Department Of Energy Lands Research Articles

Sliding scales for assessing and communicating human and ecological risks and complexities for restoration, remediation crises, and decisions

Many lands were degraded or destroyed by human activities, including contamination from industry and military facilities. The United States and other industrialized counties have legacy wastes remaining from the Second World War, the Cold War, and industrialization. There is increasing need to return degraded land to suitable future land uses, including ecological parks and preserves. This paper proposes a conceptual model of the different levels of information needed to understand the risk to human health, the environment, and ecological resources. I propose a four-part approach: (1) general model for assessing ecological resources, (2) model for assessment needed for remediation or restoration projects, (3) a sliding scale, conceptual model for causes, events, and sources that lead to exposure and risk, and (4) an additional step that includes environmental justice (equity, diversity, and inclusion) as a necessary consideration of traditional exposure assessment. While the factors involved in ecological risk assessment are well established, the combination of human health, ecological health, and environmental justice determining risk for remediation or restoration projects is not. Major factors useful for human health, environmental, and ecological evaluation include causes, events (earthquakes, accidents, chemical releases), sources, exposure, and informational challenges, as well as barriers to exposure. I propose that exposure through an environmental justice (diversity, equity, and inclusion) lens should be a key component of risk assessment. Each of these factors involves a sliding scale or continuum that must be considered in evaluating risk and communicating with the regulators, resource trustees, land managers and the public. The conceptual model also serves as a template for obtaining information about the environment that will be useful for communicating the importance of different risk factors. The model was developed for consideration of remediation on Department of Energy lands, it can be applied more broadly to other projects.

The Importance of Preserving Birds and Their Habitats at Hanford Site and Oak Ridge Reservation: Information and Communication Tools for Governments, Local and Diverse Communities and Others

The Department of Energy (DOE) has one of the largest environmental remediation tasks in the world, cleaning up the radiologic and toxic contamination legacy of nuclear weapons production. DOE has committed itself to accomplish remediation “while protecting human health and the environment”. Many DOE sites are huge, encompassing habitats that are ecologically valuable because they have been protected from human disturbance for 70 years or more. Yet information on the importance of DOE lands for protecting specific ecological resources is often buried in volumes of data. In this paper, we examine the importance of DOE lands as habitats for birds using two sites as examples: the Hanford Site and Oak Ridge Reservation. Our overall goal was to provide a model for communication of key information useful for the public and decision-makers. Birds are conspicuous and familiar features of the landscape, and bird populations are important indicators of habitat quality. As future land use plans evolve, birds can convey important messages about habitat uniqueness and conservation importance and recreational values of designating DOE land for conservation, but only if they are in accessible formats. At the semi-arid Hanford site, shrub-steppe is an important habitat outside the Columbia River corridor. At the wet Oak Ridge Reservation eastern deciduous forest, interior forest is a particularly important habitat. There are different groups of bird species dependent on each habitat. We use two methods for each habitat: 1) a comparison of historical written records and 2) a comparison of land use/land cover data. Habitat loss through development, fragmentation, and degradation is one of the most important causes of avian decline. Importantly, we present the data in a manner suitable for discussion among diverse audiences regarding future use of sites now undergoing remediation. The Hanford Site has recorded 205 bird species, including shrub-steppe species of regional importance. The Oak Ridge Reservation has recorded 213 species of birds, including Neotropical migrants of international concern. In both cases, their respective habitat is key to protection of the unique avian assemblages, and there is a higher percentage of these habitats on the DOE lands than in the surrounding habitats. Our analysis also concludes that these habitats that are of high importance to the rare and declining avian assemblages are mostly increasing on the DOE sites as the once agrarian landscape has reverted to more natural habitat. Since acquisition, DOE has developed about 10% of the land for nuclear and industrial activities, leaving the rest of it as a security buffer for the nuclear production mission. The tables provided in this manuscript can serve as valuable tools in communicating the importance of these lands and protecting these lands for surrounding communities. We commend the DOE for its protection of ecological resources for the regions and the Nation, applaud their mechanisms for ecological protection, and recommend that more of each site’s respective unique and important habitats be designated as preserved in perpetuity as valued ecological resources. This designation entails communicating with Tribes, communities, government agencies and organizations, and the public about the ecological value of their protected lands.

