Tri-Valley CAREs received word today from the National Nuclear Security Administration regarding our organization’s request for a 30-day extension of the public comment period for the Livermore Lab Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement (SWEIS).
The NNSA response stated the agency is taking our request “under consideration of course and will communicate once we have made a decision that is consistent with agency policy.”
Your request for an extension, whether sent by email or asked in person at the public hearings (or both), could be a deciding factor in whether the NNSA follows through and grants the extension.
Here is key background information and a copy of Tri-Valley CAREs’ letter, in case you would like to pull out any of its text or simply refer to it.
Background: The Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operation of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (DOE/EIS-0547) is extremely important – it will determine the limits for the environmental impacts the Lab will be allowed to generate for the next 15-years.
Therefore, this is a once in a generation opportunity for the public to peek into the Livermore Lab’s planned programs and comment on their potential health and environmental effects. In the past, public comments have led to cancellation of some of the Lab’s most dangerous schemes.
The SWEIS is being done by NNSA pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and, under the law, the agency must respond in the final document to all comments it receives.
Tri-Valley CAREs’ Letter: Our letter requesting a 30-day extension of the public comment period highlights four reasons justifying the extension.
First, we point out that the Draft SWEIS contains 3 volumes totaling 1,408 pages. While the content is crucially important, it’s often technical in nature and is not a quick read!
Second, the Draft SWEIS public comment period is completely bound by the holidays. It was released in November at the beginning of the holiday period and its end date is immediately following the holiday period (January 3). A 30-day extension would move the end date to February 2.
Third, the Draft SWEIS is not truly accessible through the agency’s main NEPA site and those members of the public who don’t have an internal link to the document in essence can’t find it on the agency’s website using common search engines. Despite a change to the agency’s webpage recently, this remained true as recently as December 2, the last time we checked.
The first three reasons affect all members of the public; the fourth is specific to Tri-Valley CAREs. The NNSA has lagged on responding to our Freedom of Information Act requests (8 of them to be exact). Therefore. we have been denied access to having information that could inform our public comment on the SWEIS.
CLICK HERE for Tri-Valley CAREs’ Letter to NNSA
Where to send your request: By email to [email protected]
And, if you wish to follow up by postal mail – Ms. Fana Gebeyehu- Houston, LLNL SWEIS Document Manager, 1000 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20585
And, to follow up in person use any one of these public hearing opportunities –
Join by phone: (669) 900 -9128
Zoom Meeting ID: 852 6045 5697
Zoom Meeting Passcode: 975388
