A workshop to discuss a proposed 2,700-acre energy park at Savannah River Site will be held next week and was scheduled after an environmental group's complaint that more public involvement was needed in the planning process.
In a June 21 letter dated to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Friends of the Earth asked that the department halt development of an environmental assessment that could lead to the land's lease to the SRS Community Reuse Organization for an energy park.
The group's primary concern is that the park could become another place that handles or processes nuclear waste, rather than a research center for alternative energy fuels, said Tom Clements, the group's Southeastern nuclear campaign coordinator.
The letter noted that more opportunity for public participation was needed, and that such opportunities needed to include the public at large.
In a July 7 response from Bruce Diamond, the Energy Department's assistant general counsel, the department promised to take steps to assure "meaningful public participation" before any final decisions are made.
"To this end, my office and (Savannah River Site) are in active discussions and the Operations Office is working to establish a process that will provide transparency and meaningful public participation in relation to plans to utilize land at the site as an energy park."
The workshop will include presentations on both the concept of an energy park and on the objectives of such a project.
Reach Rob Pavey at 868-1222, ext. 119, or rob.pavey@augustachronicle.com.
IF YOU GO
A public workshop on the proposed energy park will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday at North Augusta Municipal Center, 100 Georgia Ave.
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Thank goodness that somebody is watching what SRS and their contractor buddies are up to out of the public view. If we don't speak up we'll soon be watching more dirty nuclear missions, with more nuclear waste coming to SRS for storage and dumping. Time for the public to speak out for a commitment to clean up the existing waste and for clean jobs in the future at SRS.
Why do the nuclear power boosters continue to lie and call nuclear missions CLEAN? There is nothing clean about it. . .there is deadly radiation created and released every step of every nuclear project. South Carolina has long been the dump of the South, now the pork barrell politicians smell big bucks in allowing us to become the high level spent fuel dump of the country . . .with no exit strategy, and millions of gallons of deadly waste still to be cleaned up from the last debacle. . . SAY NO TO ANY ENERGY PARK THAT INCLUDES NEW NUCLEAR, LETS SEE OFFSHORE WIND, SOLAR, AND OTHER TRULY CLEAN TECHNOLOGIES BEING DEVELOPED.
you people are crazy. you most likely get more micro r's per hour from being outside than you do from SRS. Tell me exactly what clean energy is? not solar, gotta make the panels, not wind, gotta make the turbines, not hydro, gotta build the damns, not coal either. Their is NO clean technology, at best hydrogen fuel cells are clean, but they have to be mass produced which makes it not clean. You should be glad someone wants to invest some $$$$ at SRS, it's called job security. take SRS away then SC really becomes a dump because their goes the money. by the way, I'm an environmental engineer, I do not work at SRS, but I understand exactly what their trying to do. It's 2009, get a grip, nuclear is here to stay
The part I don't get about SRS and the push for nuclear projects is why do contractors here think that a government handout is their right? If there is an open and transparent decision-making process about what's next for SRS, and that hasn't happened, then can we all agree to take a fiscally conservative approach and keep big government out of the funding for any projects? If you want a nuclear or any other project, show us that private backers will come up with the money.
Some of the big-government special interests in Aiken/Augusta feed off the tax payers and this has to end. Time to stand on your own two feet!