A group of House lawmakers that represent various Department of Energy cleanup sites are calling on the Department to seek public comment before moving forward with a planned change to its land transfer regulations. At issue is a rule set to go into effect Dec. 13 that adds language to DOE’s land transfer regulations that local communities worry could narrow the applicability of the regulations to only “closed or downsizing” sites. “The potential negative impacts of these changes could affect the sites and communities we represent for generations to come. We are deeply concerned that these changes were made without input from the very communities that the underlying law was intended to help,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter sent to Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz yesterday.
The lawmakers also expressed concern over a change in the new rule that they said eliminates deadlines for DOE to respond to requests for land. “It would benefit communities and sites if deadlines were more strictly adhered to—yet these changes appear to do exactly the opposite by abandoning deadlines altogether. We are concerned that this will harm community efforts to prepare for the future and increase the chances that land will remain locked up under federal control into perpetuity. At a minimum, these modifications are vague enough to add increased uncertainty to the transfer process—as well as inviting lawsuits from those who would prefer that these lands remain closed and under federal control,” the lawmakers wrote. They called on DOE to provide the purpose of the final rule, along with the process and timeline by which the rule was developed; as well as why the 90-day deadline for responding to land transfer requests was removed, lists of sites impacted and not impacted by the new rule and the Department’s definitions of “closed site” and “downsized site,” among other information. “We also request that the Department proactively communicate with and seek input from impacted communities on these modifications before moving forward with implementation,” the lawmakers wrote. The letter was signed by Reps. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), John Duncan (R-Tenn.), Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) and Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.).
