DOE announces exact location and time for first "Consent-based Siting kick-off meeting" in Washington, DC on Jan. 20

DOE's new "truth in advertizing" logo?!

[DOE has extended the public comment deadline to July 31, 2016: DOE is extending the comment period for the "Invitation for Public Comment to Inform the Design of a Consent-Based Siting Process for Nuclear Waste Storage and Disposal Facilities'' to July 31, 2016. See the Federal Register Notice, dated March 22, 2016.]

On Jan. 11th, "The Consent-based Siting Team" at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy sent out this message by email:

...a "kick-off" meeting to set the tone for our consent-based siting initiative will be held on [Wed.] January 20, 2016 at the Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel (999 9th St NW, Washington, DC 20001) from 1 PM-4 PM. We welcome your participation—in person or via webcast. [Link to Webcast - https://join.onstreammedia.com/go/ast/consent-based-siting-kickoff-meeting]

Please register here: Kickoff Meeting Registration and be sure to check our website for updates on Consent-based Siting http://energy.gov/ne/consent-based-siting.

This additional information is provided at DOE's website:

Our “kick-off meeting” will be held on January 20, 2016 from 1 PM-4 PM at the Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel (999 9th St NW, Washington, DC 20001) and will be webcast for those who cannot attend in person. Dr. Lynn Orr, Undersecretary for Science and Energy, will provide the keynote, followed by a panel discussion on DOE's planning activities for an integrated waste management system and a consent-based approach to siting. There will be an opportunity for questions to the panel, as well as an informational poster session. An agenda can be found here.

Tellingly, it appears there is no opportunity to submit public comments at this meeting "kicking off" a  public comment period! What kind of tone is that to set? DOE, yet again, seems to be tone deaf. One has to wonder how sincere DOE is about soliciting public comments?! The DOE, whose name has already long been "radioactive mud" when it comes to public trust, has outdone itself!

Who says DOE isn't law abiding? They simply prioritize the Second Law of Thermodynamics! Perhaps everyone's "kick-off" comment should be that DOE change its name to Department of Entropy (see logo, above left)?!

It was for such reasons the Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) on America's Nuclear Future, in its Final Report, in Jan. 2012, made as one of its top key recommendations that DOE must be replaced by a new, independent entity, to take over radioactive waste management, due to the deep public distrust of DOE after decades of bungling, and worse (collusion and complicity with industry). And who was one of the BRC's members? The current Energy Secretary, Ernest Moniz!

And yet, DOE insists on remaining in charge, including the carrying out of this "Consent-based Siting" definition setting process, with strong indications it intends to stick around -- and remain in charge -- throughout the "consent-based siting," and construction and operations, of not only pilot and full-scale parking lot dumps, but also permanent dumpsites (and don't forget about the stealth deep boreholes, perhaps coming to a granitic body near you!)

The following additional information is provided at DOE's Eventbrite website page:

Event Details

Public Meeting to Discuss Next Steps Towards Implementing a Consent-Based Siting Process for Nuclear Waste Storage and Disposal Facilities

The U.S Department of Energy (DOE) is implementing a consent-based siting process to establish an integrated waste management system to transport, store, and dispose of commercial spent nuclear fuel and high level defense radioactive waste. In a consent-based siting approach, DOE will work with communities, tribal governments and states across the country that express interest in hosting any of the facilities identified as part of an integrated waste management system.  DOE is hosting a public meeting on January 20, 2016 to discuss next steps towards implementing a consent-based siting process for nuclear waste storage and disposal facilities.  The agenda includes an introduction and overview of consent-based siting by DOE, discussion of 2016 Public Engagement opportunities, and a Question and Answer session.

Link to Webcast - https://join.onstreammedia.com/go/ast/consent-based-siting-kickoff-meeting

Beyond Nuclear will attend in person. We encourage everyone who can, to either attend in person, or to attend and take part via webcast. DOE must be watch-dogged, at every turn!

Please note that a half-dozen more such public comment meetings are supposed to take place around the country in coming weeks and months. As DOE announces them, one by one, Beyond Nuclear will strive to get the word out right away, so folks in those regions can prepare to take part. DOE has not explained why it is being so coy about the exact places, dates, and times for those additional public comment meetings (or even if, unlike its "kick-off" meeting, an actual opportunity for submission of public comments will be allowed at those meetings!)

Although word has reached us that written comments can be turned in at the DC meeting by in-person attendees, and those watching via Webcast can email in comments, the entire point of an in-person meeting is to also allow for the oral submission of public comments! DOE is not allowing this at the DC meeting. It is putting the burden on the public to prepare written comments.

Public involvement, to stop DOE's unacceptable attempts to twist the meaning of "consent," is essential. Low income communities, including Native American reservations, are, yet again, at the top of DOE's target list for parking lot dumps. 

Please see Beyond Nuclear's December 23, 2015 "The Nuclear Grinch Who Stole Xmas" alert about the launch of this DOE "Consent-based Siting" process, for more information.