Welcome to the CSG Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee Update. Below are links and summaries of several important happenings from the last few weeks. Please don't hesitate to contact Lisa (920/458-5910) or Sarah (630/925-1922) with any questions or concerns about any of these issues.

TEC-nical Foul

DOE has finally posted the follow-up materials from the February TEC meeting on the TEC website. Speaker presentations, meeting notes, and a summary of the evaluations are available. Click here to read the February 19th e-newsletter, which includes a comprehensive review of the meeting. Prior to the meeting, the State Regional Groups had sent two letters to DOE concerning the poor content and structure of the TEC meetings. In response to our suggestions, DOE organized part of the meeting into smaller breakout sessions to cover OCRWM issues, EM issues, and a review of the TEC organization itself. The February 19th newsletter includes some of the suggestions the Midwest made during the TEC review breakout. DOE compiled these and additional suggestions into a matrix and provided feedback on each. Unfortunately the feedback is light on action items and heavy on the 'evaluating of options.'

We will have to hope preparing the matrix isn't the extent of DOE's follow-up on our suggestions. We'll work with the other regions to try to engage DOE in an open dialogue about the feedback it received at TEC and the improvements it will make in response. Ideally, this dialogue will begin well before the next TEC meeting. Due to budget constraints, there is some concern that DOE will not be able to hold a second TEC meeting this fiscal year. DOE should make a decision on this in the near future, and if the meeting goes forward, the committee can ask DOE to implement some of our suggestions. At minimum, we can expect to provide feedback on the agenda.

Click here for the TEC meeting follow-up materials.
Click here for the TEC Directions and Priorities Summary document.

In other TEC-related news, Lisa and Sarah have compiled all Topic Group related documents onto one page on our website. We've created this page as a service to committee members, especially those who participate on the Topic Groups, but it's a good resource for everyone. In addition to adding pertinent documents, Lisa and Sarah will update the status of each group and subgroup, and will post conference call and meeting information. The address of this new page is http://www.csgmidwest.org/About/MRMTP/TEC.htm.

Tribal Update

One of the most active Topic Groups in TEC is the Tribal Topic Group. DOE has identified 39 tribes that will potentially be affected by shipments to Yucca Mountain. Members of these tribes participate in the Tribal Topic Group to address issues unique to the tribes' preparation for these shipments. Lisa and Sarah participate in the Tribal Topic Group to keep abreast of the issues affecting the tribes, to identify common issues, and to build the relationship between the Midwestern states and the affected tribes in the Midwest. The majority of the potentially affected tribes are in the Western states, but the following tribes from the Midwest may also be affected, and therefore are members of the Topic Group:

Forest County Potawatomi Community of Wisconsin
Ho-Chunk Nation (Wisconsin)
Omaha Tribal Council (Nebraska)
Oneida Nation of Wisconsin
Prairie Island Indian Community (Minnesota)
Sac and Fox Tribes of the Mississippi in Iowa
Winnebago Tribal Council (Nebraska)

At the last TEC meeting and on the last Topic Group conference call, members expressed frustration with the lack of progress by the group. One potential reason for this may be the large number of participants in the group. To address this, the group agreed to split into subgroups to address specific issues. One group will address the Topic Group work plan, another will discuss DOE's plan for tribal involvement, and a third will address the development of the policy for distribution of 180(c) funds to tribes. Lisa will represent the Midwest on the second group while Sarah will represent the Midwest on the third.

In addition to the frustration on the lack of progress, members are frustrated with the lack of communication and outreach from DOE to the tribes. Part of the communication and outreach will be addressed with the development of the tribal involvement plan mentioned above, but the Topic Group also discussed emulating the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's success with regional tribal groups. Since DOE is facing a budget crunch, the group even discussed combining DOE and EPA efforts for the time being.

As with the other Topic Groups, pertinent documents and updated meeting and conference call information are available on the Committee's website. Click here to access the page.

Calendar of Events

We're coming upon the spring meeting cycle for the State Regional Groups and other organizations. Committee members and staff will be attending several of these meetings in the next few months. We'll hear a report on some of these at the committee meeting in Indianapolis.

• The Western Interstate Energy Board's High-Level Waste Committee and the Western Governors' Association's WIPP Transportation Technical Advisory Group will meet on April 22-23 in Tempe, AZ.
• The Nuclear Energy Institute will hold a Dry Storage Information Forum on May 13-15 in Bonita Springs, FL. One panel during the meeting will address intermodal transportation issues. Panel members will include transportation and nuclear utility experts. The Intermodal Subgroup of the Rail Topic Group is putting together a list of questions to ask panel members. If committe members have any specific questions for the panelists, please email them to Sarah.
• The U.S. Transport Council will hold a National Transport Summit May 20-22 in Washington DC.
• The Southern States Energy Board will hold its spring meeting the week of May 26 in Lexington, KY.
• The Northeast High-Level Radioactive Waste Task Force will hold its spring meeting June 10-11 in Pittsburgh, PA.
• Finally, and most importantly, our committee meeting will be June 18-19 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Click here for more information, including registration and a preliminary agenda.

Thanks for reading! Look for our next update in your inbox in two weeks.

Sincerely,
Lisa Janairo and Sarah Wochos
Committee Staff