Stakeholder Report on Stewardship

Organized public involvement in stewardship issues for the Oak Ridge Reservation began with the End Use Working Group, a broad-based stakeholders group formed in 1997 by the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board. The group was asked by the Department of Energy to study the contaminated areas on the Reservation and to make recommendations about future uses of the land.

During End Use Working Group deliberations, it was apparent that some level of radioactive and chemically hazardous contamination would remain and that a stewardship program would be needed to protect human health and the environment from future risks associated with contamination. Thus, in collaboration with the Stewardship Committee from Friends of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, members of the Local Oversight Committee Citizens’ Advisory Panel, the City of Oak Ridge Regional Planning Commission, and other stakeholders, an End Use Working Group Stewardship Committee was formed.

The product of the End Use Working Group Stewardship Committee, the Oak Ridge Reservation Stakeholder Report on Stewardship, was widely distributed and has influenced stewardship planning at local and national levels. The report presents the attributes and basic elements of a long-term stewardship program; describes the existing and proposed statutory provisions for stewardship and institutional controls; and presents recommendations for a Reservation stewardship program, including stewards, physical and institutional controls, information systems, research, and funding options.