Stakeholders from eight cleanup sites recently met for the biannual two-day Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB) National Chairs meeting in Chillicothe, Ohio, where they heard about progress across the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) complex from EM leadership.
Office of Environmental Management
May 14, 2024
minute read time
Members of eight local advisory boards that make up the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB) pose for a group photo during a tour of the Portsmouth Site. The group viewed progress of the On-Site Waste Disposal Facility as part of its biannual EM SSAB National Chairs meeting.
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — Stakeholders from eight cleanup sites recently met for the biannual two-day Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB) National Chairs meeting in Chillicothe, Ohio, where they heard about progress across the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) complex from EM leadership.
EM Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Jeff Avery expressed gratitude for the representatives of the eight local EM SSABs.
“The EM SSAB is a tremendously important and influential group,” Avery remarked. “We are much healthier when we have diverse views and perspectives to inform the Environmental Management program. The EM SSABs provide us with a window into their respective communities to help us better understand perspectives and concerns.”
U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Jeff Avery provides a programmatic update on recent successes and future plans throughout the EM complex during the EM Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB) Spring Chairs meeting. During his address, Avery expressed gratitude for the EM SSABs.
Avery shared themes important to the EM program, including safety and a focus on the future. He also covered progress updates for cleanup projects.
Also at their spring meeting, the group of advisory board members discussed topics such as waste and transportation, DOE’s Cleanup to Clean Energy initiative and per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS). The board members received a briefing on the status of the recommendations they’ve made over the past five years. They also were briefed on consent-based siting.
Members the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board pose for a group photo during a tour of the Fernald Preserve in Hamilton, Ohio, to discuss the site transition from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management to DOE’s Office of Legacy Management.
Some meeting attendees toured EM’s Portsmouth Site where they viewed the site’s cleanup progress. They also toured the Fernald Preserve in Hamilton, Ohio, with a primary objective to discuss lessons learned on the site’s transition from EM to DOE’s Office of Legacy Management in 2006.
The SSAB was created in 1994 to involve stakeholders more directly in EM’s cleanup decisions, providing advice and recommendations from a community perspective on site-specific and cross-complex cleanup activities.
The boards are composed of local community representative members including Native American tribes, state and local governments, and community and public interest groups.
The Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board was created to involve stakeholders more directly in the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management’s cleanup decisions, providing advice and recommendations on cleanup and environmental management activities.
The local boards are the Hanford Advisory Board, Idaho Cleanup Project Citizens Advisory Board (CAB), Nevada SSAB, Northern New Mexico CAB, Oak Ridge SSAB, Paducah CAB, Portsmouth SSAB and Savannah River Site CAB.
The next EM SSAB National Chairs meeting is planned for September, hosted by the Oak Ridge SSAB in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
-Contributor: Melissa Green
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