Use of Ecological Risk Data in the Development of Visions, Conceptual Site Models and Maps for Department of Energy Lands: Ensuring Sustainability of Protecting Human and Ecological Health

Recent interest in understanding the human and ecological health risks of contaminants on lands in the United States has led some managers and public policy makers to use extensive narratives associated with maps and Conceptual Site Models (CSM) in their Vision statements. While narratives are descriptive, CSMs can graphically depict the sources, releases, transport and exposure pathways, and receptors, together with possible barriers to block pathways and reduce exposure. In most situations, vision statements and CSMs are developed for one site, providing no opportunity to understand how they function generally. This paper reviews a set of 31 Vision statements and CSMs developed for Department of Energy (DOE) sites to examine the use and importance of ecological data in the process. This analysis provides a framework for evaluating ecological resources and risk at contaminated sites generally. While data on human health risks were usually extensive, data on specific ecological receptors were sparse. Less than 70% of the sites mentioned endangered or threatened species, less than 40% provided even partial species lists for their sites, and less than 40% provided information on unique habitats. Almost no sites mapped the distribution of endangered/threatened species. Ecological receptors were treated as a class, without regard to whether they were terrestrial or aquatic, or sedentary or migratory. Only 29% of the sites referred to specific ecological risk assessments. Confusion existed with respect to routes of exposure, pathways of exposure, and media for exposure. Overall, the ecological information presented was not consistent across sites, making it difficult to compare ecological resources at risk, effects of remediation on ecological resources complex-wide, or to determine which resources were most important to protect if monetary resources are limited. One of the objectives of DOE in having sites develop these Vision statements was to achieve uniformity in information available for the public, managers, policy-makers, and decision-makers. Any variances from previously agreed-upon remediation will likewise require this detailed ecological information. The dataset indicates a clear need to delineate the key ecological information required for these stakeholders before effective decisions can be made across a wide complex of contaminated sites, and a list of potential indicators is suggested. This ecological information can be both qualitative and quantitative. Finally, the information developed for Vision statements (CSMs, maps) will be useful in ensuring continued human and ecological protection, and will contribute to the sustainable safety of remaining contamination on sites.

Environment. Avoiding destructive remediation at DOE sites.

Public perceptions and regulatory agreements have forced the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to spend tens of billions of dollars for environmental cleanup of relatively low levels of contamination of soil and water within the nuclear weapons complex. Much of this costly remediation has caused significant ecological damage, but has not resulted in corresponding reductions in public health risks. This Policy Forum offers a potential remedy involving continued federal control of the larger DOE lands and cleanup criteria based on long-term protection of ecosystems and public health, rather than criteria based on the protection of hypothetical future site residents. Recent DOE policy to avoid unnecessary environmental damage using a risk-based strategy is briefly described.

Biogeochemical processes and microbial characteristics across groundwater-surface water boundaries of the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River.

Biogeochemical processes within riverbed hyporheic zones (HZ) can potentially impact the fate and transport of contaminants. We evaluated a modified freeze core technique for the collection of intact cobble-bed samples from the Columbia River HZ along a stretch of the Hanford Reach in Washington State and investigated microbiological and geochemical parameters of corresponding frozen and unfrozen samples. During three sampling periods (March, May, and November 2000), relatively high numbers of viable aerobic heterotrophic bacteria were recovered from both unfrozen (10(6)-10(7) cfu/g) and frozen samples (10(5)-10(6) cfu/g). Relatively large populations of sulfate-, nitrate-, and iron-reducing bacteria were present, and significant concentrations of acid-volatile sulfide were measured in some samples, indicating that anoxic regions exist within this zone. Cr(VI), a priority groundwater pollutant on adjacent U.S. Department of Energy lands, was probably removed from solution in HZ samples by a combination of microbial activity and chemical reduction, presumably via products of anaerobic microbial metabolism. These results suggest that biogeochemical processes in the Columbia River HZ may contribute to the natural attenuation of Cr(VI). Although freezing modestly diminished recovery of viable bacteria, freeze core techniques proved reliable for the collection of intact hyporheic sediments.

Risk perception, future land use and stewardship: Comparison of attitudes about Hanford Site and Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory

With the ending of the Cold War, the Department of Energy (DOE) is evaluating mission, future land use and stewardship of departmental facilities. This paper compares the environmental concerns and future use preferences of 351 people interviewed at Lewiston, Idaho, about the Hanford Site and Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), two of DOE’s largest sites. Although most subjects lived closer to Hanford than INEEL, most resided in the same state as INEEL. Therefore their economic interests might be more closely allied with INEEL, while their health concerns might be more related to Hanford. Few lived close enough to either site to be directly affected economically. We test the null hypotheses that there are no differences in environmental concerns and future land-use preferences as a function of DOE site, sex, age and education. When asked to list their major concerns about the sites, more people listed human health and safety, and environmental concerns about Hanford compared to INEEL. When asked to list their preferred future land uses, 49% of subjects did not have any for INEEL, whereas only 35% did not know for Hanford. The highest preferred land uses for both sites were as a National Environmental Research Park (NERP), and for camping, hunting, hiking, and fishing. Except for returning the land to the tribes and increased nuclear storage, subjects rated all future uses as more preferred at INEEL than Hanford. Taken together, these data suggest that the people interviewed know more about Hanford, are more concerned about Hanford, rate recreational uses and NERP as their highest preferred land use, and feel that INEEL is more suited for most land uses than Hanford. Overall rankings for future land uses were remarkably similar between the sites, indicating that for these stakeholders, DOE lands should be preserved for research and recreation. These preferences should be taken into account when planning for long-term stewardship at these two DOE sites.

