardous waste sites, particularly those with ecological buffer lands. Environmental professionals are faced with assessing the risks of contamination to humans and ecological receptors (organisms and ecosystems) at hazardous waste sites. While exposure assessment has focused largely on human receptors, environmental managers have recently taken a broader view, recognizing the intrinsic value and aesthetic importance of ecological resources and services, and of including a range of stakeholders in remediation decisions. The assessment process involves understanding exposure pathways from source to receptor, and determining how best to interdict these pathways. Environmental characterization and exposure assessment, indicator and biomarker identification, and biomonitoring and surveillance are the major components of ecological assessments. Using the Department of Energy as a case study, this article offers a framework for ecological exposure assessment, recognizing that humans are important components of ecosystems and, like other biota, are exposed to contaminants that move through environmental media. O c 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. INTRODUCTIONIncreasingly, the public has become concerned about environmental contamination from industrial, utility, urban, and agricultural sources. Governmental agencies and private industries that own contaminated lands face the often costly burden of remediating these lands to reduce current or future risk and to render the land usable. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is faced with the task of cleaning up contamination left from the Cold War and the production of nuclear weapons. This daunting task involves some 113 sites in 34 states that contain chemical and radiological wastes (Crowley & Ahearne, 2002; DOE, 2001). DOE and other federal agencies are relinquishing some land that is no longer required for the agency's mission to other uses, and protecting the ecological resources on others. Many hazardous waste facilities have extensive buffer lands that hold important ecological resources. For example, approximately 79 percent of DOE land has been undisturbed for over 50 years because it served to buffer the nuclear production facilities 71A Framework for Analysis of Contamination on Human and Ecological Receptors at DOE Hazardous Waste Site Buffer Lands (DOE, 2001). The approaches and tools needed to examine the human and ecological risks, particularly on buffer lands, are varied and range from qualitative assessments to sophisticated geographical information system (GIS) models with predictive value.The objectives of this article are (1) to present the context for incorporating ecosystem exposure and ecological risk into future land-use planning, (2) to review tools and approaches needed to select appropriate future land uses, and (3) to weigh options at DOE sites for important buffer lands. Although human health risk considerations (both public and occupati...
Many federal, state, and private agencies deal with long-term environmental problems within a transition framework where political administrations, funds, regulators, regulatory requirements, environmental conditions, and tribal and stakeholder concerns change. In this article, we examine the types of transitions, as well as important stabilities, that agencies face, the interactions with stakeholders that are vulnerable to disruption or failure, and some of the problems that develop as a result of these conditions, using the U.S. Department of Energy (US DOE's) Office of Environmental Management (EM) as a case study. Transitions, or instabilities, include changes in administrations at the federal, state, and local level; public perceptions and concerns; political climate; available funds; environmental conditions (e.g., global climate change, global contaminant transport, local and regional contamination); international and national business conditions; and site conditions (physical, chemical, biological 99Managing Environmental Problems During Transitions contamination and restoring degraded ecosystems, and in the wise stewardship of these systems. Stewardship typically refers to the long-term protection and wise use of natural resources, although it can also include preservation of wilderness (Burger, 2000(Burger, , 2001Burger et al., 2003). Cleaning up or restoring damaged ecosystems includes understanding the various ways that ecosystems have been degraded, identifying the aspects of those ecosystems that have been injured and can be made whole or replaced, and implementing management decisions (Cairns, 1994(Cairns, , 1995 US DOE, 1991a). Many managers, scientists, conservationists, and others have devoted time, energy, and money to restoring ecosystems within a framework that includes both stable conditions and transitions. Cleaning up or restoring damaged ecosystems includes understanding the various ways that ecosystems have been degraded, identifying the aspects of those ecosystems that have been injured and can be made whole or replaced, and implementing management decisions.Federal and state agencies dealing with environmental problems function under conditions of predictable, and sometimes unpredictable, transitions in administrations (e.g., the U.S. president, Congress, state governors and their legislatures, heads of agencies), available funding, environmental conditions, and stakeholder perceptions and concerns. These changes can alter visions, priorities, and goals, sometimes delaying, halting, or even reversing long-range programs. Methods and approaches must be identified to assist agencies and stakeholders move forward under changing conditions, while recognizing regulatory agency mandates and the stability of the treaty rights of tribal nations. Moving forward involves recognizing and managing the factors that lead to less effective management and the regulation of environmental resources, particularly within and among governmental agencies, tribal nations, and other stakeholders. A first step...
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