CONTAMINATED DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY FACILITIES AND ECOSYSTEMS: WEIGHING THE ECOLOGICAL RISKS

With the ending of the Cold War, the United States and other industrialized nations are faced with the monumental task of cleaning up hazardous waste sites that were created over a 50-year period. While many factors enter into the cleanup decisions of managers of hazardous waste facilities, such as at Department of Energy sites, risk assessment plays a central role in evaluating the hazards to ecosystems and humans. Often risk from hazardous facilities is determined by identifying the risks to people, or immediate ecosystems, without regard to the size or magnitude of the surrounding ecological system or of the receptors within that system. Identifying the types of systems for contaminated systems would add immeasurably to evaluating the risks from those hazards. Using the Department of Energy (DOE) facilities as examples, it is suggested that there are three major types of systems that should be considered: (1) contaminated buildings and other facilities, (2) buffer zones that immediately surround contaminated facilities, and (3) relatively pristine or uncontaminated ecosystems that surround or are adjacent to the contaminated facilities. The relative ecological risks from remediation and restoration on these three different types of systems vary markedly, in terms of immediate effects, longterm effects, and the potential for complete recovery. Remediation on most systems containing predominately buildings and other facilities entails very little ecological risk, except for disruption of nearby ecosystems from construction and transport of materials offsite. Remediation on buffer zones, however, might cause considerable ecological damage if these systems have already undergone partial recovery, are large, and will experience physical disruption during remediation. Remediation that impacts relatively pristine or uncontaminated sites can cause major disruptions to ecosystems well beyond the value, in terms of reduced human health risk, of the restoration itself, and recovery may never be complete. Although this analysis does not consider the risks to workers from remediation, such risks should be added to the potential harm to functioning ecosystems from remediation at nearby contaminated sites. The effects of remediation on all three types of systems should be balanced when making remediation decisions. The newly proposed integrator operable unit, which surrounds the contaminated sites (operable units), and includes all other areas, provides an additional framework for considering risk, remediation, and longterm stewardship on Department of Energy lands.

RECREATION, CONSUMPTION OF WILD GAME, RISK, AND THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY SITES: PERCEPTIONS OF PEOPLE ATTENDING THE LEWISTON, ID, "ROUNDUP"

Several federal agencies are reclaiming land through remediation and restoration, and are considering potential future land uses that are compatible with current land uses and local needs. Understanding potential recreational and wild game consumption patterns and risk perceptions are critical for determining cleanup levels and assessing potential risk associated with certain uses. In this article, recreational rates of people attending the Lewiston ''Roundup" rodeo in northwestern Idaho were examined, as well as their perceptions of the safety of consuming fish and game from two Department of Energy (DOE) facilities: the Hanford Site and the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). These are two of DOE's largest sites. Lewiston is closer to Hanford, but is in the same state as INEEL. Men engaged in significantly higher hunting and fishing rates than women, but there were no gender differences in camping and hiking rates. Rates of hunting and camping decreased significantly with age, while rates of hiking were lowest for 31-to 45-yr-olds. Level of education generally was not related to rates of recreation. Over 70% of the subjects ate deer, elk, and self-caught fish; 30-50% ate grouse, moose, and waterfowl; and fewer people ate other game species. Overall, subjects were less concerned about eating the fish and game from INEEL than from Hanford, and more people thought Hanford should be cleaned up completely compared to INEEL. Mean rates of fishing, hiking, and camping all exceeded the DOE's maximum recreational exposure assumption of 14 d/yr used in their future use documents. Although at present people are generally not allowed access to DOE lands for recreation, recreation is one future land use being considered for these federal facilities. Given that some people would engage in multiple activities, the potential exists for people living in the general region of Hanford and INEEL to exceed the 14-d exposure assumption. The relative gender differences in recreational rates mean that men are potentially more at risk, particularly since hunting (on both sites) and fishing (on Hanford) are attractive.